In this article you'll learn about retrying failed payments.
Please note:
- Failed payments are not retried automatically
- Payments can be retried a maximum of 3 times
When a payment fails, we will indicate the reason as well as a short description of its cause. There are 3 main types of failures:
- The payment has failed and can be retried: this normally happens when there is insufficient funds in your customer's bank account or when a "refer to payer" error was received.
- The payment has failed along with the mandate: you should contact the customer to set up a new mandate.
- The payment has been disputed by the customer: you should contact the customer to understand why they contested. You should only create a new payment once the dispute is resolved.
Where it's possible to retry a payment (when the customer's Direct Debit mandate is still active), you'll see a Retry button in the top-right corner of the payment status page. If you click this button, we'll re-submit your payment immediately. You'll see a new charge date and you can follow the status of the retried payment in the payment timeline.
The following table shows a list of possible payment failure errors and an explanation for what the error message means:
| PAYMENT ERROR | EXPLANATION |
|---|---|
| Insufficient funds | Your customer's bank account had insufficient funds available on the payment date. |
| Refer to payer | The 'refer to payer' error is often used by the banks when no clear reason is given for the failure. Quite commonly, it means insufficient funds. |
| Bank account closed | The customer's bank account was closed before the payment could be taken. The mandate and all future payments will be cancelled. |
| Direct Debit not enabled | The customer's bank account does not allow Direct Debit payments to be taken. The mandate and all future payments will be cancelled. |
| Invalid bank details | The bank account details used to set up the mandate for this payment were incorrect. The mandate will be cancelled. |
| Mandate cancelled | Either you or the customer has cancelled the mandate. The customer may have cancelled the mandate at their bank or requested this action from GoCardless. |
| Authorisation disputed | In the SEPA Direct Debit scheme, customers are entitled to a refund for any payments they did not authorise. They have 13 months from the date of the payment to claim a refund. |
| Refund requested | In the SEPA Direct Debit scheme, customers have an 8 week window where they're able to get a refund for authorised transactions. |