16th Jul 2014

It’s bad news – Direct Debits save money!

We never expected to hear anyone complain about Direct Debits being cheaper, but that’s pretty much what has happened with this piece of news.

The issue is around the fact that customers who pay their energy bills by Direct Debit can save around £114 a year (according to the Department of Energy and Climate Change).

Hang on, that’s good news surely? Well, perhaps not, depending which way you look at it…

And MPs are looking it from the point of view that customers who DON’T pay by this scheme are being ‘ripped off’ to the tune of £114 a year! And nearly 200 MPs have now signed a House of Commons motion calling for an enquiry by the energy regulator Ofgem.

The MPs are raising a serious issue around payment costs. But as champions of good Direct Debit management here at AccessPay, we’ve always promoted their money saving benefits as being a good thing. And we’ve certainly highlighted the fact that customers who pay their utility bills by Direct Debits can save money!

Read the headlines

We just hope that this story isn’t the start of a trend, where Direct Debit benefits are spun into ‘bad news’ stories for those who don’t use them. We’ve had a little bit of fun with some possible headlines:

 

“Shock! Businesses charged more for taking payments by Credit Card instead of Direct Debits”!

 

“Outrage! Businesses that don’t accept Direct Debits are left to suffer from late or missed payments”!

 

“More shock! Customers who don’t pay by Direct Debit are forced to traipse to bank to pay bills”!

Learn about Direct Debits

Like we said, it’s all down to how you look at the issue. But let’s hope that the time and money saving benefits of Direct Debits don’t come in for a needlessly rough ride!

We’ll end with a serious question. Could the increased awareness of these utility bill costs actually increase the sign-up rates to Direct Debits? Have MPs accidentally promoted the fact that Direct Debits are a great way of paying bills and saving money?