Canada (PAD) custom notifications

The following is a guide to building custom notifications for merchants using GoCardless Advanced or GoCardless Pro, and for partners, using the add-on feature Custom checkout experience and payer notifications. See our Pricing page for more details.

Payers in Canada need to complete a Pre-Authorized Debit (PAD) Agreement to authorize merchants to take payments from them via an Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT).

Once the PAD Agreement has been set up, there are 3 types of notifications that payers may then receive:

PAD Agreement setup confirmation (compulsory)
Payment notifications (also known as advance notice) (compulsory)
Amendment notifications (compulsory)

Merchants using GoCardless Advanced or GoCardless Pro 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 payers a consistent branding experience.

Please note: Before designing and hosting custom notifications, you should be aware that there are compliance requirements for the content and formatting of these notifications. Once ready, custom notifications have to receive a sign off by GoCardless, and you could be asked to remove or amend any part of the signed off notifications at any time if notified to do so.

How to build custom notifications

This guidance is split into 6 sections which will help you to ensure compliance with the PAD/EFT scheme rules and GoCardless’ processes:

PAD Agreement setup confirmation (compulsory): Create notifications including a copy of the payer’s PAD Agreement
Advance notice (compulsory): Create notifications to inform payers of upcoming payments. Depending on your collection type, these notifications could relate to a:
- Open PAD Agreement
- One-time PAD Agreement
- Recurring PAD Agreement
- Sporadic PAD Agreement
You can find information about the different authorization types, payment types, and combinations of the two here.
Amendment notifications (compulsory): Create notifications to inform payers of a change to a recurring PAD Agreement
Additional steps for partners
GoCardless’ approval process
Summary table

Open PAD Agreement
One-time PAD Agreement
Recurring PAD Agreement
Sporadic PAD Agreement

You can find more information about the different authorization types, payment types, and combinations of the two here.

1. PAD Agreement setup confirmation

This compulsory notification provides the payer with the necessary documentation relating to their PAD Agreement, i.e., the terms and conditions of the agreement they have entered into. It must be received by the payer at least 3 business days prior to the first scheduled debit. The notification can be triggered by you in accordance with the Mandate Created webhook event.

There are 4 compulsory elements to this notification, and 5 recommended elements.

Compulsory:

i. Payment details	Amount being charged (including currency) Charge date Description of what the charge is for Where the payer has set up an Open PAD Agreement (i.e. specific amounts and charge dates are not yet known), we recommend: ‘Your Pre-Authorized Debit Agreement is for charges arising from your use of [merchant name]’s services and/or purchase of products from [merchant name], and has been set up in accordance with the amount and timings agreed with [merchant name].’
ii. Reduced notice period statement	As GoCardless has chosen to improve your payers’ payment journey by reducing your confirmation of PAD Agreement setup and advance notice of debits to be taken from 10 days to 3 days, you must prominently display a statement (e.g. bold, highlighted or underlined) to let your payers know about this reduction - see sample notice text in the below example notification.
iii. PDF link to / static copy of the PAD Agreement	You must provide a copy of the PAD Agreement, which can be retrieved via the mandate pdf endpoint.
iv. Regulatory footer to let payers know how GoCardless’ service is provided, and about 3rd party data controllers that power your website	Specific wording: “Payments securely processed by GoCardless. GoCardless Ltd (company registration number 07495895) is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, registration number 597190, for the provision of payment services. GoCardless uses personal data as described in their Privacy Notice.”

Recommended:

v. Heading that is identifiable to payers	We recommend: ‘Important: Confirmation of the setup of your Pre-Authorized Debit Agreement to [Merchant]’. Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [scheme_identifiers: name] to populate this field
vi. Certain payer details as obtained in the sign-up process	Payer name Bank account number - details must be redacted, we recommend showing the last 4 digits PAD Category (personal or business) Bank name - retrievable from the bank details endpoint
vii. Merchant email address and phone number	This is in case the payer needs to contact you. Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [scheme_identifiers: email] and [scheme_identifiers: phone_number] to populate these fields
viii. Reminder to check details	You should remind the customer to check the details of the PAD Agreement and to let you know if there are any problems.
ix. 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].

Example notification containing the above components

Important: Confirmation of the setup of your Pre-Authorized Debit Agreement to [Merchant name]

Dear [customer name]

This is to confirm the successful setup of your [one-time / recurring / sporadic] Pre-Authorized Debit Agreement to [Merchant name].

Payments of [amount] will be debited from your bank account ****5645 ([type of account and bank name]) on [date / frequency], in accordance with the attached Pre-Authorized Debit Agreement, and will appear on your bank statement as: [reference].

Please check the details - if they are incorrect or there are any other issues with this Pre-Authorized Debit Agreement please let us know by contacting us at [Merchant email address / phone number].

You have agreed to a reduction of the standard notice period for this Pre-Authorized Debit Agreement confirmation, and pre-notification for future Pre-Authorized Debits. We will send any future notices of each Pre-Authorized Debit 3 days before the debit is due.

Payments securely processed by GoCardless. GoCardless Ltd (company registration number 07495895) is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, registration number 597190, for the provision of payment services.

GoCardless uses personal data as described in their Privacy Notice.

