Every Brit must make 3-second direct debit check NOW or risk £100s vanishing from your account, Martin Lewis warns
EVERY Brit must make a three-second direct debit check NOW or risk hundreds of pounds vanishing from your account, warns Martin Lewis.
The MoneySavingExpert has deemed today “Direct Debit Day” has he continues his mission to save the nation as much money as possible.
On Martin Lewis Money Show on Tuesday the expert urged everyone who has regular and recurring payments leaving their account to double check them.
He said payments “drip out of our accounts” and most of the time we don’t even realise – which is handy for bills but not all transactions.
But sometimes, outgoing payments could hit a fault and if you’re not checking you could be losing out massively.
In his series finale tonight, Martin said: “The thing about regular payments is that we spend our money but we don’t do it consciously.
“It happens behind our backs, but if you don’t check them regularly, millions of people are paying for stuff they don’t want and stuff they don’t need.”
Producer Josh on Martin’s show admitted he fell victim to this problem.
He explained he had been paying for Amazon Prime twice a month for two years – meaning he had lost £280 without even noticing.
Fiona in the audience found four payments on her mobile banking app that she had no idea about.
The mum had been paying £4-a-month on a tech product, that she doesn’t even have anymore, for the last eight years.
One guy in the crowd said he found a £12-a-month payment for a garden centre.
He’d been forking out the cash for the last 10 years – meaning he’d lost £1,444 without realising.
And Dan had been paying for an old phone line for the last six months through one of his direct debits.
Another guy found he had been paying £10.99-a-month for Netflix for the last nine months – but he didn’t need to because he had it includes in his Sky.
To ditch or not to ditch
MARTIN Lewis has given a handy three-step guide to help you decide whether you need to carry on paying.
He said before you cancel, make sure you’re out of a contract.
If you’re paying for something pointless, ditch it, Martin explains.
Martin said to consider:
- Can I afford it?
- Will I use it?
- Is it worth it?