When I search on GoCardless some very elderly forum posts come to the top of the results so I just want to clarify some basics as the system works now:
When creating a recurring invoice my reading is that a separate direct debit schedule is not created in GC, rather a single payment is initiated from each created invoice. Correct?
Is this done at creation or on the due date?
Is it based on the original invoice total or on the amount outstanding? (as a magazine we have to credit trade customers with returns)
If ww pause and restart an invoice does the DD pause and restart with it?
It’s likely some of the older posts may be incorrect now due to changes from both our end and GoCardless’ end. However, I’ll try and address your points for you.
If you’re manually initiating this request from the invoice overview screen, then there is an option to collect everything as one request rather than individual requests. This does differ however from recurring invoices which are processed in turn. There isn’t an option to bulk collect recurring invoices at the moment.
If it’s a recurring invoice, we request the funds on the issue date, and we request the funds at the earliest possible date (defined by GoCardless), plus the number of days specified in the recurring template.
For manual collections, this can be any date you like providing it’s on or after the earliest possible collection date (which is the one defined by GoCardless) and up to (I believe) 2 months after.
When you request the funds manually, it’s based on the balance (invoice total minus allocated amounts). This is confirmed in the little dialogue before you submit the payment.
If you pause a recurring template, we don’t pause a direct debit as such - it remains active on your clients account until it’s cancelled from either end. As we collect the funds at the point of a recurring invoice being issued, then there’s no need to do anything.
I just want to clarify this, the request goes to GC on the issue date. By “number of days” is this just the delay set when creating the DD? So I set a 7 day delay in GC on an invoice payable at 14 days. Does GC start processing 7 days after issue or 21 days after issue? (I know that GC include their own 3 day delay on top of that)
When a recurring invoice is generated, we set the issue date to that day.
If direct debit is then enabled, we ask GoCardless for the earliest collection date, which as you right say is normally around 3 days but this does differ depending on a few factors (e.g. if it’s a new mandate, or if it falls on a weekend or bank holiday, it would be longer).
If you’ve specified a delay on the recurring template (as shown below), then this is added to the earliest collection date.
To put that into an example - I have a client which already has an existing direct debit in place. Today, 11th Feb, a new recurring invoice is generated with direct debit enabled. This is then requested at the earliest possible date GoCardless says is possible, which is currently 15th February. This can also be seen from the Direct Debit options for that client:
And also on GoCardless itself (when creating a payment):
In this case, we’re adding a delay of 1 day, so the request will be submitted to be collected on Friday 16th February. It then takes a further few days before being deposited into your bank account.
I hope that all makes sense? Apologies that the post is a bit lengthy, but I hope that with an example, it should be clear to anyone who comes across it