+Attach copy of the PAD Agreement

2. Advance notice

This compulsory notification tells the payer when to expect a payment that is due to be taken against the PAD Agreement that they set up. It must be received by the payer at least 3 business days prior to the scheduled debit. These payments could relate to a:

Open PAD Agreement
One-time PAD Agreement
Recurring PAD Agreement
Sporadic PAD Agreement

You can find more information about the different authorization types here.

This notification can be triggered by you in accordance with the Payment Created webhook event. If you are sending this notification, there are 3 compulsory elements to this notification, and 3 recommended elements.

Compulsory:

i. Payment details

Amount being charged (including currency)
Charge date
Description of what the charge is for

ii. Certain payer details as obtained in the sign-up process

Payer name
Bank account number - details must be redacted, we recommend showing the last 4 digits
PAD Category (personal or business)
Bank name - retrievable from the bank details endpoint

iii. Regulatory footer to let payers know how GoCardless’ service is provided, and about 3rd party data controllers that power your website

Specific wording:

“Payments securely processed by GoCardless. GoCardless Ltd (company registration number 07495895) is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, registration number 597190, for the provision of payment services.

GoCardless uses personal data as described in their Privacy Notice.”

Recommended:

iv. Heading that is identifiable to payers

We recommend: '[Merchant] is charging you [amount]'.

v. Merchant email address and phone number

This is in case the payer needs to contact you.

Partners - make a GET request to the creditors endpoint, and pull [scheme_identifiers: email] and [scheme_identifiers: phone_number] to populate these fields

vi. 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].

Example notification containing the above components:

[Merchant name] is charging you [amount]

Dear [customer name]

In accordance with the [one-time / recurring / sporadic] Pre-Authorized Debit Agreement you set up, an upcoming payment of [amount] will be debited from your bank account ****5645 ([type of account and bank name]) on [date].

This payment will appear on your bank statement as: [reference].

GoCardless uses personal data as described in their Privacy Notice.

3. Amendment notifications

This compulsory notification lets payers know of any amendments to their recurring PAD Agreement, such as a pricing amendment of change to debit date.

It must be received by the payer at least 3 business days before further payments are charged under the new terms.
If you are using the subscriptions endpoint, and your change relates to the amount of a subscription, this notification can be triggered by you in accordance with the Amended webhook event. The notification has 3 compulsory elements and 3 recommended elements.

Compulsory:

i. Payment details (original and updated)

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

ii. Reduced notice period statement

As GoCardless has chosen to improve your payers’ payment journey by reducing your amendment notification of debits to be taken from 10 to 3 days, you must prominently display a statement (e.g. bold, highlighted or underlined) to let your payers know about this reduction - see sample notice text in the below example notification.

iii. Regulatory footer to let payers know how GoCardless’ service is provided, and about 3rd party data controllers that power your website

Specific wording:

GoCardless uses personal data as described in their Privacy Notice.”

Recommended:

iv. Heading that is identifiable to payers	We recommend: 'Your subscription has been updated'.
v. Merchant email address and phone number	This is in case the payer needs to contact you about the change.
vi. 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].

Example notification containing the above components:

Important: Your subscription has been updated

Dear [customer name]

You set up a [one-time / recurring / sporadic] Pre-Authorized Debit Agreement on [date] for [Merchant name] to debit $[amount] on a [timing e.g. monthly] basis.

We are letting you know that [describe amount / timing change]. The change will come into effect after 3 days, so any payments taking place after [date] will be in accordance with these updated details, and will appear on your bank statement as: [reference].

If you have any questions about this change, please let us know by contacting us at [Merchant email address / phone number].
You have agreed to a reduction of the standard period of amendment pre-notification for future Pre-Authorized Debits. We will send any future notices of each Pre-Authorized Debit and any future Pre-Authorized Debit amendments 3 days before the debit is due.

GoCardless uses personal data as described in their Privacy Notice.

4. Additional steps for partners

Partners must also meet the steps outlined above, and can use the creditors endpoint to retrieve the relevant merchant information (such as merchant name, email address etc.) required for this.

5. GoCardless’ approval process

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. More information can be found below and here.

Merchants:

You must submit your notifications to GoCardless through our Support Centre.

Partners:

You must submit your notifications to GoCardless for approval through our Partner Portal.

6. Summary table

The below shows a summary of the information required in each type of custom notification.

	PAD Agreement setup confirmation (compulsory)	Advance notice (compulsory)	Amendment notification (compulsory)
Heading that is identifiable to payers	Recommended	Recommended	Recommended
Payer details (name, redacted bank account number, account type, bank name)	Compulsory	Compulsory	Compulsory
Payment details (amount, date, description)	Compulsory	Compulsory	Compulsory
Reduced notice period statement	Compulsory		Compulsory
Merchant contact details	Recommended (if not provided within the PAD Agreement attached)	Recommended (if not provided within the PAD Agreement attached)	Recommended (if not provided within the PAD Agreement attached)
PDF link / static copy of the PAD Agreement	Compulsory
Reminder to check the PAD Agreement	Recommended
Reminder of what will appear on payers' bank statements	Recommended	Recommended	Recommended
Regulatory footer & privacy notice	Compulsory	Compulsory	Compulsory

Canada (PAD) custom notifications

How to build custom notifications

1. PAD Agreement setup confirmation

2. Advance notice

3. Amendment notifications

4. Additional steps for partners

5. GoCardless’ approval process

6. Summary table

Promoted articles

Recently Added Articles

Top Articles