How to cancel a payment coming out of a debit card?

JackieChang · 02-07-2020 12:54pm #1

We are not able to cancel Sky, because we are in a rented house and the person who is on the bill hasn't lived here in more than 5 years, and we don't know where he is.

Sky won't cancel it without speaking to him. I have never even met him. It's just been a name on the bill that's been coming for years.

The payments come out of my housemates card automatically. She saved her card details with sky when she moved in. She doesn't know where this guy on the bill is either. Now apparently we're stuck with Sky forever. (unless she cancels her card)

She's adamant that the bank won't be able to stop the payments and is being very stubborn - she won't even try to ask the bank.

Is that true? Can banks not do anything to stop this?

whippet · 02-07-2020 12:55pm

Of course they can.

Anyway .. why should it bother you if your housemate won’t cancel the payment

silver2020 · 02-07-2020 1:00pm

sepa direct debit guarantee, all she has to do is go into the bank, fill a form and cancel. Or download the form and post

No question asked.

Here's the bank of Ireland details https://www.bankofireland.com/help-centre/faq/cancel-sepa-direct-debit/#365_online

weldoninhio · 02-07-2020 1:10pm

silver2020 wrote: »

sepa direct debit guarantee, all she has to do is go into the bank, fill a form and cancel. Or download the form and post

No question asked.

Here's the bank of Ireland details https://www.bankofireland.com/help-centre/faq/cancel-sepa-direct-debit/#365_online

If its coming out via card, it's not a direct debit.

silver2020 · 02-07-2020 1:19pm

fairly similar procedure

https://www.bankofireland.com/help-centre/faq/cancel-subscription-card/

Or have her call sky, say that payment is no longer authorised on her card and for sky to make contact with the customer

JackieChang · 02-07-2020 1:28pm

silver2020 wrote: »

fairly similar procedure

https://www.bankofireland.com/help-centre/faq/cancel-subscription-card/

Or have her call sky, say that payment is no longer authorised on her card and for sky to make contact with the customer

First step in that link is you have to contact the service provider and ask them to cancel.

Tried that. They won't cancel it as the bill is not in her name or anyone's name in the house.

JackieChang · 02-07-2020 1:53pm

She just got off the phone to the bank - apparently she can cancel the payment coming from the card, but Sky can bypass it and take the money anyway. Sounds weird.

02-07-2020 2:01pm

JackieChang wrote: »

She saved her card details with sky when she moved in

How did she do this? Use the same method to change the payment details to one that's easier to block. Short of closing down the bank account, it's almost impossible to stop a utility company processing the payments. Even cancelling the card may not work, the payment will follow the re-issued card

silver2020 · 02-07-2020 3:18pm

JackieChang wrote: »

She just got off the phone to the bank - apparently she can cancel the payment coming from the card, but Sky can bypass it and take the money anyway. Sounds weird.

and if they do that, she can do a chargeback as she has notified the bank of cancellation.

JackieChang · 02-07-2020 3:38pm

silver2020 wrote: »

and if they do that, she can do a chargeback as she has notified the bank of cancellation.

Look at the post above yours. Apparently they can keep taking money out of the account forever. Unless you close the account.

maxsmum · 02-07-2020 4:19pm

Why don't you ring up and cancel and say you're the name of the old housemate?!

ShaShaBear · 02-07-2020 4:19pm

JackieChang wrote: »

Look at the post above yours. Apparently they can keep taking money out of the account forever. Unless you close the account.

Sounds more to me like your housemate is telling you a pack of lies to get out of cancelling Sky. Is she taking money off the rest of the household for it?

floorpie · 02-07-2020 4:20pm

I don't know the answer, but I had a similar issue where a company was taking subscription payments after I'd cancelled the subscription.

PTSB told me that, because I had given the company my debit card details, there was nothing they could do. They said that they could "flag it" and notify me, but that I had to instead deal with the company. They couldn't do charge-backs on a debit card. I had proof that I'd cancelled the sub, and that the company had continued to take payments (for a year before I'd noticed :S). This all sounded bogus to me, but luckily the scammy company stopped taking payment after talking to them.

I'm since hesitant about using debit cards if it means companies can have direct access to your account and banks can't do anything (supposedly).

02-07-2020 4:44pm

floorpie wrote: »

They couldn't do charge-backs on a debit card

The rest is pretty accurate, but this part's definitely nonsense. From a consumer point of view, there is no difference between a chargeback on a debit card versus a credit card. They both have the same protections here. The only advantage with a credit card is that it's not your money that goes missing immediately, so you could hypothetically refuse to pay your credit card bill until it's sorted out, but that comes with its own set of problems.

floorpie · 02-07-2020 5:40pm

28064212 wrote: »

The rest is pretty accurate, but this part's definitely nonsense. From a consumer point of view, there is no difference between a chargeback on a debit card versus a credit card. They both have the same protections here. The only advantage with a credit card is that it's not your money that goes missing immediately, so you could hypothetically refuse to pay your credit card bill until it's sorted out, but that comes with its own set of problems.

Is there any difference between debit and credit for who would be on the hook in the case of a charge back? E.g. is it a loss to the bank when it's for debit card? They were pretty persistent about not being able to get the money back

L1011 · 02-07-2020 5:42pm

The bank gets the cash back off the vendor unless they're gone bust. Lots of very poor quality call centre staff out there.

JackieChang · 02-07-2020 9:46pm

maxsmum wrote: »

Why don't you ring up and cancel and say you're the name of the old housemate?!

