Direct debit: What you can do

• If you have given a direct debit mandate via a green card, then keep the yellow card in case you ever want the amount credited back to your account. The red card is to stop the mandate entirely. These cards are available from your bank.
• An online mandate is not a legally valid payment method. However, if you want to give a mandate via the internet, you must print and sign the mandate and then send it to the company. The best way to make online payments is to use a safe payment method such as iDEAL, the online payment method developed by the Dutch banks.
• Do you disagree with a direct debit or the debited amount? Then you have 56 calendar days to request your bank to credit the amount back to your account. The bank will do this without asking any questions. Exceptions:
• A one-off written mandate cannot be reversed. Contact the supplier if you want to contest the payment. Telephone mandates can be reversed, provided you request this within 56 calendar days.
• A continuous gaming direct debit cannot be reversed.

• If a company repeatedly makes incorrect direct debits, ask the bank to block the company’s account number so that it can no longer debit your account.

• Do you disagree with a direct debit (e.g. because you have not given a mandate)? And you are not entitled to have the debit reversed or the term has lapsed? Then you have a right of recourse up to 13 months after the transaction. Inform your bank in this case. If the debiting company is unable to produce the mandate for a disputed transaction, the amount will be refunded.