If you have existing bank debit clients, you are able to migrate their active authorisations to GoCardless so that you can continue to collect payments from them, without any disruption or need to re-request approval to do so.
All that is required is for your clients to be notified of the change in provider, prior to their first payment being collected by GoCardless.
How it works
Although we refer to this process as a migration of client authorisations, the bulk change process actually involves cancelling your clients’ existing authorisations (mandates) through your current payments provider, and then re-setting them up on GoCardless on the same day. A literal transfer of mandates is not possible between different payment providers. As such, it is also not possible to migrate your clients’ payment schedules and/or subscriptions alongside their mandates.
Once the migration has been completed, on your agreed bulk change date, you will then be able to set up your customers’ payment schedules again on GoCardless.
Breakdown of the steps involved
The bulk change process can be broken down into the following steps:
- Create and verify your GoCardless account
- Raise a ticket to request access to the bulk change import tool
- Download the GoCardless .csv template
- Notify your customers of the upcoming change
- Format and input your customers’ data in the .csv file
- Import the .csv file via the mandate import tool in your dashboard to create your customers’ mandates through GoCardless
- Cancel your customers’ existing authorisations/subscriptions
- Match your customers’ new mandates with the customer records in your partner app (Connect) / your integration (API)
- Set up your customers' payment schedules through GoCardless
Whilst the bulk change process is similar across bank debit schemes, each has its own rules and nuances. For detailed information on the process you will need to follow, please select the country/region below that matches where the clients you are migrating are based.
Australia (BECS) | Eurozone (SEPA) | United Kingdom (Bacs) |
Canada (PAD) | New Zealand (BECS NZ) | United States of America (ACH) |
Denmark (Betalingsservice) | Sweden (Autogiro) |
For customers using GoCardless via direct API integration or connected application:Matching bulk changed client mandates to existing customer records If you are using GoCardless via an API integration (e.g. with your billing/CRM platform) or connected application, then you'll most likely already have your clients set up in that other system (along with their billing schedules). Linking your clients’ mandates in GoCardless with the customer record in your connected app or billing platform ensures their payments can be collected and reconciled automatically when they are due. Most connected apps link your customers’ mandates to the records in that app using the client’s email address. (A custom reference attached to the client in the connected app, such as a membership ID, could also be used as long as this reference is also tied to their mandate in their GoCardless customer record). For API integrations, custom references are most commonly used as the means to link the customer records with your GoCardless mandates. These can be added when preparing your clients’ data in the .csv file by utilising the custom.reference column. |
Next : Notifying your clients of a change in payments provider →