A guide to managing and cancelling direct debits and recurring payments. For further information, contact us today.
Confirm if it is a Direct Debit or a Recurring Payment
Before you contact us to request a cancellation, you need to confirm whether your regular payment is a Direct Debit or a Recurring Payment.
Recurring Payment
A Recurring Payment is a regular payment from a credit or debit card that occurs when a customer has provided their credit or debit card details (card number, expiry date and security code) to allow a merchant or service provider to charge their credit or debit card regularly to pay for the services they provide to the customer. You will need to contact the merchant or service provider to cancel these payments.
Direct Debit
A Direct Debit (Periodical Debit) is a regular payment where a customer authorises a third party, like a merchant or service provider, to debit the customer's savings or transaction account electronically using the BSB and account number on a regular basis to pay for services provided to the customer by the third party. If you need to stop, cancel or dispute a direct debit, you can contact us to help you with it.
Stop, Cancel or Dispute a Direct Debit
Telephone our ME Bank Team (visit www.mebank.com.au/home/contact-us for our operating hours) on 13 15 63 to speak with one of our friendly team members, who will be able to assist you over the phone.
If the direct debit is due to be processed from your account within the next 48 hours, ME Bank can still process your request. However, we cannot guarantee the success of the cancellation due to the possibility of the payment file already being processed.
Important things to remember when cancelling a direct debit
Stopping or cancelling your direct debit does not cancel your contract with the merchant or service provider. If you still have a valid contract with a merchant and you’ve stopped or cancelled a direct debit, you’ll need to make alternate payment arrangements with them. Or if you no longer require their services, you’ll have to cancel your agreement with them where possible.
Therefore, it is also a good idea to touch base with the third party provider that you have authorised to debit your account to ensure that they do not establish a new debit stream in the future and that they are also aware that you are cancelling your current direct debit engagement with them.