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Payment Submission Process | PAD | GoCardless Skip to content
Payment Submission Process Written by GoCardless The GoCardless content team comprises a group of subject-matter experts in multiple fields from across GoCardless.
The authors and reviewers work in the sales, marketing, legal, and finance departments. All have in-depth knowledge and experience in various aspects of payment scheme technology and the operating rules applicable to each.
The team holds expertise in the well-established payment schemes such as UK Direct Debit, the European SEPA scheme, and the US ACH scheme, as well as in schemes operating in Scandinavia, Australia, and New Zealand. See full bio Last editedJun 2024 — 1 min read
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Introducing Pre-Authorized Debits Accessing Pre-Authorized Debits How Pre-Authorized Debits workSubmitting Pre-Authorized Debit payments If you choose direct access to Pre-Authorized Debit through a bank, you will need to learn about how to submit PAD payments that you collect for processing. Accessing Pre-Authorized through a payment provider normally means they will take on the submission process for you.
The submission process You can submit payment requests to your bank by creating and uploading an Automated Funds Transfer (AFT) file, using the following process:
Create an AFT file with the required structure (details provided in next section)
Upload file to your bank according to their procedures
Wait for bank’s initial check to ensure required information is included before sending file to ACSS
Bank processes AFT file contents
Your bank will generally provide you with the required format to create the file. It's still useful to understand its structure, so we’ll explain this in more detail here.
Using the AFT file to submit payments The AFT file contains payment instructions, in a format specified by your sponsor bank. We’ve outlined the main points below for Pre-Authorized Debit payments. Your bank may also have proprietary standards for file submissions, so we recommend you check these with them before submitting any files.
Each file will include at least 3 records:
Header record – Contains identifying information of the originator and date of file
Payment record – Lists pre-authorized debit payment item data
Trailer record – Provides totals for the preceding records in the file
Each payment item has a transaction code. Located on the customer statement line, these codes help identify what the payment is for. Transaction codes have no formal requirements, with most Pre-Authorized Debit payments using the ‘Miscellaneous’ code.
Commonly used transaction codes
Code
Name
Description
700
Business PAD
For B2B payments (i.e. to suppliers)
701–749
Commercial bill payment
For the payment of bills by businesses (e.g. utilities or taxes)
430-450
Bill payments
For bill payments by individuals (e.g. utilities or taxes)
470
Fees/Dues
For payments from individuals to associations or other organisations (e.g. sports clubs)
480
Donations
For payments from individuals to charities or non-profit associations
Bank messages Bank files sent through ACSS will contain notifications about circumstances such as payment failures. For example, you could receive a notification when a Pre-Authorized Debit is dishonoured, or to let you know about a Notice of Change (NOC). The latter provides updated information on a customer’s account details, so the originator can adjust records for future payments.
Your bank will forward any messages to you each working day. For returned or dishonoured items, you’ll be able to identify the reason by looking at the transaction code. Here are some of the most commonly used transaction codes for returned or dishonoured payments, and for customer initiated returns:
Transaction Codes for returned or dishonoured payments
Code
Description
901
Non-sufficient funds
903
Payment stopped/recalled
905
Account Closed
907
No Debit Allowed
908
Funds not cleared
910
Payer deceased
911
Account Frozen
912
Invalid/Incorrect Account No.
914
Incorrect Payer name
Transaction Codes for Customer Initiated Returns
Code
Description
915
No Agreement Existed
916
Not According to Agreement - personal
917
Agreement Revoked - personal
918
No Confirmation/Pre-notification - personal
919
Not According to Agreeement - business
920
Agreement revoked - business
921
No Confirmation/Pre-notification - business
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