Setting Up Direct Debit (AUS, UK, & USA ACH) – Raisely

Direct Debit is currently only available for Australia and UK Stripe accounts.

Direct debit is a fantastic way for charities to receive regular donations from their community of givers. Unlike credit cards, direct debit helps ensure that donations continue without interruption, even if cards expire or change. And the best part? Setting up direct debit in Raisely is a breeze! Keep reading to learn how.

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Requirements for Direct Debit

Activating Direct Debit

How Payment Processing Works

FAQ

Requirements for Direct Debit

Current requirements include:

An active Stripe account (AUS & UK only)
BECS Direct Debit (AUS) or BACS Direct Debit (UK) payment method enabled in Stripe
Payments received in Raisely in AUD or GBP only
Regular Giving donation frequency setup (weekly, monthly, etc)

You can find Stripes support guides here for Australian customers (BECS Direct Debit) or for UK customers (BACS Direct Debit).

Activating Direct Debit

The Direct Debit payment option is a feature enabled within Stripe. As Raisely uses Stripe as the primary payment gateway, your campaign can now support this payment option.

There are 2 steps to activating Direct Debit for your campaign:

1. Stripe Settings

Login to your Stripe account to enable BECS Direct Debit (AUS) or BACS Direct Debit (UK) payment method. See Stripe support guides above.

2. Raisely Settings

1: Within your Raisely campaign, from the sidebar select Settings > Payments & Receipts
2: To enable Direct Debit, switch toggle to ON then select Enable Direct Debit in the popup
3: Once enabled, select Add Direct Debit Option
4: Select your relevant Stripe account in the dropdown, and your related Direct Debit option enabled in Stripe. Then select Save Direct Debit Option
5: Back in Settings, select Donation Form. Ensure there is at least one Donation Frequency added alongside One Time, such as Weekly or Monthly

How the Payment Process Works

When a donor chooses to give via regular giving, they will see the Direct Debit Option in the payment step now available.

For donors in the UK, if the donor’s address has not been asked for in the previous form steps, they will be prompted to enter their address as a requirement from Stripe.

Once they select Donate, they will be presented with a popup to confirm their direct debit details. Once Confirmed a donation subscription is added to their account in Raisely. All donations made through direct debit will be shown as Pending, as a message will be sent to the donor from Stripe confirming the direct debit. Confirmation of their direct debit setup takes up to 3 business days, where subscription status will change to OK once successful.

Stripe handles further email communication for direct debit, notifying donors of the details for upcoming instalments. You can find Stripe documentation here explaining the process. This can be disabled, allowing communication to be handled by the charity, though Stripe charges for this function.

Processing Timelines

The payment processing time for direct debit donors in Australia (BECS) differ from direct debit donors in the UK (Bacs), as there are different requirements in both regions.

Payment Processing for BECS Direct Debit in Australia

We attempt to charge the donor on their Next Payment Date. It can take up to 1 to 3 business days for Stripe to confirm if the payment has succeeded or failed.

The payment processing time is the same, regardless of whether this is the first time the donor is setting up their direct debit arrangement or if this is a subsequent re-billing for an existing direct debit arrangement.

Payment Processing for Bacs Direct Debit in the UK

If this is the first time the donor is setting up their direct debit arrangement, it can take up to 6 business days for the new mandate to be created, as per Stripe's documentation. From then, it can take up to 3 business days for Stripe to confirm if the payment has succeeded or failed.

For subsequent re-billing, we attempt to charge the donor 2 days prior to their Next Payment Date, with the aim of the charge to go through on their Next Payment Date. It can take up to 1 to 3 business days for Stripe to confirm if the payment has succeeded or failed.

FAQ

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# What happens with Direct Debit Failures, Cancellations & Modifications

Direct Debit agreements can be canceled by the donor's bank. If this happens, we will cancel the subscription and send any messages set up as such.

If the donor updates their bank details with their bank, we also get notified and will update the direct debit automatically.

If a payment fails, there are some failure codes that will cancel the direct debit right away. Others are temporary failures and we will leave the direct debit in place and try again on the next payment. For more information regarding the codes - see https://stripe.com/docs/payments/bacs-debit/accept-a-payment?platform=web#web-test-payment-failures

We also set a direct debit payment to a FAILED state if there are two consecutive failures. We will not automatically retry the direct debit.

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# Can one-off payments be made through Direct Debit?

No, as direct debit only works when the Donation Frequency is set to a periodic payment, such as fortnightly or weekly, etc.

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# When setting up the Direct Payment method in Stripe, Stripe recommends me to setup Webhooks. Do I need this?

The good news is that Raisely has already done this for you with our integration. Simply select Turn on Anyway to proceed with your setup.

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# How do I test that the Direct Debit works

Like testing with Credit Cards payments, Stripe offers test BSB and Account Numbers to use when testing Direct Debit payments. For a general test bank account, use 000 000 (for BSB) and 000123456 (for Account Number).

For more of Stripes testing options, check out Stripes support guide here to learn more

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# What is the difference between Direct Debit and Bank Transfer?

Direct Debit (via Stripe) is where the payment is 'PULLED' from the donors bank account and deposited in your account. Bank transfer differs in that the donor, via their bank account, 'PUSHES' a payment to your bank account. With Direct Debit therefore, the donor elects for the charity (you) to 'pull' the funds from their account on a regular basis, rather than 'pushing' the funds to you. This makes Direct Debit quite valuable for charities as it increases the effectiveness of regular payment being processed, as it ceases to rely on the donor as the payment manager.

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