The day our monthly debit orders run off our bank account leaves most of us feeling super-distressed. It takes at least 160 hours a month to earn our salary and in a few hours most of it is wiped away in debit order collections.

To add insult to injury, isn’t it an added admin hack (and a slap in the face) hack when you find a sneaky debit order that’s run off your bank account without your consent.

Does this sound familiar?

You get a call from a local service provider who wants to sell you something. They run through things so quickly over the phone, that before you know it, you’ve agreed to something you didn’t really want.

The phone call ends, and you aren’t sure if you’ve bought something or not…

At the end of the month, it becomes apparent that you should have paid closer attention during that call.

This sneaky marketer had lodged a debit order against your bank account, and you know it’s going to be a real schlep to get it cancelled.

Over the past few years, this kind of debit order abuse, by unscrupulous companies, became such a common problem in South Africa. So much so, the Reserve Bank had to step in and order the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA) to sort out the issue.

PASA’s solution to protect South Africans against debit order abuse was to introduce DebiCheck – a way to control how a debit order process works. You might have already gone through the Debicheck process and are wondering why you had to follow this extra step.

So, this is how Debicheck works:

Your bank will NOT be allowed to run a new debit order against your account unless they have verified the new debit order instruction with you, and an official debit order mandate has been created.

A debit order instruction will get sent to your bank from the bank of the company you have signed a new contract with – maybe you’ve just signed up to the local gym, taken out a funeral policy or signed up with the new fibre internet provider in your suburb.

You will need to electronically confirm that the new debit order is legit and you will do this on an electronic device like your cell phone, your banking App, your computer or perhaps at an ATM. Your bank will let you know which options are available for you to use. This process will only need to be done once-off, at the start of your new contract.

There is a great video explaining how Debicheck works. You can watch it here

There are some valuable FAQs from the Debicheck website (https://debicheck.co.za/) and we’ve decided to include a few of them here:

What is the difference between DebiCheck debit orders and other debit orders?

DebiCheck debit orders are debit orders that you will confirm, electronically and on a once off basis at the start of your agreement. Its purpose is for you to confirm the details of the debit order with your bank before money gets withdrawn from it. Other debit orders are not confirmed in this way, although you still need to have the valid contract info in place.

Why the need to electronically confirm debit orders?

It ensures that you are in control of and aware of debit orders being processed to your bank account. Additionally, it provides the company, that you are dealing with, with the comfort of knowing that you have acknowledged and are aware of these debit orders. It also allows your bank to capture the debit order info and to check the information before they process the withdrawal.

How do I know that the company that is debiting my bank account is part of the new system?

Debit orders requiring electronic confirmation with your bank are called DebiCheck debit orders. You can enquire from the company that your debit order is with, whether or not they are part of the DebiCheck system. If you are not required to electronically confirm the debit order information with your bank, at the start of your contract, the company that you are dealing with is not using DebiCheck for this debit order.

Until next time,

The MoneyShop Team