If you have bills that automatically come out of your account, such as water, electricity or telecommunications, you know that small surprises can appear on your bill. It is possible to check and manage these debts without needing to call the bank or wait for an unexpected bill. Multibanco offers this functionality, allowing you to view authorizations and establish charging limits.
According to Ekonomista, a website specializing in finance and economics, this tool helps Portuguese people maintain tighter control over recurring payments.
How to check direct debits
To find out which entities can debit your account, simply insert your card into an ATM, enter the secret code and choose the Consultations option. From there, select Debit Authorizations or Direct Debits. According to the same source, the system displays all active authorizations, with detailed information about the creditor entity, the amounts and dates of each charge.
Access to the same information is available through homebanking, allowing you to check authorizations online or in person at the bank. This regular monitoring is considered essential to avoid problems such as undue charges or billing errors.
Control and limits on payments
The direct debit system offers mechanisms that allow you to better manage automatic payments. It is possible to define a maximum limit for each debt, ensuring that higher amounts are refused. You can also set an end date after which you will no longer accept charges from a certain entity, or limit the frequency of authorizations, such as monthly or annually.
Furthermore, customers can create lists of authorized or blocked entities, even blocking all direct debits from an account if they wish.
According to the same source, these tools are useful especially for services with variable invoices or when you want to avoid debts coinciding with the period before receiving the salary.
Inactivate or cancel an authorization
Inactivating an authorization at Multibanco means that future charges from that entity will be refused. The operation is reversible, but does not cancel the contract with the creditor, meaning the customer remains obliged to pay by other means.
Canceling an authorization is a definitive action and must be done directly with the creditor company, completely closing the connection between the bank account and the contracted service.
How to react to incorrect charges
If you detect an unauthorized debit, you have up to 13 months to complain to the bank and request a refund of the amount.
For authorized debts with incorrect amounts, the deadline to request a refund is eight weeks, and you must also contact the creditor to correct the next invoice.
Those who change banks can transfer direct debits without canceling and reactivating each authorization, simply communicating the new IBAN to the entities involved.
According to , this monitoring allows direct debit to continue to be a practical and safe tool, avoiding surprises and protecting consumers against undue charges.
Also read:
