In reply to a post by baby_frogmella:

In reply to a post by aj2703:

Is it just this month..? Why would they just do it this month then shift it back.? Does not make sense at all. No-one has mentioned in the forums that i have seen.

You misunderstood me. I meant that for the month of March, your DD will be taken around 23 days from the last DD; hardly a major problem to get your knickers in a twist over. However your April and subsequent months DD will be 30 days from your March DD date. I was sent an email In February informing me of these changes.

Actually I think it is very irresponsible of TT to move the DD date backwards. There are many people who are currently suffering cash flow problems. I wonder how many people have been put in the red by this move? I doubt if TT will reimburse any customers bank charges.

Which is wrong under The Direct Debit Guarantee in that the payee must give at least 10 working days notice from receiving the bill. If enough people complain then TT could get their Service User Number rescinded.

In reply to a post by kamelion:

Which is wrong under The Direct Debit Guarantee in that the payee must give at least 10 working days notice from receiving the bill. If enough people complain then TT could get their Service User Number rescinded.

Ermmmm....TalkTalk did give >10 days notice about their DD date changing. They informed their customers in February informing them that their March DD will be taken 7 days after the billing date, not 14 days as before.

http://www.thesmartwaytopay.co.uk/DirectDebitExplain...

Direct Debit Guarantee

The Guarantee is offered by all banks and building societies that accept instruction to pay Direct Debits
If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit the organisation will notify you (normally 10 working days) in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed. If you request the organisation to collect a payment, confirmation of the amount and date will be given to you at the time of the request
If an error is made in the payment of your Direct Debit, by the organisation or your bank or building society, you are entitled to a full and immediate refund of the amount paid from your bank or building society.
If you receive a refund you are not entitled to, you must pay it back when the organisation asks you to
You can cancel a Direct Debit at any time by simply contacting your bank or building society. Written confirmation may be required. Please also notify the organisation.

You aren't reading it right. They have to give 10 working days notice after the BILL is produced not ten days notice that they are going to take money early. This forms part of the direct debit guarantee and is there to ensure that the payer has time to query the amount.

Agree with baby_frogmella! You're the one not reading it right.

The Direct Debit Guarantee has nothing to do with BILLing and, in fact, never mentions it. All it says is that for any change 10 days notice must be given before the payment concerned is taken.

If there are any changes to the amount, date or frequency of your Direct Debit the organisation will notify you (normally 10 working days) in advance of your account being debited or as otherwise agreed.

On your argument a Utility co. can never make any changes to your DDs after 10 days beyond a quarterly bill and they have to wait 3 months to the next bill for the opportunity to make a change to your DD. My Water Board has just sent me notice of increase of my DD early next month and I won't get the next corresponding bill till May. I've no doubt that are acting lawfully.

I phrased it wrong. They can't act on the DD until at least 10 working days after the issue of the bill. Hope that is clearer.

In reply to a post by kamelion:

I phrased it wrong. They can't act on the DD until at least 10 working days after the issue of the bill. Hope that is clearer.

In the DD guarantee where does it say that TalkTalk have to wait 10 working days after billing date?

Forget it! You are reading words into it that don't exist!

Remember that DDs were designed for paying where bills are infrequent, like quarterly utility bills.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Thu 24-Mar-11 10:52:26)

I can totally understand how this can advsersely affect people who are right on the limit in terms of finances. In my younger years, I usually had lots of month left at the end of the money. In defence of the company though the service is a paid for service from a business, the business has needs and obligations to meet too. In this case those on high have deemed that we reduce the lead time between bill and payment dates.

Ady

That is a simplified "plain english" version. There are two types of direct debit - fixed and variable. Variable direct debits require the payee to give the payer at least 10 working days notice of the amount they intend to collect. All new direct debits are variable and come under these rules.