Direct Debit manual switching

[dlegresley]

I understand that are launching a Direct Debit switching service before the mass roll-out of current accounts, but us early adopters have to work through them manually. I therefore thought I would start a thread to share the highs and lows of this fun activity

My experiences so far:

• The good: TV licencing - logged in online and just entered sort code, account number and a few clicks later it was done and I had confirmation email through. This is now showing in my Monzo account
• The old-skool: One of my credit card companies insisted I download a PDF direct debit change form from their website to complete. The form was not editable so I had to print and fill in with a pen. Amusing filling in the bit that reads “To the Manager … bank”. I then had to post it off in an envelope with the cost of a second class stamp and am now waiting for someone to type in my new sort code and account number back into a computer that will eventually end up on Monzo’s daily DD list…
• The odd messages: I emailed BMW finance and got an email back stating:

Unfortunately we have received a message that this bank does not accept direct debit transactions and we are therefore unable to make the requested change.

• Fortunately when I rang them up I was able to talk them through the change over the phone and their system did accept my Monzo bank details, though it “popped up a message that needs referring to my supervisor”. The supervisor check came back OK, so waiting for this one to show up in the app…

Please add your own experiences so far…

[sgetliffe]

Had similar experiences, majority of service providers, E.On, Sky, EE etc wouldn’t accept the sort code/account number online but when talking on the phone they were fine with it. I’ve successfully moved over 8 direct debits, the only two that refuse to accept Monzo are Southampton City Council and ZOPA loans. Not surprised about the council at all!

[InfraJoe]

I’ve had no problem with VW Finance, 3 and Barclaycard. A fairly painless experience.

[nexusmaniac]

Have faced an issue with Toyota finance… Contacted in app support so fingers crossed I hear back today

But Three Mobile contact moved over successfully

[coffeemadman]

I had no issues changing the direct debit online with EE, how strange.

[sacha]

I’ve moved most over without issues online.

The most annoying one so far is Virgin Media who are claiming not to support the Monzo sort code whilst the bank is “in beta”. I’d advise anyone with them to raise it with them through Twitter; the more who complain the faster they may change their mind and add the bank to their whitelist.

[nexusmaniac]

Glad to hear that!

Once EE take a payment, I’d screenshot it and post it here:

Gotta catch 'em all — The Monzo Current Account Preview testing challenge 🏆

If you’re one of the lucky few with a current account, you’ll know that we’ve released it early to get help testing and finding edge cases that we can’t find ourselves :slight_smile: One area that often generates weird issues is merchants not accepting our cards/doing something odd with them. So, we’d love your help in seeing whether merchants that historically had some issues with our cards are any better with these (and if they’re not, we’ll work out why and fix it!). This challenge is only o…

Could be in with a chance to win a free T-Shirt … And more importantly, helping Monzo know that their CA works with EE’s network

[nick69g]

Most of mind have gone through OK via online updates or over the phone.

I just have two outstanding that are failing to recognise the sort code and do anything about it. Annoying really, but I though I’d leave it a month, see if they update their systems and then try again.

[coffeemadman]

Went out all fine

[mj84]

I have never had so much post.

[nick69g]

Ive had three payments made now from the same DD yet only the last payment is shown. Will it be possible in the future to see a list off all payments, or at lest the last ten or so made from a direct debit?

[_sam]

Just to feedback. I switched all my direct debits (including EE) via their web portal, and had no issues whatsoever.
What was clever is that the new direct debits showed up within 12/24 hours in the Monzo app, long before payments were due. This is different to how NatWest worked where direct debits would only show up once the first payment had been made. Must better!

[alexs]

Will it be possible in the future to see a list off all payments, or at lest the last ten or so made from a direct debit?

They should still appear in your feed? And if you use the search, you can create a consolidated list.

Again, since this is a UI question, it’s worth bearing in mind that the design will change before the full launch. So I wouldn’t worry about any gaps right now.

[crablab]

Just changed my details with Seager Publishing. Very manual system I’m told so hopefully it should be fairly painless!

[SeanK]

I am struggling Tesco Bank (Car Insurance) did it through there online form and accepted the details but then a week later it wasn’t in recurring payment list so phoned them and they said “Still have my other bank details, however we can change them for you” I gave them details of my CA and said “we don’t recognise that bank” but then then said we can manually push them through and hope for the best a week later there still not in my recurring payments list so guess that one is going to fail.

[nick69g]

Yes they are in my feed - but when I go into the DD list and select a payee, it only shows the last payment made - whereas it would be good to see all the DD’s made to that payee listed under them.

[philgsy]

The main problem you’ll find with trying to update your DD details is that the company may not have updated their Sort Code Database (EISCD).
Odds are if they are putting in your sort code and saying its invalid, its because they havent updated theirs in a while. Some companies update weekly, most probably monthly, some quarterly and some smaller onesmay never update unless required to do so.
If you get this issue you can ask them to ensure that they have updated their EISCD for their DD system. They can also validate it by putting Monzo’s sort code into an online sort code checker (e.g. https://www.sortcodes.co.uk/checker.html) which confirms that Monzo are live, and can accept DD, Faster Payments, Chaps & BACS payments.

[PhilB]

FWIW:
Capital One - no problems updating online
Centrepoint Charity - no problems updating by phone
Virgin Active - no problems updating by phone (“Who are Monzo? I’ve never heard of that one before…”)

[alexs]

It’s good of you to share this Phil but rather than lots of users adding lists like yours, it’s probably quicker for users to check this Wiki to see whether they’re likely to run into issues switching their Direct Debit. As hopefully there will be a very long list of merchants that allow us to switch without any issues!

[HoddzDJ]

I have changed mine, done it online but took a while to show up in the recurring payments window (maybe 4 days).