BANKS

swanie29

Here a question for you all you..


Can a bank block a Direct Debit without the account holders permisson or request.

Cause they done it without me asking or requesting and there was money in the account to cover the amount for the bill.

coylemj

You mean a third party with a mandate approved by you presented a DD and the bank refused to pay it?

Was anything like a mortgage or loan due to be paid for out of the same account within a few days?

swanie29

coylemj wrote: »

You mean a third party with a mandate approved by you presented a DD and the bank refused to pay it?

Was anything like a mortgage or loan due to be paid for out of the same account within a few days?

So i set up dd with ss e electricity in jan and they went for payment in march but couldn't as they said i cancled the dd which i didn't so i gave them the detsils again the payment didn't go through. I thought it was sse electricity because i rang the bank and they said it was not them. So back to sse who said no it was not them. So once again back to the bank who confirmed they blocked the direct debit

coylemj

swanie29 wrote: »

So once again back to the bank who confirmed they blocked the direct debit

It would be very unusual for a bank to decline a DD from a bona fide utility when you had the required funds in your account.

Did you ask the bank why they declined to pay? With all the toing and froing you described, maybe they thought it was an attempt at fraud?

If SSE had the correct details of your account and as it was a utility company, then even if there was some confusion, the safer option would be for the bank to pay it (rather than have your gas or electricity cut off) and let you and SSE sort it out later.

swanie29

The bank couldn't give a reason why the direct debit was blocked only thing the girl could suggest was that there was too many direct debits on the account or perhaps I missed a direct debit but I explained that if I miss a direct debit I have to pay the referral be for missing direct debits so basically the bank locked this direct debit in my understanding for no good reason not once but twice and didn't contact me me to find out more information sure enough off if this is my account they have to ask my permission to do anything even though I signed the direct debit mandate with SSE electricity

coylemj

swanie29 wrote: »

......so basically the bank locked this direct debit in my understanding for no good reason not once but twice

If it's 'locked' then it's not a case of once or twice, it will always be declined i.e. it's going nowhere.

Tell the bank to cancel it altogether and tell SSE you want to setup a new mandate. That's all you can do.

swanie29

coylemj wrote: »

If it's 'locked' then it's not a case of once or twice, it will always be declined i.e. it's going nowhere.

Tell the bank to cancel it altogether and tell SSE you want to setup a new mandate. That's all you can do.

Sorry they blocked not locked

coylemj

swanie29 wrote: »

Sorry they blocked not locked

Ok, either way, you have a utility account that needs to be paid when the bill is due. And regardless of who is to blame, the current DD setup is a mess.

I’d recommend that you tell the bank that you will setup a new mandate and that any existing DD mandate (blocked or locked) in favour of SSE should be cancelled. Then contact SSE and start a new DD mandate.

swanie29

Oh i get that sorted but that was not the question

coylemj

swanie29 wrote: »

Oh i get that sorted but that was not the question

You mean you want an answer to this question....

swanie29 wrote: »

Can a bank block a Direct Debit without the account holders permisson or request.

Yes, they can. They can use all sorts of excuses but if you want a legal answer, they are not obliged to accede to a request to honour a DD presented by anyone, regardless of what mandate you signed.

A DD mandate grants the authority (but not the obligation) to your bank to honour direct debits presented by the beneficiary, in your case SSE. The form of wording hasn’t changed in years and effectively insulates them from claims for damages for consequential loss and/or reputational damage in the event that the DD is declined.

When a bank bounces a cheque, they don’t tell the payee that there isn’t enough money in the account, they tell him to ‘refer to drawer’. I assume that the response to a rejected DD is similarly vague.

28064212

coylemj wrote: »

I assume that the response to a rejected DD is similarly vague.

Under SEPA, the response codes are quite detailed: https://developer.nuapay.com/np_separeasons.

coylemj

28064212 wrote: »

Under SEPA, the response codes are quite detailed: https://developer.nuapay.com/np_separeasons.

Sounds promising. Until you read what the OP was told by his bank.....

swanie29 wrote: »

The bank couldn't give a reason why the direct debit was blocked only thing the girl could suggest was that there was too many direct debits on the account or perhaps I missed a direct debit ...

Maybe the OP could ask SSE if they got one of those reason codes with the rejection.

Do those SEPA rules apply to a domestic DD?

28064212

coylemj wrote: »

Sounds promising. Until you read what the OP was told by his bank.....

swanie29 wrote:

The bank couldn't give a reason why the direct debit was blocked only thing the girl could suggest was that there was too many direct debits on the account or perhaps I missed a direct debit ...

