Direct Debits - Bank or 3rd Party Collection

[VEX]

I am looking to set up a support / service contract for my clients and want to collect monthly payments from them.

My current card payment provider cant offer this as it is a pay-as-you-go service with not monthly charge itself.

So I have two options, bank (waiting for a call back), or 3rd party provider such as GoCardless or Ezipay, Fastpay etc.

Anyone use them, looking at monthly payments of £30 - £100 per client per month, 10+ clients and growing.


Thanks in advance.

V.

[uber]

Go Cardless will save you a ton of grief

[13m]

VEX said:

I am looking to set up a support / service contract for my clients and want to collect monthly payments from them.

My current card payment provider cant offer this as it is a pay-as-you-go service with not monthly charge itself.

So I have two options, bank (waiting for a call back), or 3rd party provider such as GoCardless or Ezipay, Fastpay etc.

Anyone use them, looking at monthly payments of £30 - £100 per client per month, 10+ clients and growing.


Thanks in advance.

V.

Call me old fashioned, but can't you just set up a standing order? If you really feel the need you can complete a standing order as part of the contract process and submit it for them. It's not like you're talking about hundreds or thousands of payments here, is it.

[VEX]

True. but it relys on the client sending it or completing the process with thier bank.

This allows us to complete the process with them and submit it to our bank. Hence we keep the control.

V.

[13m]

VEX said:

True. but it relys on the client sending it or completing the process with thier bank.

This allows us to complete the process with them and submit it to our bank. Hence we keep the control.

V.

They can as easily cancel a DD as they can standing order.

All our customers pay by standing order. We used to set them up but some banks (Barclays for one) used to fail 99% of the time. So now we stipulate when the first payment is meant to be, let the customer set it up, and if it's not in we call the customer and ask them to set it up pronto.

We find that once a standing order is running it's hassle free unless the customer runs into financial trouble. But in that situation even if you had DD you'd still not get paid.

If it's a fixed monthly sum and you've dozens, not thousands, of clients I think standing order me be a plan.

[VEX]

Thanks for the view point, valid as well.

Ideally I wanted to set up a monthly reoccuring payment on a credit or debit card, because it is far easier to set up from my side and doesnt rely on the client doing it. But my payg card system doesnt allow it.

I like the idea of GoCardless and the other and at 1% or 40p it is cheap enough not to worry about.

V.

[technodup]

We're in the process of switching to GoCardless DD because S/O are a complete ballache.

They can cancel both easily BUT with GoCardless you find out straight away, not a week or three later when it fails to appear in your account, which gives you time to resolve it and not end up with overdue payments.

Neither is perfect but DD gives much more control if you want to change an amount, take a one-off payment, if the VAT rate changes...

[VEX]

Thanks, did you look at any of the other 3rd Party DD collectors?

Some have a flat fee of 40p and seem to offer your business as the DD reference. Some forums have people asking who or what GoCardless reference is.

V.

[uber]

13m said:

Call me old fashioned, but can't you just set up a standing order? If you really feel the need you can complete a standing order as part of the contract process and submit it for them. It's not like you're talking about hundreds or thousands of payments here, is it.

DD companies offer instant setup, reporting etc. A standing order would be like replacing email with a fax machine

[13m]

uber said:

13m said:

Call me old fashioned, but can't you just set up a standing order? If you really feel the need you can complete a standing order as part of the contract process and submit it for them. It's not like you're talking about hundreds or thousands of payments here, is it.

DD companies offer instant setup, reporting etc. A standing order would be like replacing email with a fax machine

But it's free, simple and it works. To extend your analogy, the OP has already got a fax machine and you're suggesting he rents a computer so he can use email. Fine if he's sending lots of emails, but he's sending one a month.

I am sure DD is the way to go for a business with a lot of transactions, or where payments vary, but I wouldn't be giving away any profit at all to use DD in a tiny one, if the payments remain the same monthly.

[PurpleMoonlight]

I wouldn't take kindly to a supplier insisting they have a DD on my corporate debit card.

Are you confident your clients are willing to do so?

Are you sure you want to charge monthly too? The administration for both sides is onerous. I used to invoice quarterly but once I topped 100 clients that became a real pain, and I now do it annually.

[VEX]

I understand the reason for quarterly and monthly, but if I am clever with it the each month the income from these cover all my fixed outgoings. So while quarterly or anuallt might seem better, I think monthly is actually better for me.

Clients are private, not corporate businesses. Think alarm service contracts but for IT and AV systems.

V.

[trowelhead]

GoCardless - i use to collect rents on properties

Makes life easier - login see what has been collected, notified immediately if cancelled etc

You can even give your client a short link they can then click it and set up a new dd in about 15 seconds.

Worth the extra fees to be able to see what is going on at a glance...

[latned]

GoCardless

I'm collecting approx 150 accounts monthly, never had any problems

[M3333]

We use first capital cashflow, good company and service.

http://www.firstcapitalcashflow.com/

[VEIGHT]

I'm looking to use Go Cardless (thanks for the thread Vex) and I think the £200 per month option to get our business name on the statement and also be able to set up via paper form or over the phone would be ideal.

Before I sign on the line, anything I need to know? They said it's £200 pm and no more than 60p per transaction - no hidden costs.

Also does anyone get customers to fill out a paper form? Is it lengthy or just a 'one page simple job'? They are trying to find me an example and will email it over (not sure why that's so difficult)

Anyone else worth looking at?

Thanks!