Hope is on the horizon for the many frustrated bank account holders who are
powerless to stop debit orders going off their accounts.
Bob Tucker, chief executive of the Banking Council, says steps need to be
taken to reinforce your right to cancel debit orders if you no longer want
to make payments to a particular organisation.
The Council has asked the Payments Association of South Africa to work out
how consumers can instruct their banks if they want to cancel debit orders.
Personal Finance has highlighted the dangers of debit orders more than once.
When properly used, a debit order can be a convenient way of making regular
payments which differ in amount. Debit orders are widely used to pay cell
phone bills and municipal accounts which vary from month to month.
With a debit order you give the authority to a another person or
organisation to deduct money from your account.
Some debit orders are not specific in their working and practically give
somebody else carte blanche to raid your account.
If you want to stop a debit order you have to stop it with the organisation
that you gave the debit order to in the first place. Your bank cannot stop
a debit order because the contract is between you and the other person or
organisation.