An authorisation (also called a “Mandate”, Direct Debit Instruction" or "Direct Debit Request") is set up on a customer’s bank account to authorise payments to a specific merchant.
Setting up an authorisation
The invitation to set up the authorisation can be sent in different ways, usually by email or via direct link, which will take you to our online authorisation form.
Once you submit the completed form online, we will then initiate the process for your bank to set up a new Direct Debit Instruction (mandate) on your bank account. Once active, we will then be able to charge your account according to the payment parameters set for you by the merchant.
If your account requires multiple signatures to authorise a Direct Debit, you will find a check box at the bottom that indicates I can authorise Direct Debits on this account myself on your bank account. Deselect this option and you will be directed to complete a dual signature mandate form after submitting your details online.
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Please note: Dual Signature mandates are only available to UK customers paying through the Bacs Direct Debit scheme and customers based in Republic of Ireland paying through the SEPA Direct Debit scheme. Authorisations for a dual signature mandate won’t be fully active until the dual signature mandate process has been completed. For more information on this please see here. |
Making changes to your Direct Debit mandate
- Updating your bank details
- Cancelling your authorisation
- Reinstating a cancelled authorisation
1. Updating your bank details
If you are a UK payer, making payments through the BACS (UK) Direct Debit scheme, you can contact our Support team via phone who will be happy to update your bank details. If you would like to do this, please call our Support team on 020 7183 8674.
Alternatively, and for all other payers, you can cancel your current Direct Debit authorisation and complete a new authorisation form with your new bank details. If you prefer to do this, please contact the merchant you're paying who can cancel your current authorisation and send you a new payment form to complete.
| Please note: Unless you are making payments through the Bacs (UK) Direct Debit scheme, you will need to cancel your existing Direct Debit and set up a new one by completing a new authorisation form. |
2. Cancelling your authorisation
You can cancel a Direct Debit mandate in one of the following ways:
- Directly with your bank or via your online banking;
- By contacting the merchant you're paying and requesting that they cancel it;
- Or by submitting a ticket with us to request the cancellation.
If submitting a ticket with us, please ensure you include the email address you've registered against your authorisation and the name of the merchant you're paying.
3. Reinstating a cancelled authorisation
A mandate can not be reinstated once it has been cancelled. If you accidentally cancel your mandate, the best thing to do is contact the merchant you're paying directly and ask that they send you a new authorisation link.
| Please note: GoCardless cannot send you a new mandate link. |
Security at GoCardless
Security is of utmost importance at GoCardless. We take steps to ensure customer data remains safe at all times:
- Our access to the Direct Debit system is provided by some of Europe's major banks, who have approved our systems
- All customer data is treated in accordance with European data protection laws, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- All client-server communication is 256-bit SSL encrypted
- We are ISO27001-certified and regularly perform internal and external security audits on all our systems and processes
- We will never share any data we collect from you with third parties for their own unrelated purposes, except as specifically needed to process your payments.
- We are authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority to provide payment services as an Authorised Payment Institution. We serve more businesses than any other Direct Debit provider.
All money collected is held in a secure client monies account with either the Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Bank or SEB before being paid out to the merchant you're paying.
You can view our full privacy notice here.