Payments & Transfers - Direct Debit Information

Direct Debits Explained

Direct Debit is a simple, safe and convenient way to pay regular bills, especially if the amount varies from time to time - for example your gas or electricity bills and mortgage repayments.

Direct Debit is the only type of payment that is backed by a guarantee to give you added protection.

When you pay by Direct Debit you are always in complete control

  • Before your first Direct Debit payment is claimed you will be advised of the amount to be debited and the payment date. The organisation that you are paying will advise you of these details
  • If the amount to be debited from your account changes, the organisation you are paying must tell you in advance - so you will always know exactly how much you are paying
  • And in the unlikely event of any error occurring, you need only contact us to arrange a full refund the same day. You can cancel your Direct Debit arrangement online at any time. It is advisable to also inform the organisation you are paying.

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Setting Up a Direct Debit Arrangement

  • You can use Direct Debit to pay for utility services such as gas, electricity, water, telephone, council tax and TV licence. You can also pay bills such as mortgage repayments and loans by Direct Debit.
  • To set one up, you need to request a Direct Debit Instruction from the organisation that you wish to pay.
  • Once you have given them your account details, they will be able to send the Direct Debit Instruction to us and start to debit your account.

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Viewing a Direct Debit

  • Click on the FlexAccount from which you want to view the direct debit.
  • Choose 'Payments & Transfers' from the left hand menu.
  • Click on the name of the direct debit that you wish to view.

Some of Nationwide's direct debits show a "Last Payment Date". The date shown is the date on which Nationwide receive the payment instruction from other institutions and may be slightly earlier than the date shown on your statement.

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Amending a Direct Debit

  • If you would like to amend a Direct Debit please let the organisation you are paying know as we cannot amend the details.

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Cancelling a Direct Debit Arrangenent

  • Click on the FlexAccount from which you want to cancel the direct debit arrangement.
  • Choose 'Payments & Transfers' from the left hand menu.
  • Click on the name of the direct debit that you wish to cancel from the list of direct debits, or choose the 'cancel' link.
  • Check the details of the direct debit you wish to cancel.
  • Click on 'Cancel this Direct Debit'.
  • Your details will be updated the following day.
  • You should also inform the originator that the direct debit has been cancelled.

If the payment you wish to cancel is due to leave your account on the next working day, you must cancel the direct debit arrangement by 3.30pm.
If this deadline has passed or the payment is due out of your account today, please do not continue with this request online. Please call 08457 302010.

Please note that when you cancel a Direct Debit, all payments within this arrangement will cease. It is not possible to cancel just one month's payment and then reinstate the arrangement from the following month. Once a Direct Debit has been cancelled, we are unable to reinstate it unless the originator contacts us with your authority.

If you have more than one arrangement to a company, and wish to continue making a payment to the company, please check the reference number carefully to ensure that you cancel the correct arrangement.

If you have more than one arrangement to a company, and do not wish to make any further payments to the company, you will need to ensure that all arrangements are cancelled so that no further claims can be made.

You may be using one Direct Debit to pay for more than one service (for example if you have multiple insurance policies with one company and pay for these under the same direct debit). If you do not wish to cancel payment for all of these services, you should contact the originator and request that they cancel the relevant services and cease payment for these.

If you want to cancel a Direct Debit which is not showing on your account when you access it via Internet Banking, please call 08457 302010 or contact your local branch.

If you are in the process of transferring your current account to another provider, you should not cancel any direct debit arrangements from your FlexAccount. You should instead contact your new provider who is in the process of amending all your Direct Debits.

When you view the details for the Direct Debit you wish to cancel, please note that if a 'Last Payment Date' is displayed, this date is when the payment was requested from Nationwide by the originator. This date is usually one working day earlier than the date showing on your FlexAccount statement for this payment.

Cancelled Direct Debits will appear under Cancelled Payments in Payments & Transfers by 6am the following day, and will continue to be displayed there up to 13 months after the date of cancellation.

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You may also find these help sections useful...

Bill Payments
Cancelled Payments
Internal Transfers
Paying a Standing Order into Nationwide
Payments & Transfers
Regular Transfers
Standing Orders
Transfer Money

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