The digital era of banking has left many of us with more power over our financial activities than ever before. This allows Australians to manage their money more efficiently and securely than ever. Westpac has taken this one step further with its new ability to temporarily block direct debits from particular companies, such as streaming services.
Westpac made the announcement on Thursday that it would be introducing the new feature to its mobile and internet banking services. This new capability will allow customers to take control of their scheduled direct debit payments by temporarily blocking the payment that usually goes to certain companies.
The primary benefit of this new feature is the ability to extend control over what payments are being automatically taken out of your account. Before this feature was available, customers had no ability to temporarily suspend any automatic payments to a particular company. This was especially pertinent when considering the streaming services that operate by having pre-arranged payments for subscription services.
Mandy Rutherford, Cash Director of Westpac, remarked it can be difficult to cancel direct debits and internet subscriptions.
“Our customers now have greater control over their money, with the ability to use our digital banking service to manage direct debits and even stop payment for a future direct debit in their app. Currently, over 5.5 million of our customers are actively leveraging this feature,” she said.
Customers who choose to block all direct payments from a company can do so for a period of three years unless they decide to change that. Sole traders, in addition to other users, of the Westpac banking app can request to cancel direct debit payments. This can be done either through the app or on the company’s website.
The CBA’s Commbank app currently features a similar feature, whereas NAB requires cancellation to be done in person or over the phone. This move is a result of streaming services attempting to regain the revenue loss they have suffered in the past few years, with one way being the increase of prices.
