Direct Debit Accounts

Direct debit accounts let you collect payments from your customers’ bank accounts. The platform currently supports GoCardless as the payment provider. Once set up, you can collect payments automatically when invoices are due, or collect individual payments manually.

The platform does not collect or store bank account details directly. Customers supply their details to GoCardless, and the platform holds only a reference to the GoCardless mandate. All sensitive data remains with GoCardless.

Adding a Direct Debit Account

Customer Self-Service (Recommended)

The easiest way to add a direct debit account is to send the customer a payment link. They complete the mandate setup directly with GoCardless, and the account appears on their record automatically. See Sending Payment Links below.

Manual Addition

To add an account manually:

1. View the customer’s record
2. Go to Add menu > Direct Debit Account
3. Enter the account details:
   • Account Name: The account holder’s name
   • Sort Code: The bank sort code
   • Account Number: The bank account number
   • Account Storage Method: The payment provider to use for this account (e.g. GoCardless)
   • Account Collection Order: The priority for this account when the customer has multiple accounts. 1 is collected first.
   • Use For Collection: Which collection types this account can be used for (manual, automatic, or both)
   • Use For Payment Types: Restrict to specific payment types, or leave blank for all types
4. Click Save

GoCardless Provider Fields

When using GoCardless, you also need to supply the Provider Reference field. This is the GoCardless mandate ID (beginning MD). The remaining provider fields (Provider Customer Reference, Provider Account Reference, Provider Subscription Reference) are populated automatically from GoCardless once the mandate is linked.

If these fields do not populate, the platform has not been able to link the record to GoCardless. Use Refresh Details from the Actions menu to retry, or check that the mandate ID is correct.

Sending Payment Links

You can send customers a link to set up their direct debit mandate without needing a portal login.

Via the Actions Menu

1. View the customer’s record
2. Go to Actions menu > Generate Payment Links
3. The system generates no-login URLs for the available link types:
   • Direct Debit Setup: Customer follows the link to set up a mandate with GoCardless
   • Instant Bank Pay: Customer makes a one-off bank payment (see Instant Bank Pay below)
4. Copy the link and send it to the customer

Via Correspondence

You can include payment links in billing emails and other correspondence. The platform provides template variables that insert the correct URLs automatically. See Correspondence Workflows for details on setting up templates with payment links.

Payment Collection

Manual Collection

To collect a specific payment by direct debit:

1. View the payment record
2. Go to Actions menu > Collect by Direct Debit
3. Select which direct debit account to use
4. The system submits the collection to GoCardless

Automated Collection: On Delivery

The system can create and submit a direct debit payment automatically when an invoice is emailed, printed, manually delivered, or downloaded by the customer through MyAccount.

When triggered by delivery, the system collects the delivered invoice balance plus any other invoices already due. This means a single collection can cover multiple outstanding invoices.

This behaviour is controlled by system parameters. Contact your system administrator to enable or adjust delivery-triggered collection.

Automated Collection: Time-Based

The system can also create direct debit payments on a schedule based on invoice due dates:

• Create: The system creates the payment a set number of days before the invoice due date
• Submit: The system submits the payment to GoCardless a set number of days before the due date

The default is to create payments 5 days before the due date and submit them 4 days before. Your system administrator can adjust these timings.

Auto-Resubmit

If GoCardless rejects a direct debit because the charge date has already passed, the system automatically reschedules and retries the collection. This avoids failed payments caused by timing issues between your system and GoCardless.

Payment Status

Direct debit payments move through these stages:

1. Pending: Payment created, waiting to be submitted to GoCardless
2. Processing: Submitted to GoCardless, awaiting bank clearance
3. Collected: Payment received successfully
4. Failed: Collection was unsuccessful

Failed payments can be retried by submitting another collection against the same direct debit account.

If automatic collection fails or no eligible account exists, the system creates a TODO alerting you to the issue.

Instant Bank Pay

Instant Bank Pay uses GoCardless Open Banking to collect one-off payments directly from a customer’s bank account. Compared to card payments, bank payments typically:

• Have lower transaction fees
• Arrive faster
• Do not require the customer to store card details

Customers receive a payment link and authorise the payment through their own bank’s online banking. No mandate or ongoing agreement is needed.

You can send Instant Bank Pay links via the Generate Payment Links action or include them in customer correspondence.

Managing Accounts

Multiple Accounts

A customer can have more than one direct debit account. The Account Collection Order field controls which account the system uses first for automatic collection. Set 1 for the primary account, 2 for the backup, and so on.

Account Status

Available actions:

• Mark Expired: Change an active account to expired status
• Reset Account: Return an account to active status
• Refresh Details: Update the account with the latest status from GoCardless

Ending an Account

When an account is cancelled or expires, the Account Ended Date is recorded automatically. The account remains on the customer’s record for audit purposes but is no longer used for collection.