Stopping DD with MBNA

In message , Rob graham writes

Not only CC DDs but ALL DDs. You should always contact the originator to cancel the DD as your first step, and then cancel it at the bank as a back up. With SOs of course, you just tell the bank.

With regard top the £5 collection even though the balance was, can I ask if the balance was nil on the previous statement or had you reduced it to nil after the statement was issued but before the DD date?

Quite.

Quite.

I've had nil balances and min. payment and had nothing collected.

Whenever you have (valid) problems with MBNA ask for the quality department rather than use consumer 'helpline'. I've had good results with this.

Daytona

Bitstring , from the wonderful person Rob graham said

I think most of us knew that you are supposed to cancel a DD via the collector .. however another wrinkle for you (which you may not have known) - I cancelled a DD with Invesco about 3 years ago., two weeks ago they (erroneously) set it up again and made a collection against it.

When I dinged my bank (Smile) they told me that if someone contacts them with my bank account details (name, number, etc.) they 'have to' set up the DD - checking that I'd actually approved it apparently doesn't figure in the process.

I got a cheque back from Invesco, plus £25 quid for their stupidity, however I'm not impressed at the level of security required to set up a DD.

When I changed banks years ago I found that I had to contact the organisation that makes the charge against my account. It took ages to contact everyone and I learned a very important lesson from that which is never to agree to direct debit payments even if there is a financial incentive in doing so.....unless it is a form of variable direct debit that I am in control of (such as tranferring money between bank accounts under my control and at my behest). Organisations make it sound like its for your benefit...but its only for their benefit because you have given them the authority via the DD mandate to do that.

Its a pity more people don't realise the potential problems of DD. Standing orders were far better for the customer.

In message , GSV Three Minds in a Can writes

Yes. These days the DD mandate isnt always sent to the clients bank for approving any more. The originator must be able to show the bank the clients signed mandate if asked, but the bank will only ask if you dispute it. Hmmm.

In message , biggirlsblouse writes

To some extent. The problem is that when rates, mortgages etc., where paid by standing order a very large proportion of clients would advise the bank of the wrong details when they wanted to change a payment even though the beneficiary had sent them a form to sign and hand into the bank. The failure rate of SPs was very high and people got into technical arrears with things. Also SOs are far more expensive to handle both for remitting bank and recipient

In message , Daytona writes

My point was that if you receive a statement with a Nil balance showing, then IME the DD isnt collected, BUT if you reduce the balance to nil AFTER you have received the statement and in enough time for the DD to be amended by the originator then some CCs will stop the DD and others dont.

Another twist happened to me as follows. I pay off all my CCs every month but just so that I dont forget make a mistake I have a 'minimum payment' DD on them all. So,. When I get the bill I usually pay off the balance less the minimum payment. BUT one or two CC companies will then stop the minimum payment because the payment by me is regarded as being my entire payment for the month so I still had £5 outstanding on the next statement PLUS an interest charge on the whole amount. I can remember which card it was but I think the bank was HFC. I spoke to them about it, in a friendly manner, and they immediately refunded the interest saying that this often catches people out!

"john boyle" wrote

One way around having to remember which card is which, is to "time" the extra payment so it arrives at the CC provider on the last possible day, or just 1or2 days before. Usually, even those companies that would normally try to stop the minimum DDeb if you pay earlier, don't then have enough time to stop it!

Ha! "People" in this instance meaning *their* people.

Yes, I appreciate that but in this case I wasn't anticipating a collection at all, bearing in mind that I had a nil balance. It would appear that if I'd done nothing they would have collected 5 per month ad infinitum.

I'd made a transfer to a 0% CC well before the statement date and the statement said that it was now zero, but there was also a 25 collection failure fee.

Rob

"Rob graham" wrote

What about the statement *before* the "collection failure fee" appeared? Was *that* balance zero?

It has not even got to be signed. I recently had a phone call from a charity to which I give by standing order. They asked if they could convert this to a Direct Debit, to which I agreed. I did not need to give my bank details etc as they already had those from the standing order. This morning I received a letter confirming the Direct Debit and a form for me to send to my bank cancelling the standing order.

I used to do this with TSB as it was called at the time. Usually they would take the direct debit as well as my payment for the balance, but sometimes they wouldn't. In the end, I decided it was too much hassle, so switched to paying it completely by cheque.

Actually, I haven't told you the whole story because it seemed unnecessarily complicated. But a couple of months ago I transferred the then balance to a zero % card. By the time this had gone through it was too late to stop a 5 minimum payment collection. So I was actually 5 in credit at the end of the period. I then cancelled the DD as a housekeeping exercise simply to keep the number of DDs down. I don't use the card and originally took it out to park a 0% transfer in for some months. I erroneously thought that being in credit meant that MBNA would not continue collecting - but I was wrong, wasn't I?

So the answer to your question *is the balance in the statement before the fee appeared zero?* is no, it was 5 in credit.

Rob

In message , Rob graham writes

Very strange. What was the 'minimum payment' amount on the statement and what did it say about the direct debit? MBNA statements tell you what that will be and when it will be taken,

There seem to be a few organisations that are trusted enough for the banks to allow them to initiate DDs without even having a signed mandate. The National Contributions Agency set up my DD over the telephone without me having to fill a form at all.

Chris

Bitstring , from the wonderful person Chris Blunt said

Sadly INVESCO (aka Bank of New York) appear to fall into that category, when (based on their admin performance to date) they shouldn't do.

Apparently, banks trust other banks, and government departments. Exactly the types of organisations that the rest of us trust least. ;-)

Chris

It told me that I had a credit balance of 5 and what the due date was. But no mention of when - or if - a DD collection would be made. While I was in debit then it told me that the 5 would be collected by DD and when.

Rob