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- What is a Direct Debit mandate?
- How can a mandate be set up through GoCardless?
- How long does it take to set up a mandate?
- Is there a cap on the amount that can be collected through a mandate?
- Can a customer have more than one mandate?
- What is a restricted mandate?
- How can a mandate be cancelled?
- What if a customer cancels their mandate before completing their payments?
What is a Direct Debit mandate?
A Direct Debit mandate is another term for a Direct Debit Instruction or a Direct Debit authorisation.
An active mandate allows you to collect payments from a customer’s bank account.
How can a mandate be set up through GoCardless?
Customers need to complete an online Direct Debit mandate form or e-mandate(also known as a paperless Direct Debit) to authorise their payments.
- Customers must fill in an online mandate form to authorise their Direct Debit.(This must be completed by the customer themselves and cannotbe completed on the customer’s behalf).
- GoCardless submit the Direct Debit mandate electronically to the customer’s bank.
- The customer’s bank then sets up the Direct Debit mandate on their bank account.
Merchants using a Pro GoCardless account also have the option of asking their customers to authorise a Direct Debit over the phone or using paper mandates. If you are interested in having these options please contact our Sales team for more information.
How long does it take to set up a mandate?
If the customer completes their online mandate before 4pm it will be submitted to the bank, electronically, on the same day. Otherwise it will be submitted the following working day.
The standard timeframe for a bank to set up a customer’s mandate when submitted through GoCardless is three working days. Some smaller banks may take longer.
Is there a cap on the amount that can be collected through a mandate?
There is a transaction limit of £5,000 that you can collect against a customer’s Direct Debit mandate.
For information about how to increase the transaction limit, please see our article here.
Can a customer have more than one mandate?
Customers can have as many Direct Debit mandates set up through GoCardless as they require. There is no limit to the number of mandates a customer can have.
What is a restricted mandate?
A restricted mandate requires the customer to approve each payment or subscription before funds are collected from the customer’s bank account.
The customer will receive an email asking them to authorise any new payments that are requested.
You can choose whether a customer’s mandate will be restricted when you ask them to set up their Direct Debit authorisation.
How can a mandate be cancelled?
A customer can cancel their mandate at any time…
- through their online banking or by contacting their bank directly.
- by contacting GoCardless.
- by contacting yourself (the merchant).
As a merchant, you can cancel a customer’s mandate through your GoCardless dashboard or third party platform you are using to request the payments.
Both yourself and the customer will receive an automated email when a mandate is cancelled.
What if a customer cancels their mandate before completing their payments?
GoCardless is not able to reinstate a customer’s mandate once it has been cancelled.
You will need to get in touch with the customer to ask them to authorise a new Direct Debit mandate if you need to collect further payments from them.