BECS Direct Debit timings

Please note timings below are industry standard for New Zealand Direct Debit. To view payment timings with GoCardless please visit our support centre.

It's also important to note that Direct Debit is not an instant payment method. Payments sent via BECS will take at least one working day to arrive in your bank account.

Direct Debit file exchanges

Banks exchange Direct Debit files with each other from Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays. These exchanges include all the required information for debiting the acceptor's (customer’s) account and crediting the initiator’s account.

File exchange cut off timings can vary from bank to bank. You’ll need to contact your bank for their specific timings. Other banks won’t receive files sent after the cut off time until the following day.

Once your bank receives the file, it sends the Direct Debit transactions via BECS to your customer’s bank. Your customer’s bank accepts the file and will then try to debit your customer’s account. If you’ve sent your file in by the cut off time, and payments are successful, then you’ll receive the funds in your account the next day.

Failure or dishonour reports

The bank will send you a dishonour report when you have a failed or dishonoured transaction. Some banks will tell you as soon as they find out (on the first day), especially in cases where the dishonour is due to insufficient funds, or ‘no authority loaded’. But the Direct Debit scheme rules actually give banks a window of three days to send out dishonour reports.

Direct Debit timeline

Although Direct Debit payments should reach your account by the next day, payment failure rules mean it can sometimes take up to 3 days to confirm that a Direct Debit payment has been successfully processed. You can see a general Direct Debit timeline below, however you can view GoCardless specific payment timings here.

• Monday - File submitted to merchant’s bank

• Monday - Merchant’s bank processes file and sends through BECS network

• Monday - File available to the customer’s bank

• Tuesday - Customer’s bank account debited

• Tuesday - Merchant’s bank account credited

• Tuesday - Customer’s bank send through file with any returns or refusals

• Tuesday to Friday - The merchant’s bank receives notification of any failed payments