What is a Direct Debit?

A direct debit is when you give an instruction to your bank. You are authorising an organisation or a business to collect money directly from your bank account. Only if you have been told the amounts and dates of collection from your account.
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Here’s some other information on direct debits:

• Direct debits are used for things like subscriptions, utility bills and council tax as it is an automated payment method.
• Direct debits can be used for variable and fixed amounts.
• Direct debits can be used for one-off payments that don’t aren’t needed immediately.
• You must be told the amount and date of each payment in advance and have to right to an immediate refund of any payments that shouldn’t have been taken.
• Direct debit payments will only show in your online banking statement when its been taken from your account.

Standing Order vs. Direct Debit

Though they are similar, standing orders and direct debits have one fundamental difference.

While direct debits are authorised by the customer and set up by a company to move funds from your account to theirs, standing orders are authorised and set up by you to move funds to other people or organisations. They are normally for a set amount and a regular frequency.

To break it down further...

In Direct Debits, the amount moved is controlled by the company you are paying. For example, your water bill changes every month and so the water company has the capability of debiting a different amount from your account each month. If you set up a standing order to the Water company, it would be the same amount each month, or changeable by you as the consumer if need be.