Pay your rates by direct debit
With direct debit you can pay your rates weekly, fortnightly, monthly or quarterly by instalment.
Advantages include:
- You may not have to pay bank fees - check with your bank.
- You won't get late payment penalties
- We will let you know the state of your rate account every three months
- Payment amounts are reviewed quarterly, rather than annually.
Payments come directly out of your bank account and are transferred to your rate account. Your bank may charge you a fee for setting up the direct debit or per transaction. You will need to check with your bank about this.
We will send you a quarterly statement of your rate account, which will advise you of any changes to the amount you are paying and when the new payment amount will start
The amount of your direct debit may change after the rates are struck for the new rating year, or if a payment is missed.
New Payplan Direct Agreements
Setting up a direct debit agreement
- Contact us. We will send you a direct debit application form and a freepost envelope.
- Complete it, sign it, and either drop it back to us or post it in the freepost envelope.
- We will send you a confirmation letter when we have processed your application. The letter will include the amount to be direct debited and the starting date.
Arrears balances
If your account has an arrears balance (as at 30 June of the previous rating year) and you would like to set up a direct debit to pay off the arrears, please contact us and speak to the Rate Arrears and Project Officer.
Extended agreements
If you cannot afford the amount that needs to be paid off before the end of the rating year, the agreement can be extended by arrangement. This involves extending your agreement to 30 June of the following year and adding the next year's estimated rates to the amount yet to be paid. Contact us to talk further about this.
Missed payments
If you want to miss a direct debit payment, you need to contact us at least two days before the due date with the details so we can make arrangements with you.
If you have missed a direct debit payment, then your bank will advise us of the dishonour. We will send you a letter confirming/advising that the payment has been dishonoured and ask you to come in to pay. When you come in, you will need to mention that that the payment is a direct debit repayment.
You may incur a penalty for missed payments. You can find more information about this in the Conditions of Payplan Direct. If we do not receive a dishonoured repayment, the amount is re-calculated into your next quarterly instalment, to ensure the rates are cleared to the end of the rating year.
Sale of properties - Transferring direct debits
Direct debit agreements are property-specific and cannot be transferred to other properties.
If you move or sell house, you will need to cancel your existing agreement and complete a new direct debit agreement form. Contact us to do this. You will need to notify your lawyer as well as we cannot action the new agreement until we are formally notified of the change of ownership. We can complete a property search to check if this has been done.
Changing bank account details
A new form needs to be completed each time there is a change to the bank account whether it is a complete change of account, date, frequency or just a suffix. Contact us with the new details, and we will complete the form and send it out with a freepost envelope for you to sign and return.
You will also need to advise your bank of the changes. Please note, all new forms must be returned to us, not your bank. If you have returned your form to your bank, please let us know as soon as possible so we can try to retrieve the form.
if you are closing your bank account, you will need to cancel the current direct debit and set up a new one.
Cancelling direct debit agreements
You must allow us two days notice to cancel your direct debit. You will also need to advise your bank. Call us and we can arrange the cancellation over the phone.
Last reviewed: 12 Jul 2008 6:54pm
Phone us on 477 4000
