Direct debit is an electronic payment method. Direct debit is one of the simplest ways for an organisation to collect payments from regular supporters. It saves time, reduces the cost to collect, and puts cleared funds directly into your bank account. You can create a direct debit transmission file of your direct debit payments to send to your organisation’s bank who then transfers the transmission file to Banks Automated Clearing System (BACS) on your behalf to process.
Before you begin to process BACS direct debit payments for a batch, follow these tips to help you get started:
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Apply for an originator’s number with BACS. This process and take eight to 10 weeks.
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To use paperless mandates to send instruction records to BACS to process direct debit transactions, apply for an Automated Direct Debit Instruction Service (AUDDIS) status.
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Verify your system administrator has set up your organisation’s bank information. You should also determine the best media to use to transfer transmission files to your bank.
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To process direct debit transactions, your organisation must send instruction records to BACS. Paperless mandates provide three types of instruction records — New, Set-up, and Cancel — and are used to generate direct debit transmission files to send to BACS. Paperless mandates help optimise time efficiency and reduce the amount of paperwork to maintain. To use paperless mandates to send instruction records to BACS, configure the paperless mandates settings for your organisation. For information about how to enable paperless mandates, refer to Paperless Mandates.
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When you add a BACS direct debit file process to the database, you must select your organisation’s bank. If the applicable bank account does not appear in the Bank account field, contact your system administrator. For information about how to set up bank account information, refer to Add a Bank Account.
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Encourage your constituents to sign up to give through direct debit.
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When you add a new pledge or recurring gift to the database, the constituent can use direct debit to set up automatic payment. Under Automatic Payment, select Pay instalments automatically by and select Direct debit. To use paperless mandates to send instruction records to BACS, enter information about the Direct Debit Instruction (DDI) for the constituent. According to AUDDIS, the branch of BACS that helps set up a constituent’s payment process with your organisation’s bank, you cannot send a paperless mandate until you receive the constituent’s DDI.