How do I change my Direct Debit date?

Thank you for the feedback.

I wasn’t sure if the system would accept two DD payments in one month. I have just changed my DD date from the 1st to the 28th. For me this means paying the DDs a few days early.

So why did I want to change? To prove that software systems are basically thick!

A month or so ago my DD was £115 per month, I looked to have a healthy balance of £61 at the end of March 2026 and the suggestion was I could reduce my DD to £109 per month. Then OVO changed the rules slightly suggesting I should have one month’s worth of credit at the end of March (to cover a harsher than usual winter?). The result; a suggested increase in DD to £121 per month.

By moving my payment date forward by a few days I now have a payment on my account just before the end of March. The predicted balance is now £176 and I have a suggested payment of £109 per month. Back where I started a few months ago.

What you have actually done there is just added in an extra DD payment between now and 31st March 2026.

So instead of paying 9x DD’s before 31st March 2026 you will now pay 10x DD’s

So your payments needed to get to a month in credit will now be taken as 10x DDs of £109 rather than 9x. DD’s of £121.

You are still  paying the same between now an 31st March.

10 x 109 = £1,090
9 x 121 = £1, 089

PS. If you had simply paid a one-off of £109 on your online account then that would have acheived the same result by reducing the remaining 9x payments to £109 without moving your DD date. (The one-off would be the extra 10th payment).

Yes I understand that, but it makes little difference to me if I pay on the 28th or the 1st of the month as both are still after when my income is added (and these days you get so little interest).

OVO sees this as me making an extra payment, I see it as making my payments 3 to 4 days early; I have moved the 1st July payment forward 3 days to the 28th June.

Or another way to look at it if I pay at the start of the month OVO have my £115 for the whole month, if I pay at the end OVO only have it for 3 or 4 days (yes I realise that I have made an “extra” payment this month).

Because the cut-off dates for the DD calculation is the end of March (31st), their calculation does not take into account that the very next day OVO would be receiving their regular monthly DD payment. 

Ovo are happy because they have an extra payment. I’m happy because my DD has reduced from £121 to £109 and 3 days is neither here nor there.

As an aside I quite like the OVO system of showing your current credit balance, whereas some companies just show how much you have paid with no idea of how much you have spent in the same period.

If it suits you then fine.

I myself have my DD paid in a couple of days before my billing period end as it currently suits me to keep payments generally aligned with the billing period end, with the couple of days allowance so if a DD falls due on a Sunday/BH it will still get taken within the billing period.

An alternative viewpoint.

OVO wish me to increase my DD, taken on the 1st month, from £115 to £121 to cover any “unexpected” increases.

Suppose I could change my next DD from the 1st July to 28th July. OVO would still want me to increase my DD, because they look at the position at the end of March 2026. HOWEVER I can now invest that £121 @ 4% (for 28 days out of 30) to provide me with around £4.80 interest over the year.

I understand your perspective ​@BeePee, we’ve had similar feedback in this topic which I have responded to: