Do you need to cancel a direct debit or is the company meant to do it?

J

jwof2006

Registered User
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Hello,

I recently mid-may cancelled a subscription service, in writing to a service provider, my last access to the service was the last day of May(I was told).

I (maybe foolishly) assumed the service provider would cancel the direct debit. I have spotted that 2 further direct debits have been taken 02/06 and 03/07. I have now obviously cancelled the direct debit.

There was a 1 month cooling off after quitting the service in the small print so if the had told me I couldn't finish until the end of June I would have understood and expected the further direct debit at the start of June, however I was told my last access would be the end of May.

Can I ask for 1 or 2 of these payments back?

Thanks, Jack
 
Under SEPA rules, you have 8 weeks to ask your bank to reverse a direct debit (you don't even have to give a reason).
 
From experience I would always cancel the dd with the bank. Easier than having the hassle of chasing it up if the provider ‘forgot’.
 
Back in my banking days when someone wanted to cancel a DD we would ask them to contact the company and get them to do it, because they originate it. What you need to do is also ask the bank not to "accept" these direct debits if presented for payment.. The bank can't cancel it but they can refuse payment when presented.
 
SoylentGreen said:
Back in my banking days when someone wanted to cancel a DD we would ask them to contact the company and get them to do it, because they originate it. What you need to do is also ask the bank not to "accept" these direct debits if presented for payment.. The bank can't cancel it but they can refuse payment when presented.
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I've cancelled lots of DD's without any issues by cancelling them via PTSB online banking only and not also contacting the payee.
To delete a Direct Debit simply click on the ‘bin’ icon to the right of the selected ‘Originator name’. By confirming the option to delete, your Direct Debit will be cancelled. (We would also advise contacting the company to cancel the Direct Debit completely.)
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SoylentGreen said:
Back in my banking days when someone wanted to cancel a DD we would ask them to contact the company and get them to do it, because they originate it. What you need to do is also ask the bank not to "accept" these direct debits if presented for payment.. The bank can't cancel it but they can refuse payment when presented.
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I would be wary of any bank who took an instruction from a third party on how to operate my bank account.
 
Your Direct Debit is between you and the company you are doing business with. The bank just accepts the instruction. You need to cancel with the company and ask the bank not to accept debits to your account if presented.
 
I know as part of the UB closure some companies (Leapcard was one and I think Virgin another but will stand corrected) could not cancel the DD at their end for some reason or were swamped with requests and were dependent on the account holder doing it themselves

In a nutshell, DIY and don't depend on someone in a call centre to do it for you
 
Over the years I've asked various utilities and others to cancel DD mandates, usually when changing provider or changing the account I want the debits to hit. I've noticed that no matter what they promise to do, the mandates remain active on the banks systems. I've had this experience on a number of bank accounts, including AIB, BOI, PTSB and Ulster. What I do now is to issue the instruction to the provider to cease the service and cancel the DD. I generally wait a period of 4-12 weeks to allow any agreed remaining/termination transactions to be processed and in case any final credits/debits/adjustments go through and then log on to the Bank App and cancel the mandate there. (Unless it's Vodafone where I do it immediatly because I wouldn't trust those clowns to go to the shop for messages and bring back the correct change)

It's also good practice to review your list of direct debit mandates from time to time. For example, at the end of 2021 the Revenue Commissioners issued new DD mandates for all LPT cases. The old mandates remained in place. It's unlikely that they were ever going to be used, but just good housekeeping to kill them off (the mandates, not the Revenue Commissioners).
 
FearFolomh said:
I would be wary of any bank who took an instruction from a third party on how to operate my bank account.
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Absolutely.

Unfortunately most of us have no choice but to work with the DD system.

I used not have any DDs except with very reputable organisations. Whatever protection that may be. Increasingly this is becoming a difficult line to hold.

Recently I have been looking at using Revolute to set up a card with only enough money going in to meet the minimum expected DDs.

I recently had a DD taken in advance for 12 months of a subscription. The provider in fairness returned the money when I queried it.
 
cremeegg said:
Yes it would, and it suits vendors and banks well. I am not so sure about customers.
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If DDs didn't exist I would be happy to invent them! Seriously, some people like to authorise several payments a month but most of the world is happier doing other things, me included.

cremeegg said:
I used not have any DDs except with very reputable organisations. Whatever protection that may be. Increasingly this is becoming a difficult line to hold.
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I've had close to a hundred DDs over the years in several countries. I have never had a problem at initiation. The issue is more at termination when payees either accidentally or on purpose have forgotten to cancel the DD. But this is a small minority.

But as a matter of good financial hygiene it makes sense to cancel the DD at the same time as the service.
 
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