Regular payments are a way of paying fixed and regular amounts using a debit card.

As the payments are fixed and regular then the payments are best suited for small and regular payments that rarely change, such as magazine subscriptions and gym memberships.  They are very good if there is a need to pay something by instalment, such as a car loan, as they can be timed to coincide with a salary payment, so that the borrower knows what money needs to be paid back.

The advantages of regular payments on debit cards include the fact that they take a lot of the worry out of paying.  There is little chance that a payment will be missed, and that penalties are triggered. There will also be no chance of losing access to a service because a cheque has been forgotten or lost in the post.

They are different from direct debits in that with direct debits the merchant can change the amount paid.  Direct debit is a better option for items such as energy bills and credit card payments which can change rapidly from quarter to quarter.  Many smaller businesses do not accept direct debits due to the administrative burden.

If a regular payment has been started on a debit card, it is important to watch for changing details.  This can include address and name changes, but most important are card changes, as these can invalidate the card itself.  Another change may be price changes.  If there are price changes then the card holder should be told in advance.

It is important to know the end date of the regular payments, if there is an end date.  This can usually be entered on through the debit card provider, but if it is not entered then the payment can keep going on far longer than the payments need to be made.  A vendor cannot change a regular card payment and so the onus is on the card holder to cancel their payment.

It is important to save documents that relate to regular credit card payments as although they may be small sums, if they are paid frequently over a long period of time they can add up to a considerable amount of money, $20 a month takes just over four years to become $1,000.  Having documents to hand, including bank statements can help to resolve disputes – and to stop misunderstandings.