Originally Posted by johnspenceruk

Roger, it was the BA Premium AMEX credit card.

It is standard practice to check the balance outstanding for the billing period at the time direct debit instruction is sent to the bank. This means that for almost all UK credit cards the DD will not be taken, provided you manual payment has cleared 3-4 days before the DD collection instruction has been sent to the bank.

I have been doing it for years, with a too CC providers to remember. It was never a problem.

The reason I am frustrated is that it's the second time I have problems with AMEX and direct debits. Just a few months ago, they took a DD in error on another card. I called them, the DD was reversed bringing the card to 0 balance. But it registered as a bounced payment. How can an IT system not distinguish from a reversed DD (resulting from AMEX admin error) and and a default? Is this acceptable?