New mandate signups When a customer signs a Direct Debit mandate for the first time, it needs to be registered with BACS. This typically takes around 5 to 6 business days before the first collection can be made. After that, the mandate is active and ready to go.
How a Direct Debit collection works, day by day
Once a mandate is active, here's what a typical collection timeline looks like:
Day 1 - You create the payment in NRTH (or NRTH detects an invoice from your accounting software). The payment instruction is submitted to BACS.
Day 2 - BACS processes the instruction. Your customer is notified that a payment will be taken.
Day 3 - The payment is collected from your customer's bank account.
Days 3 to 5 - The funds are settled and paid out to your connected bank account. Allow 3 to 5 business days from when you create the payment to receiving the funds.
All days are business working days (Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays).
Autopay (recurring payments) The same 3 day BACS cycle applies to every Autopay collection. So if your Autopay is set to collect on the 15th of each month, NRTH submits the instruction 3 business days before to ensure collection on that date.
Instant bank pay Processed immediately via open banking and faster payments. Funds arrive in your account with no waiting.
Failed payments If a Direct Debit collection fails (for example, due to insufficient funds), NRTH will automatically retry by submitting a new Direct Debit instruction. You don't need to manually create a new payment.
Mandate cancellations If a customer cancels their Direct Debit mandate at their bank, NRTH is notified through BACS within 1 to 3 business days. The mandate will show as inactive in your Customers page and no further collections can be made until the customer signs a new mandate.
Refunds You can refund a collected payment directly from the NRTH platform. The refund amount will be taken from your bank account and returned to your customer.