BECS NZ custom notifications

The following is a guide to building custom notifications for merchants using GoCardless Pro or GoCardless Custom, and for partners. 

 

What are custom notifications?

In order for payers in New Zealand to authorise merchants to take payments from them via BECS NZ, the local Direct Debit payment scheme, they must complete a Direct Debit Instruction (DDI).

Once the DDI has been set up, there are 2 types of notifications that payers must receive:

1. Direct Debit setup confirmation
2. Advance notices

Merchants using GoCardless Pro or GoCardless Custom have the option to use GoCardless’ own notifications, or to create their own custom notifications. 

Partners can opt to create custom notifications as well. This will enable merchants who are using GoCardless through their app to offer their customers (payers) a consistent branding experience. 

You may also build your own payment pages to further customise your payers’ experience.

Custom notifications will need to be approved by GoCardless before being implemented.

 

How to build custom notifications

There are 3 steps to ensure compliance with BECS NZ scheme rules and GoCardless processes:

1. Create a Direct Debit setup confirmation notification
2. Create notifications to inform payers of upcoming payments. Depending on your collection type, these notifications could relate to: 
   1. Subscriptions of fixed amounts at regular intervals
   2. Subscription amendments e.g., price changes
   3. One-off payments, or payment schedules of varying amounts
3. Submit notifications to GoCardless for approval

The details for each are below, and there’s a summary table here.

 

1. Direct Debit setup confirmation

This tells the payer that their DDI has been correctly set up. 

 

There are 2 compulsory points to note around how the notification should be sent:

1. Confirmation must be provided to the payer within 5 days of them providing their details, and no less than 2 business days prior to the first payment being charged
2. Confirmation can be provided via email and/or post

 

The notification itself has 8 compulsory elements and 1 recommended element.

Compulsory:

1. Heading that is identifiable to payers. For example ‘Important: Confirmation of the setup of your Direct Debit to [Merchant]’. 
• Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [scheme_identifiers: name] to populate this field
2. Merchant name
• Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [name] to populate this field
3. Direct Debit Authorisation code through which payments will be processed
• Pro and Custom merchants - your GoCardless contact will provide you with this
• Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [scheme_identifiers: reference] to populate this field
4. Payer details as obtained in the sign-up process
• Account holder name
• Bank account number - details must be redacted
• Bank name - retrievable from the bank details endpoint
5. Date of authorisation i.e., date the payer completed the DDI
6. Merchant email address and phone number
• Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [scheme_identifiers: email] and [scheme_identifiers: phone_number] to populate these fields
7. PDF link to the DDI and Direct Debit terms and conditions. This information can be retrieved via the mandate pdf endpoint here.
8. Privacy notice. Text to read ‘Payments by GoCardless. Read the privacy notice.’

Recommended:

Remind payers of the name that will appear on their bank statements.

Partners can retrieve this information by making a GET request to the creditors endpoint and pulling the field [scheme_identifiers: name].

 

You can see an example DD setup confirmation below.

 

2.1. Advance notice - subscriptions of fixed amounts at regular intervals

This tells the payer when to expect a series of payments of the same amount and regular intervals. A single notification to cover the entire subscription is sufficient.

This notification may be combined with the DD setup confirmation.

 

There are 2 compulsory points to note around how this kind of advance notice should be sent:

1. Notice must be received by the payer no less than 2 business days prior to the payment being charged
2. Confirmation can be provided via email and/or post

 

The advance notice itself has 7 compulsory elements and 1 recommended element.

Compulsory:

1. Heading that is identifiable to payers. For example 'You've set up a Direct Debit subscription'.
2. The name of the merchant charging the payer
• Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [name] to populate this field
3. Payment details
• Amount being charged 
• Charge dates, including final charge date, if applicable
• Description of what the charge is for
• Instruction that the amounts will be charged via Direct Debit
4. Direct Debit Authorisation code through which payments will be processed
• Pro and Custom merchants - your GoCardless contact will provide you with this
• Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [scheme_identifiers: reference] to populate this field
5. Payer details as obtained in the sign-up process
• Account holder name
• Bank account number - details must be redacted
• Bank name - retrievable from the bank details endpoint
6. Merchant email address and phone number
• Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [scheme_identifiers: email] and [scheme_identifiers: phone_number] to populate these fields
7. Privacy notice. Text to read ‘Payments by GoCardless. Read the privacy notice.’

Recommended:

Remind payers of the name that will appear on their bank statements.

Partners can retrieve this information by making a GET request to the creditors endpoint and pulling the field [scheme_identifiers: name].

 

You can see an example notification below.

 

2.2. Advance notice - subscription amendments

It is a BECS NZ Direct Debit scheme requirement for payers to be notified of any amendments to existing subscriptions, for example price changes.

Notice must be received by the payer at least 10 calendar days before further payments are charged under the new terms. 

The amendment notification has 4 compulsory elements and 1 recommended element.

Compulsory:

1. Heading that is identifiable to payers. For example 'Your subscription has been updated'.
   
2. The name of the merchant charging the payer
• Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [name] to populate this field
3. Payment details
• Details of the change e.g., the previous charge amount and/or frequency, and the updated charge amount and/or frequency
• The date the change will come into effect
• Description of what the charge is for
4. Privacy notice. Text to read ‘Payments by GoCardless. Read the privacy notice.’

Recommended:

Remind payers of the name that will appear on their bank statements.

Partners can retrieve this information by making a GET request to the creditors endpoint and pulling the field [scheme_identifiers: name].

 

2.3 Advance notice - one-off payments, or payment schedules of varying amounts

This tells the payer when to expect a single payment, or any payment in a payment schedule of varying amounts.

The requirements are exactly the same as in section 2.1, except that for payment schedules of varying amounts, advance notice must be sent before each payment.

This notification may be combined with the DD setup confirmation. However note that for payment schedules of varying amounts, only the first advance notice may be combined with the DD setup confirmation. Separate advance notice must be sent for each future payment.

You can see an example notification below.

 

3. Submit notifications to GoCardless for approval

Mock ups of your notifications must be sent to GoCardless for approval prior to your go-live date. Once you have written approval from GoCardless, you may implement the notifications. 

To test your notifications, you can sign up here for a sandbox account.

What if I’m a partner?

When creating a new partner app and going through our technical certification process, you’ll be able to submit custom notifications for approval through our partner portal.

 

Summary table

The below shows a summary of the relevant information in each type of custom notification. All information is required unless specified otherwise.

	Direct Debit setup confirmation	Advance notice
		Subscriptions of fixed amounts at regular intervals	Subscription amendments	One-off payments, or payment schedules of varying amounts
Heading that is identifiable to payers	Displayed	Displayed	Displayed	Displayed
Merchant name	Displayed	Displayed	Displayed	Displayed
Authorisation code	Displayed	Displayed		Displayed
Payer details	Displayed	Displayed		Displayed
Date of authorisation	Displayed
Merchant contact details	Displayed	Displayed		Displayed
PDF link to DDI and T&Cs	Displayed
Privacy notice	Displayed	Displayed	Displayed	Displayed
Reminder of what will appear on payers' bank statements	Recommended	Recommended	Recommended	Recommended
Payment details		Displayed	Displayed	Displayed