Direct Debit

We have been trying to encourage people to use Direct Debit for some time, and with the withdrawl of card payments (see news page for details) even more people are signing up for Direct Debit now. Thank you.

We have been taking feedback on this seriously and there are a number of concerns customers have raised on Direct Debits.

1. We know some customers have had bad experiences with Direct Debits (with other companies) in the past. We can assure customers that we use the same systems for working out what you owe and when to collect money for Direct Debit as we have always used for card payments. The extra rules for Direct Debit are all in your favour including advance notice of when and how much, as well as rules for correction of mistakes, guaranteed by your bank. We're happy to discuss the way the scheme works with anyone who has concerns.

2. We now allow some control over the day in the month that your payment will be taken. This helps customers that need to ensure payment is just after they are paid, for example.

3. Customers have expressed some concern that the emailed confirmation of DD sign up includes the bank details in the email. This is a requirement of the DD scheme rules. However - there is a change of rules coming and so from 1st Jan the confirmation emails will not show the full bank account number.

4. Customers have also asked if there is any way we can advise of Direct Debit collections in a computer processable way. We are considering this at present, and the current suggestion is an XML email or an http post with details of the collection. We would welcome feedback on this. We would like more businesses to pay by Direct Debit but we understand that many are not geared up to reconciled the payments, so this may help. Please let us know if you have any thoughts on this.