We need an account number and we've no idea what the hell it is.

messrs · 02-07-2020 9:53pm

JackieChang wrote: »

We need an account number and we've no idea what the hell it is.

You said in your first post that the bill has been coming in his name for years. The account number will be on the bill

Credit Checker Moose · 02-07-2020 9:56pm

Viewing card number should do them.

GerardKeating · 04-07-2020 12:32pm

floorpie wrote: »

Is there any difference between debit and credit for who would be on the hook in the case of a charge back? E.g. is it a loss to the bank when it's for debit card? They were pretty persistent about not being able to get the money back

For the customer and bank, there is little or no difference with a chargeback on a debit or a credit card with visa or mastercard.

donnyvegas · 08-07-2020 10:46pm

Just cancel the bank card? The bill is in some randomer's name. Surely any debt would be his?

L1011 · 08-07-2020 10:48pm

donnyvegas wrote: »

Just cancel the bank card? The bill is in some randomer's name. Surely any debt would be his?

Doesn't stop recurrent payments with large vendors or any pre-approved payments - they just move over to the replacement.

You'd need to leave the bank entirely, which is rather nuclear.

the_syco · 08-07-2020 10:57pm

JackieChang wrote: »

She's adamant that the bank won't be able to stop the payments and is being very stubborn - she won't even try to ask the bank.

I'm guessing that she is demanding money from you for Sky? Stop paying her, and she'll very quickly stop paying Sky!

Dav010 · 09-07-2020 5:53am

Op, take the viewing card out of the sky box, you can use the long digit number on it to communicate with Sky.

This really is your friends problem, if she won’t contact her bank, then she can keep paying for a service she doesn’t want, her choice. I don’t see how this should effect anyone else but the card holder if all agree that they want service cancelled.

skinny90 · 09-07-2020 9:56am

I dont understand it, how is this causing you grief? your not paying for the service, somebody else is....Have I missed something?

weldoninhio · 09-07-2020 9:57am

L1011 wrote: »

Doesn't stop recurrent payments with large vendors or any pre-approved payments - they just move over to the replacement.

You'd need to leave the bank entirely, which is rather nuclear.

Of course it does. How can Sky process a payment on a card they don't know the number, expiry or security code on?

L1011 · 09-07-2020 10:08am

weldoninhio wrote: »

Of course it does. How can Sky process a payment on a card they don't know the number, expiry or security code on?

It absolutely doesn't.

The updated card details are provided by the bank to anyone with a valid pre-authorisation. This has been done for years and years

It prevents people accidentally getting cut off for utilities they pay by card, prevents people running away from car hire damage and so on.

You would need to leave the bank entirely basically.

loyatemu · 09-07-2020 10:17am

the_syco wrote: »

I'm guessing that she is demanding money from you for Sky? Stop paying her, and she'll very quickly stop paying Sky!

exactly, it's her problem. She shouldn't have signed the payment mandate when her name isn't on the Sky account.

re: ringing Sky; they'll ask for a password or some identifying info (Mother's maiden name etc).

You could try the Sky chat forums on their website, someone may have had the same issue (Sky used to have a Talk-To forum on Boards and they were pretty helpful but it closed last year). But at the end of the day it's your housemate's issue.

weldoninhio · 09-07-2020 10:35am

L1011 wrote: »

It absolutely doesn't.

The updated card details are provided by the bank to anyone with a valid pre-authorisation. This has been done for years and years

It prevents people accidentally getting cut off for utilities they pay by card, prevents people running away from car hire damage and so on.

You would need to leave the bank entirely basically.

I used to work in card services for An Irish Bank. It 100% does.

From AIBs website.
"The new card will have a new number, for safety reasons. That means that if you have set up your card to make regular payments to companies like Spotify and tolls, you will need to change the card number with these companies."

L1011 · 09-07-2020 10:37am

weldoninhio wrote: »

I used to work in card services for An Irish Bank. It 100% does.

From AIBs website.
"The new card will have a new number, for safety reasons. That means that if you have set up your card to make regular payments to companies like Spotify and tolls, you will need to change the card number with these companies."

Used to

Times change. This has changed.

Not every company updates cards automatically. Many do. NowTV for instance. This is a service offered by the card brand operator (Visa, Mastercard), so you may never have had any exposure to it. But it absolutely happens.

It is worse than pointless to tell someone to cancel a card and expect that it'll stop money from being taken.

09-07-2020 10:44am

weldoninhio wrote: »

I used to work in card services for An Irish Bank. It 100% does.

From AIBs website.
"The new card will have a new number, for safety reasons. That means that if you have set up your card to make regular payments to companies like Spotify and tolls, you will need to change the card number with these companies."

It depends on the creditor's setup. They or their payment processor can use a service like this: https://www.bluepay.com/payment-processing/payment-gateway/account-updater/

Our team will then send this data to the card brands (Visa, Mastercard, and Discover) for verification. Their databases are continuously updated by participating card issuers whenever a customer’s payment information changes.

Visa Account Updater, Mastercard Automatic Billing Updater, and Discover Account Updater then return a response back to BluePay with the credit card account update — including account numbers, expiration dates, closed account notices, and brand migrations between Visa and Mastercard, to name a few

BluePay automatically “updates” this information within the gateway and provides you with a notification that changes have been made.

Someone like Sky almost certainly uses an updater service

How to cancel a payment coming out of a debit card?

Comments