I had the same problem with Vision Express. The Direct Debit showed as having successfully moved (it appeared in Monzo) and my previous bank closed the old Direct Debit.
However, no payment was taken and I received a letter from Vision Express saying they had tried and failed to take a payment from my old bank but the Direct Debit had been closed. They had no information that it had switched to Monzo.
I contacted Monzo (who were lovely and helpful) and they investigated. They say that it looks as though Vision Express had not updated the new details and were still attempting to use the old details.
This is the fault of the Companies. Basically what happens is the Companies have to âdownloadâ and apply the necessary files to keep everything updated. If they arenât doing this, then nothing gets updated. Which is crazy that they arent as this is how they get your money.
Basically dont do CASS - do the DDs manually. Wait 1 month to make sure all have been swopped over, and then you can use CASS to close the account (if you want to).
Ergh, I thought so and this is what Monzo said had happened. The whole reason I did CASS was to specifically move the Vision Express DD as they donât have the ability to do it online or over the phone. You have to request a paper form or go into the store and fill out a form.
Iâm with Vision Express and I called my local branch, they then called Head Office to get approval, and they called me back and I did it over the phone.
If you want to close your account you can also use the full switch service. That will redirect any payment attempts to/from your old account until 13 months after the last redirection.
Itâs only if you want to keep one account open that these sort of problems can and often do occur.
Was this a partial switch? If so see this thread for more details:
It seems a full switch is better, because it actually redirects payments, so it doesnât matter if the merchant doesnât update. I donât think Monzo should even offer partial switches for now as they are really not reliable.
I would say the safer risk free option would be to do a partial switch. Keep a balance in both accounts during the transition which would cover companies that are slow in updating their customer records.
Similarly I had a problem with one company which refused to recognise the new account details. Gave up trying to deal with them and switched the direct debit to a standing order.
I know this may not be Monzos fault, but I think they have a bit of responsibility to not be promoting the CASS process as a simple hands off experience when it appears to be anything but.
The problem arises when you switch the DD from your old bank, itâs cancelled. So having money in the old account is no use. Itâs a tricky one. I moved all my DDs over before the CASS and it wasnât too much hassle.
But I think the partial switch should have some guarantees, however it doesnât.
Thatâs a fair point. Perhaps a log could be made when new DD providers (not previously paid out of any Monzo account) were added into the Direct Debit list. Then it could be proactive in asking the customer if the Direct Debit had continued as expected.
I donât think Iâd trust anyone to do a partial switch for me, since it doesnât have the same guarantees. Not even a fintech bank, because I feel like some companies will just muck up somewhere and as much as I get amazing CS you would end up having to get in touch with the offending company to sort out the DDs. Going to do a full switch over summer.
To me the problem with CASS is not the banks but the merchants. If they follow BACS Direct Debit guidelines and rules they will get a file with the info needed to update your account info on their system. But some lazy firms do not bother, and hence they get notified your old direct debit is cancelled and write you a stroppy letter rather than change your direct debit details. Perhaps they should be reported to the BACS organization for noncompliance rather than people moan at their new or old bank!?
Agree, shouldnât this be updated every month or something? If they did we wouldnât have needed a massive thread on who supports Monzo and who doesnât. Itâs just sheer laziness
Thatâs true, but how many average users would even know that was an option. They have probably read this:
"The Current Account Switch Service makes it simple to switch bank accounts. Itâs supported by the government, completely free to use, and designed to eliminate all the admin and anxiety from switching.
You can switch some or all of your payments between banks that support the service. And switching only takes a few taps."
And this
âWhether you want to move a few Direct Debits over so you can manage more of your money through Monzo, or youâre ready to use it as your only account, we can help make that process as simple and stress-free as possible.â
The average user would probably not interpret that as âwe will cancel all the direct debits with your old bank, but they may or may not be set up with Monzo. Just wait and see if they bounce, then have fun phoning around companies. Or you could report to BACS (Google it).â
There isnât an official way to check (although Monzo has stats and could potentially make a formal database of direct debits and automatically update it if they suddenly see an influx of new DDs from a a particular merchant), so at the moment itâs just people accounting for their own experiences, and they often forget to go back to update it when the issue is resolved.
The problem is not that there is no guarantee, it is that there is no redirect on a partial switch.
So your old bank cancels, your new one shows it as set up, but you are entirely at the mercy of the merchants switching and have no way to check. For full switch it doesnât matter what the merchant does (for a few years at least). Completely different process, and not one Monzo should participate in IMO, unless they can fix it somehow.