Direct Debits - holind account details

funkey_monkey

Is there any less security in setting up a direct debit with a company as opposed to paying the bill online by a bill by bill basis?

I'm just a bit concerned about them holding my details - not that they would be dipping into the account - moreso protection from hackers gaining my details.

Am I being overly concerned - they is always an incentive to paying by DD but I'm just wondering about the security of having my details held by numerous companies and the risk of the company getting hacked.


Thanks.

Spocker

You're probably being overly cautious, there are good protections in place for Direct Debits

https://www.ccpc.ie/consumers/money/banking/paying-bills/

CCPC wrote:

If an unauthorised direct debit is taken from your account you can request a refund immediately and get a refund of payments taken up to the previous eight weeks. You can also request a refund for any unauthorised direct debits after eight weeks and within 13 months from the date on which the payment was debited. However, after the eight-week period you may need to provide additional information or proof the transaction was unauthorised.

28064212

The risk is fairly minimal. The only extra details that the company would need to collect a direct debit is your IBAN. The only thing any malicious actor could really do with that is set up other direct debits. You can reverse any direct debit within 8 weeks of the transaction, no questions asked (your bank are legally required to facilitate this). If it's an unauthorised transaction, you have 13 months get it reversed, but the recipient can dispute the reversal (in practice, banks just authorise the refund and leave it up to the recipient to chase the sender if they believe it's genuine).

So long as you actually keep an eye on your bank account for possible unexpected transactions (which you should be doing anyway), there's very little risk involved

jahalpin

funkey_monkey wrote: »

Is there any less security in setting up a direct debit with a company as opposed to paying the bill online by a bill by bill basis?

I'm just a bit concerned about them holding my details - not that they would be dipping into the account - moreso protection from hackers gaining my details.

Am I being overly concerned - they is always an incentive to paying by DD but I'm just wondering about the security of having my details held by numerous companies and the risk of the company getting hacked.


Thanks.

As previous posters have noted direct debits are very safe and there are a lot of protections in place

In relation to a company having your bank account details, if you have ever written a cheque or made an electronic payment the beneficiary would already have your full bank details

funkey_monkey

Thanks for confirming. I've set it up now.

The J Stands for Jay

If you're worried about it, some banks send a notification through their app when a DD is presented for payment. It isn't paid until you authorise it through the app.