I know that the Monzo help team can’t help me personally on this forum. I just want to make others aware and also see if it is a major problem.
I just got a notification that said a direct debit with The National Lottery has been set up, however, I didn’t do this. I have set up a direct debit with Santander, however, this was before I even reopened my Monzo account so it isn’t a case of simply putting in the wrong card details by mistake.
If it definitely wasn’t you who set-up the D/D (and you are the only person in control of your Monzo account), cancel the D/D in-app. Then keep an eye on it re-appearing.
As you say, only Monzo can help if it recurs - via in-app chat.
I’ve checked my National Lottery account and the direct debit is definitely with Santander. I haven’t really used my Monzo account with anything so I’m confused how this would have happened. Since I’ve reopen it, I’ve only used it for Amazon Music, Now, and PayPal.
Nope but I have started a CASS from Virgin Money to Monzo. The lottery direct debit used to be with Virgin Money but I cancelled in May (I think it was May, no payment was taken in June so I either cancelled it in May or very early June). I’ve looked at the reference number on Virgin Money and I think it was the same as the Monzo one (I’ve cancelled it so can’t see the Monzo reference number anymore).
This might be the cause, which does make me feel more confident that it isn’t some sort of scam or anything dodgy.
If you have not manually marked a direct debit as cancelled, it will still show as “live” (or this is the case with my NatWest account, as I can see a direct debit for my old car HP which ended last year), even if nothing has been taken against it for some time, so this would naturally be included in a CASS I’d expect.
Edit: You said you cancelled it, but did you just change the bank details on the NL website?
The good thing is you get notified and can at least cancel it upon notification. Not all banks offer that insight and the 1st you know about it, is when the DD has been collected.
I think I found the issue. Despite cancelling the direct debit on The National Lottery website and no money leaving my Virgin Money account, the direct debit was still down as “active” on the VM app.
Although I don’t think this would have actually cost me any money it is a lesson to make sure direct debits are cancelled with the bank as well.