What is a Direct Debit?
A Direct Debit is a contract between a customer and a Biller (or Merchant or Company). The agreement allows the Biller to automatically debit funds from the customer’s nominated bank account (using the BSB and account number) as per the terms and conditions of the Direct Debit agreement.
When a Direct Debit is established using a credit card number, this is referred to as a reoccurring card payment. These payments are governed by the card scheme (Visa or MasterCard) which means the bank needs to comply with the card scheme terms and conditions when servicing these transactions.
It is your responsibility to ensure that you have sufficient available funds in your chosen account when payments are due to be withdrawn.
I need to make a change to my Direct Debit repayments?
To make a change to your Direct Debit repayments you will need to contact the Biller (or Merchant or a Company).
To change details for a Direct Debit to a HSBC account, please see the relevant page below:
How can I cancel a Direct Debit?
You can contact us and request that we send a cancellation request on your behalf, and if needed, block any further payments.
Alternatively, Direct Debits can be cancelled with the Biller (Merchant or a Company) they were established with. This will ensure the payment is cancelled within the conditions of the agreement.
Please note, unlike Direct Debits, HSBC is unable to cancel a regular payment (also known as a recurring card payment) on your behalf. Until you cancel your authority, the merchant is entitled to request HSBC to debit the card account and HSBC is obliged to process this request. If the merchant does not comply with your request to cancel the authority, you need to provide HSBC with a copy of the correspondence with the merchant to enable HSBC to dispute the relevant transaction(s) on your behalf.
I don't recognise a Direct Debit transaction.
Some Billers (Merchants or Companies) will use a third party company to process their Direct Debit payments. You may find the transaction will appear on your statement in the name of the debiting company rather than the merchant on the agreement.
If you contact the debiting company they can provide more information about who they are debiting on behalf of.
If you still don’t recognise the Direct Debit please call us on 1300 308 008 from anywhere in Australia or +61 2 9005 8220 if you are calling from overseas.
Can a Direct Debit transaction overdraw my account?
It is your responsibility to ensure that you have sufficient available funds in your chosen account when payments are due to be withdrawn. While the bank is under no obligation to do so on any particular occasion, we may permit you to overdraw your account by allowing a Direct Debit payment to occur even if there are insufficient funds in the account. If we do honour a transaction, or do so more than once, it does not mean we have any obligation to do so in the future.
Please note that you may avoid being charged the Account Overdrawn Fee by returning your account to a positive balance, by 6.00pm Sydney time on the day the transaction is conducted.
If the payment dishonours, you are required to contact the merchant to discuss alternate payment options.