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But then... Direct Debit guarantee... so everyone would get their money back.
You'll get it back. Eventually. Meanwhile the loss of money from your account could cause other regular payments to fail incurring charges (and hassle) that you won't be able to claim back.
Remember Clarkson's boast that publishing his account number and sort-code wouldn't lead to any problems? https://www.theguardian.com/money/2008/jan/07/personalfinancenews.scamsandfraud
Greenbank-
Meh.
It's consumer banking.
Honestly, it's not secure, encrypted, protected, safe, verifiable... it's an entire industry based on a set of antiquated protocol that says that they'll only do Y when X happens, and if enough complexity exists in that then they give the illusion of having a good product.
The thing is, there really are no protections in banking. So either you go figure out how to live your life without a bank account, or you accept that the system is an antiquated mess and that when shit does go wrong you really do have to wait for X to happen so that Y can occur.
I'm very meh about it because I've seen it up close. Yes it affects people's lives, but this is why it is fairly critical that you have money set aside for rainy days and other unforeseen circumstances, the cavalry will ride into town, but only moments before the closing credits.
Velocio
Yeah, it could.
But then... Direct Debit guarantee... so everyone would get their money back.