GoCardless Terminology

ACH

Direct Debit scheme for collecting payments in the US

Advance Notice

Notification provided to a customer in advance of taking a payment or being assigned to a subscription

API

Application Programming Interface - If building an integration with GoCardless, you would use our API to do so

Autogiro

Direct Debit scheme for collecting krona-denominated payments from customers in Sweden

BACS

Direct Debit scheme for collecting payments in the UK

Bacs International Payments

The method used to transfer GBP payouts to a merchant's bank account that is based outside of the UK

Bankgirot

The clearing house for inter-bank payments in Sweden, which manages the Autogiro scheme

Becs AU

Direct Debit scheme for collecting payments in Australia

Becs NZ

Direct Debit scheme for collecting payments in New Zealand

Betalingsservice

Direct Debit scheme for collecting payments in Denmark

Bulk change

The process of transferring existing Direct Debit mandates from one provider to another

Chargeback (UK)

A Direct Debit payment that has been reversed and returned to the customer's bank account under the Direct Debit guarantee. Also known as an 'indemnity claim'.

Charge date

The date the payment is collected from a customer 

Confirmed

When a payment has been successfully collected from a customer it is marked as confirmed. 

Creditor

A merchant using GoCardless to collect payments is called a 'creditor'. Each creditor has a separate account in our system.

Creditor ID (CID)

Each merchant has a unique creditor ID that enables us to identify individual accounts. Creditor ID's begin CR000...

Dashboard

The GoCardless platform that can be used to manage your customers and payments

Direct Debit

Pull-based method used by GoCardless. Direct Debits are collected directly from the customer's bank account

Direct Debit Guarantee (UK)

The customer protection provided by banks and building societies when an unauthorised or fraudulent payment is collected from their bank account

Event

Every action posted to our API will have a corresponding 'event' that records each action. These actions can be viewed in the dashboard on the Events page or received from our API as a webhook

Failed

When a payment has not been successfully collected from a customer it is marked as failed.

Failure

Payments and mandates can fail during creation, and payments can also fail during collection. You will receive email notifications if any payments or mandates fail.

Faster payments 

The payment method used to transfer GBP payouts to merchants bank accounts.

Inactive

A customer that has a cancelled Direct Debit mandate is 'inactive'. You cannot collect any payments from an 'inactive' customer.

Indemnity form

In the event where we can raise an account's transaction limi, GoCardless will require merchants to sign an indemnity form first.

Integration

A third party system that uses the GoCardless API to collect payments is called an 'integration'.

Late failure

Payment failure reports that are received more than one working day after the payment charge date are classified as a 'late failure'. We expect to receive payment failure reports one working day after the charge date.

Mandate

Authorisation given by your customer to collect funds by Direct Debit from their bank account. The name for this authorisation will vary per scheme but we will refer to the authorisation as a 'mandate' on our dashboard

Mandate ID

Each mandate has its own ID. Mandate ID's begin with MD00..

Merchant 

An organisation or individual collecting funds through GoCardless is referred to as a 'merchant'.

Metadata

Custom references can be added to your customers details to help you track payments. These references are known as 'metadata'.

Notification

Customers are required to be informed of their payments before they are collected. The GoCardless notifications are sent by email.

PAD

Direct Debit scheme for collecting payments in Canada

Paperless Direct Debit

An online Direct Debit mandate form that customers can complete to set up a Direct Debit. This is then submitted to the bank; depending on the scheme this happens before or alongside the payment

Part refunded

Payment status of a payment where a portion of the full payment amount has been refunded to the customer at the request of the merchant

Partner

A third party who have built an integration with our API that multiple merchants can use to collect payments via GoCardless. Examples of these can be found here - https://gocardless.com/partners

Paylink

Customers can authorise a one-off payment to be collected by Direct Debit using a paylink

Payment

An individual amount that is collected from a customer.

Payment ID

Each payment has a unique ID that enables us to identify the transaction. Payment ID’s begin with PM00...

Payout

The funds we transfer into your bank account are called ‘payouts’. Payouts can include multiple individual payments.

Payout Interval

The number of calendar days between our system sending payouts to your bank account. The default payout interval is 0 calendar days so that payouts are sent as soon as possible. Please contact our support team if you would like to increase this.

Pending customer approval

Status given to a payment or mandate that has not yet been approved to be collected/collected against. This can be the result of a Dual Signature Authorisation or a Restricted mandate.

Pending submission

When a payment is first created it is marked as pending submission. At this stage the payment can still be cancelled.

Plan

Plans are templates for subscriptions and enable merchants to create the same subscription for multiple customers. 

Redirect URI

The web address customers can be directed to after they complete their online Direct Debit mandate

Refunded

Payment status of a payment where the full payment amount has been refunded to the customer at the request of the merchant

Scheme

Different countries and regions use different systems to process Direct Debit payments; these are referred to as schemes.

SEPA Core

The Direct Debit scheme for collecting euro-denominated payments from customers in the Eurozone countries.

SEPA Credit Transfer

The payment method used to send Euro payouts to a merchant’s bank account.

Service User

An organisation approved by a sponsor bank to submit Direct Debit requests, specific to Bacs.

Service User Number (SUN)

A 6 digit unique identifier issued to every Service User in the UK.

Sponsor bank

A bank that enables access to the Direct Debit scheme and provides Service User Numbers or Creditor IDs.

Submitted

When a payment has been sent to the bank to be processed it is marked as submitted. At this stage the payment can no longer be cancelled.

Subscription

Enables the collection of regular, recurring payments that are scheduled to be collected from a customer.

Verification

Every GoCardless account is required to be verified before receiving funds.

Working days

We specify working days with our payment timings as processing only occurs on working days. No payments are processed during weekends and bank holidays.