Pay by Direct Debit

It pays to be direct

There's no getting away from it … none of us like paying bills. It's just one of those things we've got to do. But did you know that you can pay your Council Tax by Direct Debit and make your life much easier.

All you need is a bank or building society account. You can either complete the Direct Debit over the phone or down load an application form.

Call us to set up your Direct Debit

It should only take a few minutes to complete. Call us on 0131 200 2000 and ask for Council Tax or Non-Domestic Rates. Please have the following information ready before you call:

• Council Tax or Non-Domestic Rates customer account number (on the top of your bill)
• your bank or building society details including your account number and sort code
  We will then send you a confirmation letter within three working days of setting up the Direct Debit. An amended Demand Notice will also be sent to you showing the instalments to be taken from your bank account at least 10 working days before any amount is debited from your account.

Download a Direct Debit application form

Or you can simply fill in the form and return it to us by post or hand it into any Council Tax payment office. The Direct Debit application form (PDF, 399k) is available in PDF format. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print out the form.

Please print out the form, fill it in and either:

post it to:

Revenues and Benefits
The City of Edinburgh Council
PO Box 12331
EDINBURGH
EH11 3YB

or drop it in to any of our offices at:

• Chesser House, 500 Gorgie Road

• Central Local Office, 1 Cockburn Street

• South Local Office, 40 Captain’s Road

• West Local office, 10 Westside Plaza

• East Local office, 86 Niddrie Mains Road

• North Local office, 8 West Pilton Gardens

Why it's better to pay by Direct Debit

• you don't need to go into an Post Office or Council office or write a cheque and post it to us every month to pay your bill

• you don't have to tell your bank or building society if your payment changes at any time - we'll do that for you

• remember, if you don't pay on time, you could lose the right to pay by instalments. With Direct Debit, you'll never forget to pay it - your bank will pay the correct amount automatically

• for Council Tax you can choose which one of four dates in the month you wish the payment to be taken from your bank or building society account. They are the 1st, 5th, 16th or last day of the month

• paying by Direct Debit means that the Council can collect Council Tax more cheaply. We can therefore direct the money we save into other services.

Direct Debit is safe

• the Direct Debit scheme offers a money back guarantee which means that your bank or building society must give an immediate refund in the unlikely event that either the wrong amount is collected or an amount is collected before the agreed date

• you will always be told in advance in writing of any changes to payment amounts or dates

• you can cancel a direct debit instruction at any time.

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