Some organisations run their own Direct Debit scheme. You hold a Service User Number with your bank, you send instructions and collection files to your bank or to a bureau such as Bottomline PT-X, and you need CiviPlus to keep the paperwork straight at every step. Manual Direct Debit is the part of CiviPlus that does that.
This page explains how the pieces fit together, so the step-by-step pages make sense when you get to them. Read it once and the rest of the Direct Debit articles will be quick.
This is not the GoCardless integration. CiviPlus supports two different ways of taking Direct Debit, and they work very differently. With GoCardless a third party sets up the mandates and collects the money for you. With Manual Direct Debit you stay in control of the scheme and CiviPlus manages the back-office process. If your members set up their Direct Debits through a GoCardless page, you want the GoCardless article instead.
What can I do in CiviPlus?
Record a Direct Debit mandate for a member, with their bank details, your Service User Number and a reference generated to your own format.
Produce the files your bank or bureau needs, as batches you export, submit and then mark off in CiviPlus.
Track where every mandate has got to, from newly signed up to actively collecting to cancelled.
Send members the five Direct Debit communications, including the Direct Debit Guarantee, by email or by post.
The rhythm of a Direct Debit month
Two dates drive everything, and you set both when Direct Debit is configured.
The new instruction run date is the day of the month you send newly signed-up mandates to your bank to be set up. The payment collection run date is the day you collect money. Between the two sits a minimum gap, because a bank needs a few working days to register a new mandate before anything can be taken from it.
This is why the first payment from a new member is rarely the day they join. CiviPlus works it out for you: it finds the next new instruction run date, adds the minimum gap, then picks the next collection date after that. A member joining on 17 September, where instructions go on the 15th, the gap is 5 days and collections run on the 1st, has a first instalment of 1 November.
What the Direct Debit codes mean
Every mandate carries a code that says where it has got to. You will see these all over the Direct Debit screens.
0N | New. The member has signed up, but the bank has not been told yet. Nothing can be collected. |
01 | The bank has been sent the instruction and the mandate can now be collected against, but no payment has been taken yet. |
17 | At least one payment has been collected on this mandate. |
0C | Cancelled. The mandate is no longer live and is excluded from future collections. |
You do not move mandates between codes by hand. Submitting a batch does it, and the Direct Debit Configuration screen sets out the transitions in full.
The three kinds of batch
A batch is a set of records you send to your bank in one go. All three kinds work the same way: create the batch, add the records waiting to go, export the file, send it to your bank, then mark the batch as submitted in CiviPlus.
New Direct Debit Instructions tells the bank about newly signed-up mandates. Submitting it moves them from 0N to 01.
Direct Debit Payments collects the instalments that have fallen due. Submitting it moves mandates to 17 and marks the contributions as Completed.
Direct Debit Cancellations tells the bank to stop collecting on mandates you have marked 0C.
Keeping members informed
Direct Debit comes with obligations to the payer, including advance notice of what you are about to take and a copy of the Direct Debit Guarantee. CiviPlus installs five message templates covering sign-up, changes to a payment plan, an upcoming collection, an automatic renewal and a change of mandate.
They can go out automatically, or your team can send them from a search when they need to. Members without an email address can be sent the same content as a printed letter.
The templates need editing before you go live. They are supplied with wording like (Insert Your Organisation name) still in place, inside the Direct Debit Guarantee. If nobody edits them, members receive that text exactly as written.
Where to go next
Setting up Manual Direct Debit — for administrators switching it on and choosing your run dates.
How to put a member on Direct Debit — creating a membership paid by Direct Debit and recording the mandate.
How to run your Direct Debit batches — the monthly job of sending instructions and collecting payments.
Setting up Direct Debit notifications — preparing the five templates and choosing what sends automatically.
How to send Direct Debit notifications and letters — emailing or posting them yourself.
Related articles
GoCardless Direct Debit — the other way of taking Direct Debit in CiviPlus, where a third party handles collection.
Creating memberships — how memberships work before you add a payment method.
Renewals — how membership renewals are handled in CiviPlus.