Breadcrumb

Introduction to Direct Debit Mandates

Written by

As Global Head of Content Marketing, Chris oversees all of the content requirements for our organic, growth marketing, and demand generation campaigns. This requires a fundamental understanding of the pain points our customers are experiencing and a thorough comprehension of the ways those customers consume and engage with content. A growth marketing expert in the tech space, Chris has worked with complex global businesses such as Google, AWS, Microsoft, SAP, Adobe, Dell and Oracle to grow their most valuable customers, increase revenue and speed up deal cycles. He has also led on customer lifecycle management programs and account-based marketing strategies for BlackRock, EY, Grant Thornton and UBS. ConnectSee full bio

Reviewed by

David and his team manage relationships with banks, scheme providers, and other parties involved in payment transactions in the UK and Scandinavia. David has worked in the finance and payment industry for over 12 years, primarily focusing on the BACs and Faster Payments schemes. He has sat on governance committees and chaired cross-government public sector working groups. David is also a regular attendee at the SIBOS and MoneyLIVE financial conferences. ConnectSee full bio

Last editedJun 20221 min read

An introduction to Direct Debit mandates explaining what they are, what they look like and how you can set one up.

What is a Direct Debit mandate?

To collect Direct Debit payments you need to set up a Mandate. This is an authorisation from your customer to collect future payments from them when they are due. It is also called a “Direct Debit Instruction”.

Want all the benefits of Direct Debit but without all the hassle & expense of dealing with banks?

GoCardless does all the heavy lifting for you so you can collect payments on time every time with just a few clicks!

Learn More

What a Direct Debit mandate looks like:

How can I set up a Direct Debit mandate?

1. Prepare a mandate form and give it to your customer

To set up a Direct Debit mandate, your customer will need to complete a mandate form. The three most common ways to do so are:

Paper - A paper Direct Debit Instruction form can be completed by your customer and returned to you.
Telephone - Your customer's details can be collected over the phone, using a bank-approved script.
Online - An electronic mandate form can be completed by your customer.

2. Customers complete, sign and return the mandate

GoCardless makes it easy for you to set up a mandate with:

Your own branded payment page - This payment page is a securely hosted online form that you can brand.
A link that you can easily share via email or from your website - You can send the link to the payment page to your customers via email or embed it into your own website. Customers can then complete the form online in seconds.

3. Submit the completed mandate to the bank

The mandate will become active within a couple of working days.

GoCardless submits any mandates on your behalf. You just need to tell us when you want to collect by. To find out about how this differs for banks and bureaus check out our 60 second guide to accessing the DD scheme.