Ten reasons to choose GoCardless for Recurring Pay by Bank

Pay by Bank is gaining momentum in the UK with new, recurring payment functionality set to launch soon. But the technology is still maturing – and your choice of provider will determine whether you get it right for your customers from day one. 

Here's why over 100,000 businesses trust GoCardless, and one-in-five of them are already using Pay by Bank with us today.

Experts in bank payments

1. 15 years of account-to-account heritage. We've been processing bank payments since 2011 – long before open banking existed. Today we handle over $130 billion in payments annually across 30+ countries.

2. Experts in recurring revenue businesses. Our expertise goes beyond payments infrastructure. We've spent 15 years immersed in the recurring revenue models of the merchants we serve – from subscriptions and instalment plans to usage-based billing and everything in between. We understand the nuances, edge cases, and operational complexities that come with collecting money repeatedly from real customers. That depth of knowledge is built into every product decision we make.

3. We helped write the rules. We didn't wait for Recurring Pay by Bank* to arrive. We were in the room, helping to define the standards and regulatory frameworks that underpin commercial VRPs. And we will continue to shape the future of Pay by Bank on behalf of our customers by working with government, regulators and banks.

4. Over 35,000 merchants already use our Pay by Bank products. GoCardless customers of all shapes and sizes, from single owner operators to multinational corporates, are using GoCardless Pay by Bank for one-off and recurring payments.**

5. Proven uptime. We deliver 99.9% availability and zero multi-week outages across our global platform – and we don't just say that, we show it. Our public API status page gives you real-time visibility into platform performance, so you can see our track record for yourself. Backed by enterprise-grade infrastructure and continuous monitoring, GoCardless is built to handle payments at scale, reliably, every day.

6. A safety net when banks go down. If a Pay by Bank payment can't complete – due to bank downtime or coverage gaps – we automatically route it to Direct Debit. No manual intervention, no lost revenue.

7. Smarter checkout with Bank Guess. We've already encountered 80% of UK payers in our network. That means we can predict a customer's preferred bank and pre-populate the payment flow, reducing friction at the moment that matters most.

8. Automatic retries that recover revenue. If a payment fails due to insufficient funds, our system identifies the optimal time to retry rather than writing off the transaction and losing the customer.

9. First to market, by years. In 2019, we processed the world's first live Variable Recurring Payment transaction - years ahead of the market. That head start has given us the time to build, iterate, and refine in ways that newer entrants simply can't replicate. 

10. Recurring Pay by Bank that has passed the test. Most recently, we completed the first ever Recurring Pay by Bank transaction with Jellyfish as part of live testing with UK banks, demonstrating that our technology isn't just ready, it's already proven in the real world. We’re set to launch with customers, starting with energy, utilities, telecoms, financial services, insurance and charities.

Get in touch with the GoCardless team to see how Recurring Pay by Bank works in practice.

Alternatively, read our latest research Revolutionising recurring revenue: The strategic opportunity of commercial VRPs and get the blueprint for your own adoption. * Recurring Pay By Bank is GoCardless' solution commercial Variable Recurring Payments (cVRPs)

**Recurring payments are currently limited to 'sweeping' money between two accounts owned by the same person