AUDDIS Messages: Having problems setting up your mandates?

An AUDDIS report is triggered when you submit a Direct Debit mandate to BACs. If anything goes wrong during the setup process, the report will list the reasons for this.

There are 19 different AUDDIS reason codes you may come across and we’ve written about these in more detail in our Direct Debit Guide but we thought it might be useful to run through some of the most common pitfalls in setting up a mandate and how you can avoid or resolve these.

L - Incorrect customer account details

If your customer's bank details are incorrect, the mandate won't be approved.

• How you can avoid this: Use paperless Direct Debit to avoid mistakes from keying in data and carry out modulus checking and validation when details are first entered. If you do need to use paper mandates make sure you double check any details keyed in before submitting.

• How to resolve: If you do submit incorrect account details you’ll need to correct the data in your database or submission file before you can resubmit. You may need to ask your customer to give new or corrected account details.

Q – Service user’s name blank/ I – Payer reference is not unique

A mandate won't be approved if you’ve entered details such as your service user data or payer reference number incorrectly.

• How you can avoid this: Using an optimised Direct Debit process should eliminate these kind of errors. If you are not using an optimised process, make sure you double-check any details before submitting.

• How to resolve: If you do receive one of these error messages, you will need to correct the data in your database or submission file before you can resubmit.

F – Invalid account type

Direct Debit payments can only be taken from UK current accounts. If your customer tries to pay from a different kind of account, like a savings account, your mandate will not be approved.

• How you can avoid this: This one is a little harder to avoid but make sure your customers understand that payments can only be taken from a UK current account.

• How to resolve: You’ll need to let your customer know the cause of the error. They'll need to go through the payment process again to provide valid bank details.

GoCardless helps you to avoid delays in your mandate setup

GoCardless submits your Direct Debit mandates on your behalf and avoids errors by:

• Automatically entering internal mandate data. You simply give us your account details, GoCardless enters everything else for you.

• Modulus checking and account detail validation. GoCardless carries out modulus checks and validates account details when they’re first entered. This means you can deal with any errors before submission so payments don’t fail because of avoidable errors.

• No manual rekeying of your customer’s information. GoCardless uses online mandates so there is no need for manual rekeying of data. Your customer enters their own details and GoCardless carefully checks these for you before submitting.

If you would like to find out more about AUDDIS reason codes, you may find it helpful to read our guide to reports from the banks.