The bank absolutely could give a reason. Whether the person on the end of the phone line could is another matter altogether

coylemj wrote: »

Maybe the OP could ask SSE if they got one of those reason codes with the rejection.

They could, but likely to run into the same issue - the customer service person is not likely to be able to get that information, and trying to get talking to someone who can is likely to be more trouble than it's worth

coylemj wrote: »

Do those SEPA rules apply to a domestic DD?

As far as I know, all direct debits in Ireland are required to be SEPA-compliant

swanie29

coylemj wrote: »

Sounds promising. Until you read what the OP was told by his bank.....



Maybe the OP could ask SSE if they got one of those reason codes with the rejection.

Do those SEPA rules apply to a domestic DD?

The girl was honeatly taking guesses at the resons

swanie29

28064212 wrote: »

The bank absolutely could give a reason. Whether the person on the end of the phone line could is another matter altogetherThey could, but likely to run into the same issue - the customer service person is not likely to be able to get that information, and trying to get talking to someone who can is likely to be more trouble than it's worthAs far as I know, all direct debits in Ireland are required to be SEPA-compliant

ac06 is what sse got

28064212

swanie29 wrote: »

ac06 is what sse got

Have you had any other successful direct debits since the failed one? For any debtor?

swanie29

Not one

28064212

swanie29 wrote: »

Not one

Interesting, because AC06 would suggest that the account is blocked for all direct debits, not just a specific creditor. Account owners can request such a block, or the bank can put a block in place for various reasons, but it "should" be a matter of requesting the block be lifted. Of course, that assumes (a) you can find someone in the bank that understands that and (b) that the bank is actually using the correct return codes for the correct scenarios.

swanie29

It happened twice with only sse all other direct debits no problem

swanie29

It has been lifted but the fact they could not give a solid reason for this i feel its a breach of trust that they can play god with my money

28064212

swanie29 wrote: »

It has been lifted but the fact they could not give a solid reason for this i feel its a breach of trust that they can play god with my money

They also are trying to protect your money. Would you feel the same if they blccked a card transaction for €500 in Malaysia go through?

swanie29

28064212 wrote: »

The bank absolutely could give a reason. Whether the person on the end of the phone line could is another matter altogetherThey could, but likely to run into the same issue - the customer service person is not likely to be able to get that information, and trying to get talking to someone who can is likely to be more trouble than it's worthAs far as I know, all direct debits in Ireland are required to be SEPA-compliant

28064212 wrote: »

They also are trying to protect your money. Would you feel the same if they blccked a card transaction for €500 in Malaysia go through?

Thats what a phone is for ai they should of contacted me

Darc19

Most of this is done electronically. Computer talks to computer.
Something slightly out of place and it's rejected.

Happened to me last year.

I didn't search for someone to blame, I simply got it corrected and moved on.

Life is far too short to be searching for someone to blame for every little error that is made.

coylemj

swanie29 wrote: »

Thats what a phone is for ai they should of contacted me

I can see why you might think that but just imagine what would happen if banks phoned customers to tell them that their DD was about to be rejected. The response would be a mix of downright abuse .. 'we bailed out you bastards ......' and tear jerker stories about hungry kids, landlord threatening to evict etc.

There's also the practical issue that they probably don't have enough staff to call everyone who's DD is going to be rejected today.

28064212

swanie29 wrote: »

Thats what a phone is for ai they should of contacted me

And if they rang you everytime your card was used on a new site or in a new location?

swanie29

28064212 wrote: »

And if they rang you everytime your card was used on a new site or in a new location?

That basically is saying tge banks can do what they want and not have to answer to the customer

swanie29

swanie29 wrote: »

That basically is saying tge banks can do what they want and not have to answer to the customer

They had no problem ringing befire when something didn't look right on my account . Someone took the decision to block this sure eniugh they could at least rang me then when looking at my account cause its not random

coylemj

swanie29 wrote: »

They had no problem ringing befire when something didn't look right on my account . Someone took the decision to block this sure eniugh they could at least rang me then when looking at my account cause its not random

That happens now and again with credit cards, I have had a call about suspicious spending and was asked if it was a genuine transaction. But I have never had a phone call about a specific current account transaction.

28064212

swanie29 wrote: »

That basically is saying tge banks can do what they want and not have to answer to the customer

No, it's saying that not everything is black and white.