Make payments online

Paying account to account

The main ways to pay ‘account to account’ are:

Direct Debits

These are regular payments set up by an organisation you've agreed to pay. For example, when you pay for utility bills such as gas, electric or water.

Setting up a Direct Debit gives a company or person approval to take money from your bank on an agreed date. If there are any changes to the amount or payment date, the company must tell you as part of the Direct Debit Guarantee. The person or organisation taking the money will set these up.

Once set up, the money will come out on a regular basis. 

Always check you have enough money in your account

It's important you make sure you have enough money in your account to pay your Direct Debits. Not enough money means you may have to pay a fee for missing a payment. The best way to check this is using your online banking services. If you haven’t set these up already, go to our lesson Bank online.

Depending on the device you’re using, you should be able to see a button or link called ‘upcoming payments’ or ‘scheduled payments’. Here, you’ll be able to see a list of your Direct Debits and standing orders. Use this menu to check when they’re due and if they’re set up correctly. If they aren’t, you can contact the company or person and ask them to change it.

Check the payment details

It’s the person or company you’re paying who sets up Direct Debits. So, there’s not much for you to manage.

But, be aware - you do need to check the details are correct when your Direct Debits are set up.

This can stop you from being overcharged. It can also stop any payments becoming overdue.

One-off payments

Unlike the other two, these aren't regular payments. When you set up a one-time payment, it’s a bit like setting up a standing order. You need fewer details here, though. Plus, the payment usually goes through there and then.

You might use this to pay friends, family or companies when you just need to pay them once or from time to time. You enter the same kind of information, like account details and payment amount. Once you've set up someone as a payee (a person you pay), it saves their details. This makes it easier to pay them in future.

Here's how to make a one-off payment online:

What to expect

When you shop for goods and services online, you need to ‘check out’. This is like checking out in a physical shop, but it happens on the website or in the app you’re using.

In this chapter, we’ll look at the payment part of checking out. 

Ways to pay when you shop online

When you get to the point of payment, you’ll usually get a range of payment options. This will depend on the website or company. You may decide to pick a different way to pay for each purchase you make. Or you might find that one way works for most of your online shopping needs.

There are three main ways to pay:

Paying by card

Debit and credit cards are common ways to pay, both in store and online. But what’s the difference between them?

Debit cards

These allow you to move money electronically from your bank account to the account of the business or person you’re buying from. This spend will show up almost instantly on your online banking spending.

It may take a day or two to leave your account.

Credit cards

With a credit card, you’re not taking money straight from your account. Instead, you use money borrowed from your provider. This could be a bank, a credit card company or a credit lender. You then pay the provider back later. They may charge you interest for borrowing this money. They make this clear when you apply for the card. You usually have a limit on how much you can spend, and a set amount to be paid back in a given period of time.

Payment services

Another way you can pay is through payment services. These differ from paying by cards, as the payment doesn’t happen on the shop’s website or app. So you don’t need to enter your payment details on the shop’s site. Instead, the payment service will open in a new window where you can log in and make the payment from an account you’ve already set up.

These all work in a similar way, though they may have different features, like how much time you have to pay the full amount back. 

Let's look at a few examples now.

Buy Now, Pay Later

Some services let you buy now and pay later using credit. When you pay this way, you’re borrowing money from the provider and agreeing to pay them back later. Most of them offer the credit interest-free, but you should check for any interest or late payment fees that could cause you issues later.

Always make sure you’ll have enough money to pay for the goods. If used in the right way, these services let you spread the cost of larger purchases over a longer period of time.

Commonly used credit services include:

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