A comparison between Direct Debits and Standing Orders

Direct Debit and standing orders have transformed the way consumers pay their bills. They ensure that bills are paid automatically and on time, so have made forgotten or late payments a thing of the past…

And with Direct Debits bill payers can save money, with energy companies offering discounts for customers who use this popular payment method.

Introduction

Direct Debits and standing orders – what’s the difference?

A standing order is an instruction to your bank to make regular payments of a fixed amount, either to someone else (a child at university or a landlord, for example) or to another account in your name, such as a savings account.

With Direct Debits, you give an organisation authority to take funds from your bank account. Mobile phone bills, gas and electricity are often paid by Direct Debit.

The main difference is that with Direct Debits, the organisation can amend payment amounts or dates without having to obtain the customer's signature.

Another important factor is that the Direct Debit payment is fully protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee. A Standing Order offers no such protection.

What are the main benefits?Direct Debits

Time saving – Direct Debits do away with time spent writing cheques, stuffing envelopes and visiting the bank or post office to post bills.

Cost Saving – No more postage costs, and most importantly, the worrying prospect of late payment fess is also avoided.

Assurance – The Direct Debit Guarantee means that any incorrect payments will be quickly refunded to you.

Standing Orders

Person to person – Standing orders are ideal for making regular payments to someone you know. As we said earlier, if you have a child at university and you want to give them regular ‘pocket money’ (or ‘book money’!), standing orders are ideal.

Account transfers – Standing orders are also a great way of transferring a particular amount from your current account to your saving account on a regular basis.

Who can use Direct Debits and Standing Orders?

You can set up Direct Debits or standing orders from current account and bank accounts; but can’t set them up from post office or credit union accounts.

A person usually needs to be over 18 to set up either Direct Debits or standing orders, depending on their account balance.

How to Setup Direct Debit and Standing order?

For Direct Debits, the organisation collecting payments will inform you what needs done (usually filling out a form and sending it to them, or giving details online or by phone).

For a standing order, you will need to give your bank details of the account name, sort code and bank account of the person or business you want to pay. You can cancel a Direct Debit or standing order at any time by simply contacting your bank or service provider (it’s also nice to inform the business or person that you’ll be stopping payments).

Any costs involved?

In general there is no charge for setting up a Direct Debit or standing order.

But if there is ever insufficient money in your bank account to meet a payment, the money may still come out and put you in ‘the red’, with the possibility of unauthorised overdraft charges applying!

What if there’s a problem?

The Direct Debit Guarantee offers full consumer protection, with a full and immediate refund if anything goes wrong.

Standing orders offer no such guarantee, so we strongly recommend you double-check all the details when you set one up, particularly sort codes and bank account numbers – one wrong digit could mean the money ending up in a strangers account!

Conclusion…….

Some organisations prefer to use Direct Debits, as they can set up the reference from your bill or invoice. In that case AccessPay will be the best option.

At AccessPay, our expert staffs are dedicated to the payment needs of our clients, allowing them to think less about payments (we take care of all that!) and more on growing and improving their business.

AccessPayCEC Winchester - Crawford Place,259-269 Old Marylebone Rd,LondonNW1 5RA

Any Questions?

Tel: +44 (0) 203 282 7152Email: info@accesspay.com

Website: www.accesspay.comBlog: blog.accesspay.com

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