Amending a Direct Debit

weshtawake

I have a DD set up for over a year with Ulster Bank. I wish to amend it but am told that the amendment can only be processed with the involvement/agreement of the beneficiary.
Is this the case that i cannot change it myself without involving the other party??
Seems very restrictive!!

homer911

With a Direct Debit, the amounts tend to be variable and are requested from your account. With a Standing Order the amounts are fixed and the instruction is issued from your account


Are you sure its a Direct Debit?

28064212

I think you're misunderstanding what a direct debit is. When a DD is set up, you're giving the creditor permission to pull amounts from your account. These can vary in timing and amounts. Your bank doesn't do anything unless it receives a request from the creditor.

So the bank is correct, only the creditor can amend a direct debit. Although you can cancel it, and/or request refunds for direct debits which have gone through

weshtawake

Yes, it's definitely a DD albeit the same amount each month.

You say "Although you can cancel it," Is this in fact true that I can cancel it
unilaterally without "permission" from the beneficiary?? If so this would solve my problem.

Thanks

coylemj

weshtawake wrote: »

Yes, it's definitely a DD albeit the same amount each month.

You say "Although you can cancel it," Is this in fact true that I can cancel it
unilaterally without "permission" from the beneficiary?? If so this would solve my problem.

Thanks

Yes, you can cancel a DD at any time. Most people don't need to because if you close a utility account, they stop presenting DDs to your bank. I cleaned up a few a couple of years ago from my BoI a/c, otherwise they'd have stayed there forever.

If you do it online it will show you all of the curent DDs authorised on your account, when the last DD was paid for each one and you can do a quick cleanup on the ones that are no longer required.

28064212

weshtawake wrote: »

You say "Although you can cancel it," Is this in fact true that I can cancel it unilaterally without "permission" from the beneficiary??

Yes. If you want to be certain that creditor no longer can debit your account, you can add them to a direct debit "blacklist". Your bank must provide this service. Otherwise, the creditor can create a new direct debit to replace the cancelled one

weshtawake wrote: »

If so this would solve my problem.

Depends. Changing/cancelling a direct debit doesn't affect any contract you've entered into. If you're trying to end a fixed-length contract early, you will still owe the money, and the creditor can chase you for it. Also, the creditor can impose admin fees and penalties if you agreed to pay by direct debit for the length of the contract