late payment charge

[jungleguy]

Hi All

I just had a £10 late payment charge.

I've recently changed banks. I left the VM DD active at my old account and let The One Account (my new bank) migrate all my DD's. All OK apart from VM.

When I checked both bank accounts (online banking), I can see the VM DD mandate in the list with my VM account number followed by 001 on BOTH bank accounts. My old account had ample funds to cover the bill so did my new account.

what went wrong? no payment was taken from either account, I got a £10 late payment charge, and my new bill is over £100, (2 months of charges, which is ok it is for services I've had, but £10 late payment charge)

cheers

John

[Mick Fisher]

Get onto accounts and ask for an explanation.

Maybe they made a mistake and you will get a refund.

[BenMcr]

If a bank informs Virgin of a change of details before the previous direct debit instruction takes a due bill, then the debit of funds is cancelled.

As an example:

Bill Date 1st Feb with Due Date 18th Feb

Virgin get an 'account transferred' instruction on the 10th of Feb. the 18th of Feb payment would not be taken via D/D. Virgin would not take it from the old details because the 'account transferred' instruction basically says the old account doesn't exist anymore. Virgin AFAIK would not be able to use the new details as they have no specifially written to customer saying an amount would be debited from that bank account (as per the D/D guarantee)

I'm sure Virgin would look at crediting the £10 late fee as it was down the bank rather than the customer

I would however suggest you call Virgin and pay the overdue amount, otherwise you will get restricted before the next d/d is taken. If you do this, make sure they then alter the pending d/d to take the card payment into account!

[joglynne]

Ben if you are still around for consultation. I am going to close the bank account that my BB and TV/phone are paid from by DD on the 26th of each month.

Am I right in thinking that my 2 bills will be combined after the payments that are due this month and that I should just get the one combined bill for my June 26th payment?

If this is the case, when will be the safest time to let billings have details of the new account, and would it be safer not to inform my bank that the original DDs are to be ended until a payment has been taken from the new account?

I hope you understand this ramble but I would like to avoid the £10.00 late payment charge that jungleguy has ended up having on his account.

[BenMcr]

Yes, from the May bill cycle the accounts are (mostly) going to be merged for Area References 20-22.

You need to let Virgin know about the new details after this month payments have come out, but before your May TV & phone bill is printed. I.E the date the bill says, not the date you get it in the post

However, due to the billing migration that is happening to the 5th of May, although new D/D details can be given next week, no action will be taken to send them to the bank before the 5th.

If the payments are due to come out on Saturday for definate, then they have already been sent for payment to the bank (as there is a 3 day back process), so you should actually be ok to give your new details on Saturday itself, as long as it is before 6pm (and possibly tomorrow)

Easiest way to tell, phone Virgin up tomorrow and ask for the balance on your TV and phone account. If they say it is zero, then the payment has been requested and you can give your new details, if it still says the bill balance, then it hasn't and you will have to wait till next week to give the details

[jungleguy]

it is an anomaly, got to say its probably an automated charge and a human being will be able to remove the £10 charge.

thanks everyone

[joglynne]

Thanks for the advice Ben. Rep on its way.

I am tempted to wait until after I have paid the first combined bill and then follow your advice on the June payment. I think transferring 2 DDs in combination with the bill migration may be pushing my luck.

[BenMcr]

Glad to help