I'd phoned the bank because I'd agreed very reluctantly to pay my youngest son's martial arts fees by direct debit, and after an unhappy experience in paying gym fees by direct debit I wanted to ensure I had power over the process. The gym had continued to take the monthly payment for 18 months after my membership had expired and after it knew my membership had expired, and the argument about that became tangled in requirements for letters both ways.

So, no way was I agreeing to a direct debit to a small organisation if I didn't retain the authority to end the debit unilaterally. But direct debit was the only form of payment accepted by this martial arts business, and when my small credit union said it would stop a direct debit on receipt of an email from me we went ahead with the deal. I was required, by the way, to pay the fees of the direct debit billing firm, a few dollars a month, and an automatic transfer from my account directly to the business's account was not acceptable, for reasons that were never explained. Cash was out of the question.

Part of the deal with the martial arts business was that it suspend the debit for one month if we went on holidays for a month and that no extra debit payments were required when we ended our relationship. I've just been told by the organisation, when I asked it to suspend January's $100-plus debit, that it no longer suspends payment. Moreover, the organisation told me, if I resigned because of this I would have to pay a punitive casual rate for six months on return. And I'd have to give a month's notice despite the fact that I pay in advance for each month.

What would you do? Well, I've done the same and the credit union has the email.

It does seem that we may be giving more authority than we realise when we sign away access to our bank account. Have you had a direct debit authority come back to bite you?