How do I cancel a direct debit

[Himadri]

Being told to go to your bank to cancel a direct debit is not a helpful response.  In the UK that works but if you arrive in the UK for a holiday from Australia and buy an EE (My Mobile) SIM card and then at the end of your holiday want to cancel any direct debit you set up to pay for a package you need there to be a process with EE to cancel.  Direct debits are NOT cancelled with your bank in Australia but with the company you set up the direct debit with.  I have stopped the package I signed up to while in the UK but for ease of mind I would like the direct debit cancelled.  

[Fatboy71]

Not sure if your post is directed at me, but the original poster was simply asking "how do I cancel a direct debit"

But I do mention/warn in my post what happens if you do this.

"But, if you still have a monthly contract with EE, you definitely do not want to cancel the direct debit for it, as this will mean they won't be able to take payments, and then your account will go into arrears"

Also I cannot see how someone who came to the UK on holiday would be able to get an EE package and pay for this by direct debit, as paying for something by direct debit is credit, and as credit checks are made and one of the ways in which you are not given credit is if you are not resident in this country or have only been living here for a short period time (makes sense as the potential purchaser might have a bad credit history in their country, which would not show up on a UK credit check). Also, a much more simpler method for someone coming to the UK from Australia (or anywhere else from overseas) would be to simply purchase a pay as you go sim when they arrive. You pay for credit to go on to it, and at the end of your stay, you do not need to do anything, there's no ongoing cost and the sim card would simply be disconnected if you did not use again after around 6-9 months. 

There can be a number of reasons why someone might wish to cancel a direct debit, but as the original poster never came back and replied, we do not know the reason was.

[Himadri]

Hi there,

If my post was directed at anyone in particular rather than the discussion as a whole it was directed at the community support person. 

Generally I find that people who are wanting to cancel their direct debit arrangements, are entirely aware that doing so will mean the company can't extract money from their account and therefore the service they are receiving will end.  Companies generally don't want people to cancel direct debit arrangements which are a preferable arrangement from their perspective.   Warnings of the kind you sent out are generally made by people who work for the company but, assuming you don't, it may have been useful to those who didn't realise the implications of cancelling a direct debit.

I do, however, find your recent reply to me helpful.  You may well be correct that I was not on a direct debit arrangement.  When I bought my SIM card which came with an allocation of data and calls (which may or may not be described as a package - I think it was) I paid for it with a credit card.  I subsequently bought additional add ons and recharged one of these add ons.  What I am concerned about is that I have been receiving texts telling me that when the 30 period expires (after I leave the UK) I am going to have my service automatically renewed with an additional 30 pounds charged for another 30 days with the clear implication that this will go on forever (renewing and charging every 30 days).  I wanted to stop this from happening as I will leave the UK and return to Australia and no longer need the service to be extended. 

Whether or not this is a direct debit arrangement there are similarities in that the company feels it has permission to keep taking money from you.  I would prefer that companies who, for reasons advantageous to the themselves, apply default auto-renew arrangements, then also make it very clear and easy to discover how to stop this from happening.  I ended up at this forum as one of many dead ends trying to solve the problem.

Cheers

Himadri

[Leanne_T]

Hi @Himadri

Did you set up recurring card payments for the credit to be added each month for the pack? 

Leanne.

[Himadri]

No, at least I was not conscious of doing that at all. I remember just doing what I seemed to have to do to get things working.

Sent from my iPhone

[XRaySpeX · Accepted solution]

@Himadri : You would've bought a PAYG SIM with a recurring 30-day pack. You cannot pay for that with a DD but with a recurring card payment as & when the pack renews.

Text STOP REC to 150 to stop the direct card payment. For good measure also text STOP PACK to 150 to prevent the pack renewing. You will now be not shelling out any money on it.

[Himadri]

Thank you that is very very helpful.  This information was not easy to come by.  I had managed to find out about STOP PACK but hadn't seen STOP REC.   It should be made very very easy to discover this information and the fact that it was not easy makes me feel it was deliberately had to find.  

Thank you

[XRaySpeX]

Thanks! You're welcome 🙂 ! Glad I could be of assistance & trust it is now sorted.

[Jems51]

Found myself with same problem, trying to cancel d/d, to no avail via bank, then got on EE site just said to ring 150, which was done but nothing. The phone is in UK as i gave to a friend returning there as i live in Francee and have now a French phone, so she tried cancelling for me, i will now send her what you have said and see if there is no debit from my bank at end of month.

Many thanks

[XRaySpeX]

@Jems51 : Thanks! You're welcome 🙂 ! Glad I could be of assistance & hope it soon gets sorted.