Are charities charged to process direct-debits?

[Waldo]

With a lot of the bigger charities, they seem to have automated systems in place to process direct-debits (sign up new people on websites etc). I'm just curious, does it cost the charities anything to process these (are they charged a processing fee by the financial organisation who handle the DD etc)?

 

Anyone know?

[willman]

IIRC most of the charities are charged initially for everything.They're even charged an exorbitant fee for the text donation system(so much so that we never signed up for it).

I put initially because they may be able to claim it back or a tax break against it .

[mlfc]

I work with a charity and our bank gave us the option of an interest paying current account with DD charges or no interest and no charges.

 

As we move any excess cash into an interest paying account until it's needed anyway we selected the second option.

 

I guess different banks have different options and it's worth finding one that fits the profile.

 

Out of curiosity, why do you ask?

 

---------- Post added 03-12-2013 at 15:02 ----------

 

IIRC most of the charities are charged initially for everything.They're even charged an exorbitant fee for the text donation system(so much so that we never signed up for it).

I put initially because they may be able to claim it back or a tax break against it .

I worked for Vodafone until a few months ago and their text donation system (Just Text Giving) is an entirely free service and does not take a percentage of the donation. See http://www.vodafone.co.uk/about-us/just-text-giving/

 

BT have also set up their version on JustGiving and this is also free. See http://www.btplc.com/mydonate/?s_cid=con_social_FB_MyDonate_29.07.13

[willman]

I work with a charity and our bank gave us the option of an interest paying current account with DD charges or no interest and no charges.

 

As we move any excess cash into an interest paying account until it's needed anyway we selected the second option.

 

I guess different banks have different options and it's worth finding one that fits the profile.

 

Out of curiosity, why do you ask?

 

---------- Post added 03-12-2013 at 15:02 ----------

 

I worked for Vodafone until a few months ago and their text donation system (Just Text Giving) is an entirely free service and does not take a percentage of the donation. See http://www.vodafone.co.uk/about-us/just-text-giving/

 

BT have also set up their version on JustGiving and this is also free. See http://www.btplc.com/mydonate/?s_cid=con_social_FB_MyDonate_29.07.13

 

Thats excellent news, when i researched it about 12-18 months ago there was a monthly fee and deductions which were used to provide the services. So well done vodafone and BT.

[Jeffrey Shaw]

Standing Orders are always free, to payer and payee.

But, on the other hand, many people do not like or trust Direct Debits.

So let charities stick with Standing Orders.

[Andy]

Standing Orders are always free, to payer and payee.

But, on the other hand, many people do not like or trust Direct Debits.

So let charities stick with Standing Orders.

 

Unless the payer is on a tariff where they pay for Standing Orders (some business tariffs do).

[cgksheff]

You can always get your money back if a Direct Debit is abused.

 

Not so with Standing Orders.