Direct Debits for customers

Palmach

I am trying to put my credit customers on direct debit as I am having a hell of a time collecting money. AIB have said my company is too small for DD. I have heard there are Payments Processing Agencies that do it for you. Does anyone know of any or have they used them?

Lockedout2

Direct debit seems to be a big deal as you effectively have authority to take money from someone else's account.

Could you not get the to sign a monthly standing order.

Cianos

Lockedout2 wrote: »

Direct debit seems to be a big deal as you effectively have authority to take money from someone else's account.

Could you not get the to sign a monthly standing order.

With standing orders, are you able to bring the signed form to the bank or do they have to? I've found it's hard to get them to set up a standing order.

OP have you considered online recurring payments?

Palmach

Cianos wrote: »

With standing orders, are you able to bring the signed form to the bank or do they have to? I've found it's hard to get them to set up a standing order.

OP have you considered online recurring payments?

Problem is the amounts differ, often drastically.

bmwguy

AIB are the least of your worries. Your customers will not sign up to a DD. I wouldn't anyway

Palmach

bmwguy wrote: »

AIB are the least of your worries. Your customers will not sign up to a DD. I wouldn't anyway

Then they don't get an account and they pay cash or card which would suit me better.

bmwguy

Palmach wrote: »

Then they don't get an account and they pay cash or card which would suit me better.

That is a better idea.

Dades

We had to ditch giving credit altogether and build a system to allow pre-payment with a card.

Given the chance people will basically rob you.

Palmach

Dades wrote: »

We had to ditch giving credit altogether and build a system to allow pre-payment with a card.

Given the chance people will basically rob you.

How did they react? I live in a small town where I know most people. They will go for DD but will jib if asked to pay up front.

Dades

There were only had handful of credit customers and half them weren't paying anyway so it wasn't an issue.

We just developed a new system and from that point on everyone went on it.

We had one customer claiming he was waiting on a VAT return before he could pay us a few hundred euro - and a few days later was uploading pictures of him and his wife at Lake Como on Facebook. At that point we said "no more". :pac:

davindub

Palmach wrote: »

I am trying to put my credit customers on direct debit as I am having a hell of a time collecting money. AIB have said my company is too small for DD. I have heard there are Payments Processing Agencies that do it for you. Does anyone know of any or have they used them?

Try the other banks first, I know one in the leisure industry but these days there are other options - paypal/ stripe do recurring payments and you won't have to keep going back to lift limits as you grow.

Nuttzz

have a look at https://www.nuapay.com/ and https://gocardless.com/

Nuapay might suit you better if the invoices vary every month

Cianos

Nuttzz wrote: »

have a look at https://www.nuapay.com/ and https://gocardless.com/

Nuapay might suit you better if the invoices vary every month

Any experience with either of these? NuaPay charge €3 per failed transaction whereas gocardless don't, but last time I checked (a couple of years ago probably) gocardless doesn't operate in Ireland.

Edit: It looks like gocardless does work here; https://gocardless.com/en-ie/

davindub

Cianos wrote: »

Any experience with either of these? NuaPay charge €3 per failed transaction whereas gocardless don't, but last time I checked (a couple of years ago probably) gocardless doesn't operate in Ireland.

Edit: It looks like gocardless does work here; https://gocardless.com/en-ie/

I see them (gocardless ) on customers bank accounts they don't identify the originator so it looks amateurish from the customers point of view

Cianos

davindub wrote: »

I see them (gocardless ) on customers bank accounts they don't identify the originator so it looks amateurish from the customers point of view

I was worried about that, that's not great. As far as I can tell from the website, you can adjust what appears on the statement but this requires the pro level which is €250/month

zig

Dades wrote: »

We had one customer claiming he was waiting on a VAT return before he could pay us a few hundred euro - and a few days later was uploading pictures of him and his wife at Lake Como on Facebook. At that point we said "no more". :pac:

Something similar with ourselves, chasing them for ages, with them saying they were waiting on payments from their own clients (which imo is a terrible response in itself). Saw them on Facebook at a Man Utd match and what seemed to be like a road trip around England a few days later.

I wouldnt mind but he had actually added me on FB prior to this so he knew I was going to see this stuff!

dvd

hi, i use gocardless, was easy to setup they charge 1% and i can choose anything i want to appear on customers bank statement for no extra charge.

Cianos

dvd wrote: »

hi, i use gocardless, was easy to setup they charge 1% and i can choose anything i want to appear on customers bank statement for no extra charge.

Is this on the regular plan rather than the €250/month plan?

dvd

Cianos wrote: »

Is this on the regular plan rather than the €250/month plan?

yes, just the regular plan. the only charge is 1% of the transactions

davindub

dvd wrote: »

yes, just the regular plan. the only charge is 1% of the transactions

bit sceptical of this, have you actually seen a customers bank statement? Either people don't set them up or it just appears as gocardless on the customers statement.

dvd

actually i havn't seen any customers bank statments. i just assumed it because i had a few customers call me to confirm that the ***** on their statments was me. ***** being the name i used . i will double check this when i speak to one of them.

Palmach

Cianos wrote: »

I was worried about that, that's not great. As far as I can tell from the website, you can adjust what appears on the statement but this requires the pro level which is €250/month

I phoned gocardless and the above is correct.