The phrases “direct debit” are sufficient to ship a chill up most spines; a pleasant easy way for firms to take cash out of your account, and conversely, a ache within the ass for many customers to really cancel. Some service suppliers make it comparatively easy to cancel direct debits, however some are notoriously troublesome.. and for these, when you’re a Westpac buyer, it’s about to get simpler.
Westpac Group has launched a brand new function in cell and web banking which provides customers the flexibility to immediately cease sure scheduled direct debit funds. This will place a short lived block on an organization debiting any funds from the client’s account.
The function is on the market for shopper and sole dealer enterprise customers after they request to cancel a direct debit, by merely looking ‘cancel a direct debit’ of their banking app or on-line and choosing from their listing of direct debits made up to now 90 days.
Westpac Managing Director of Cash & Transactional Banking, Mandy Rutherford, stated:
“We know cancelling direct debits could be difficult and we would like to make the method simpler for our customers.
“With 5.5 million of our customers actively using digital banking, we are giving them more choice in how they manage direct debits on their transaction accounts. Customers can now stop a payment for a future direct debit in their app, giving them greater control over their money,” she stated.
“This will be particularly handy if they have multiple streaming services or subscriptions that they decide are no longer needed,” Ms Rutherford stated.
If customers select to block all direct debit funds from a specific firm, the block can be in place for 3 years except the client decides to take away the block and reinstate the direct debit earlier. In addition to the block, customers can request to cancel the direct debit altogether and Westpac will notify the corporate to motion the cancellation.
Customers can nonetheless select to contact Westpac for help with cancelling direct debits, by visiting a department or calling us on 132 032, 8am-8pm Sydney time, 7 days per week.