Recurring payments can be a useful time-saving tool, but it can also be a real pain if you want to cancel a service and the bank or the merchant won’t play ball. You can get stuck chasing unwanted payments that are automatically withdrawn from your account.
Our direct debits guide can help you navigate the pros and cons of automatic payments, and we’d also like to hear your stories about direct debits.
Let us know if you’ve ever had trouble cancelling a recurring payment in the comments below.
Direct Debit cancellation information from banks still not good
The following link to post and topic also relate to this topic and so I have posted it here. It may be worth moving the posts in that topic here but felt that the matter might be better served under it’s own heading.
An old topic about a problem that apparently just keeps on going. Banks seem to be above the law and their own codes, yet the ‘threat’ proposed is to name and shame them.
A captive market so they do as they please. If cash and cash payments still ruled Financial Institutions would need to address their failures to keep clients. It doesn’t so they don’t! Interest rates are another symptom and result of this attitude.
It has improved by 27% since the last reporting period:
Overall, the results showed an improvement on previous BCCC mystery shopping exercises, with 71% of interactions indicating a bank would comply. In November 2018, the industry compliance rate was 44%.
but still a way to go to get to 100%. Three institutions are also meeting their 100% obligations:
So it is possible for all institutions to meet their obligations.
Maybe a solution to prompt rapid resolution for the customer is the banks become liable for any direct debits which should have been stopped, after the date of notification by the customer. Such would hit their bottom line and may trigger prompt resolution for those direct debits where there is justification for their cancellation (noting that some direct debits can’t be cancelled as they could be bound to contracts etc).
Years later – Westpac has provided a way for its customers to stop direct debits while they get sorted.
One message is the banking industry can do lots of things when it wants to, or needs to under public or governmental pressures.
