To ask a really dim question about direct debits?

[Dinopawus]

OK not proper AIBU - shamelessly looking for advice.

I want to cancel adult DD's part of our National Trust membership which is due to auto renew next week but their systems are down and will be for several days.

I just spoke to NT and the lady suggested cancelling our direct debit via the bank as once it goes through they can't return it because they are a charity (a bit hmm about this but OK)

Looking at our bank account, I can see mine and DH's regular monthly debit - which i don't want to cancel, but can't see DD's one which I think goes out as an annual payment.

So question, oh wise people of Mumsnet. Am I unreasonable to wait until I can see it in pending transactions to cancel it, or will that go horribly wrong?

Call the bank to cancel.

I'd call your bank, sometimes once payment is pending it is too late to cancel

I think you need to get to it before it becomes a pending transaction. My DDs are listed in my online banking - obvs not sure how yours works.

If it's not in your direct debit list, it's not paid from that bank account (check it's not a standing order).

On your online banking you should have a list of all payments that go out and frequency so you can cancel on that page ( or you can with NatWest )

Call the bank. It may already be too late

If you wait until it’s pending it won’t cancel or stop it going through so it’ll be too late and you most likely won’t get a refund. Call your bank and cancel the instruction.

And RBS.

Once it's pending, you're stuffed. I learned that the hard way.

If it's not on your list of direct debits are you sure you didn't pay that membership with a card? You'd not be able to cancel it yourself if that's the case and would definitely need to ring the bank.

Of course, bear in mind that timings may be slightly different from usual because of the forthcoming bank holidays. This could give you a better or worse chance of stopping the payment!

If you’ve told the company that you want to cancel giving them sufficient notice, as long as it is a direct debit from your account where you’ve provided your sort code and account number rather than a continuous card payment authority, if they take it you can claim the money back via your bank under the direct debit guarantee

https://www.directdebit.co.uk/direct-debit-explained/direct-debit-guarantee/

Are you sure it’s not a recurring card transaction?

As well as the DDR guarantee, when I worked for Barclays there was also a disputed transaction process for card payments and one of the options for the dispute was continuous payments. The fact that they’re a charity is irrelevant. Good luck.

Is it part of a family membership or a separate membership? I needed to amend ours with English Heritage and as it was pending, they couldn't.

I had the same problem with NT. Their systems have been down for weeks.

I emailed the address on their website, stating that I wanted to cancel the membership but had been repeatedly unable to get through by phone and the website was saying it could take up to a month to get a reply to an email!

I did receive a reply eventually. Too late to stop the first payment, but they cancelled the membership and refunded the first payment, albeit by cheque, which is really annoying as it’s a real pain for me to be able to pay it in.

The thing about a charity is nonsense. You can have a dd returned on the day it hits the account. Did this as part of my job years ago returning dd that needed to be returned due to insufficient funds. Things may have changed. I am a bit rusty.

Thank you. I might try this. Annoying when you try and cancel and get "charity says no" as a response.
Also wondering if those who suggested it might be a card card payment could be right, hence not listed in my Direct Debits.

I’m a Chartered Banker if that’s helps.

Once a transaction is pending it has left the station and you cannot recall it.

if you cannot see it in your Direct Debits it will either be:

• a standing order
• a recurring card transaction
• or you just paid upfront for a year once with no agreement to continue paying

all the best x

Completely missing the point but the NT are shits for this kind of thing. They took DParent's direct debit a month earlier than they were supposed to, just as it was rumoured we were going into lockdown. Then wouldn't return it, despite obviously them not being able to use it. I politely declined a DD when I joined this year. I'd cancel as soon as you can OP in case they try to take it earlier than you think they might.

It’s a shame that they weren’t aware of the direct debit guarantee. I’ve linked it in this thread earlier. If it’s a considerable amount I would look to see if there’s any time restrictions on a claim under the guarantee.

Thanks @ComeOnNumber100 I'll let them know. I was also unaware!