Question re: direct debits...

We have two bank accounts and I transfer money to the other bank account monthly, where our bills come out of.  I made a mistake and didn't transfer enough and one of our direct debits didn't go through.  Our online balance shows we still have some money in the account (no overdraft though), but I can tell that the supplier tried to debit our account (the amount they debit is more than our balance).

What do we do? Do we contact the supplier, or will they try to debit the account again?

Does anyone know if we'll be hit with charges from the bank?

I'm a complete idiot!!!

ETA: Will this effect our credit?

Does anyone know if we'll be hit with charges from the bank?

Depends on the bank. All charges should be available on your bank's website.

ETA: Will this effect our credit?

Most likely not, unless you make a habit of paying late or not paying at all.

I don't know a lot about banking in the UK, but I used to work for a US bank, and the bank would always attempt I think three times to debit accounts before sending off a "we couldn't debit you" message, so if you put money in to cover the debit, you might be able to catch it.  Wait a few days to make sure nothing stray goes out and then call the company debiting you and have them put it through again.

It won't affect your credit unless your bill is more than 60 days overdue.

Yeah you will probably get charged a fee for that. I would ring the bank and find out and transfer enough money to cover it and the transaction. Also, you should contact whoever was expecting to be paid and ask them to put it through again.

Thanks everyone.

If it doesn't go through by tomorrow, DH will call and ask them to put it through again.

I feel like an idiot.  Its one thing if we didn't have the money, but quite another to simply forget.  Uggh..

Uggh...so both the supplier and our bank is charging us a fee!  I can see the supplier charging a fee, but why the bank?

Does anyone know if its even worth calling the bank to ask that they waive their fee?

Yes!!! Phone both of them!!! If you regularly pay on time, they're very likely to cut you some slack. I accidentally bounced a car payment and I phoned the car finance people and explained that it was a mistake on my part and apologised and they said they would refund the charge as they could see by my payment history that it hadn't happened before. And my bank did the same because it was the first time I'd ever had a direct debit not go through! 

hi yael, def call them i bank with halifax and they have wavied the fee for me more then once.. oops. good luck

Thanks. I'll call the bank tomorrow.

DH already agreed to paying the supplier's fee, so I think we'll have to forget about that one.