Bacs Direct Debit Instructions
Direct Debit Instructions
A Direct Debit Instruction (DDI) is an authorisation to collect future payments from a nominated account. A DDI can be submitted to ClearBank by service users in two ways:
- Electronically via the Bacs Automated Direct Debit Instruction Service (AUDDIS), or,
- Sent as a paper instruction to your address to be entered via the ClearBank API after you have validated it.
A DDI can be set up against a real or virtual account held with ClearBank. It cannot be set up against a General Segregated Account, your Bacs Suspense Account, or your Minimum Mandated Balance account. You will receive the Bacs Mandate Initiated webhook once the DDI is present in our system.
If you are transferring an existing sort code to ClearBank that already has DDIs set up, you will need to use the API to inform us of these.
Once a DDI has been set up against an account via AUDDIS, payments may be collected from the account from the third day; for paper instructions, payments may be collected from the following day. The timing of the payment is in the control of the service user and does not necessarily follow immediately.
To receive feedback during DDI management, subscribe to the relevant webhooks which are listed here: BACS DDI webhooks.
Note: Occasionally you might receive a Bacs Mandate Cancellation Failed webhook, after having cancelled a Direct Debit Instruction through the DELETE endpoints. This does not necessarily mean a real failure. This situation can arise as in the following example:
An end-customer cancels their phone contract with "FabuPhone". FabuPhone immediately cancel the DDI through the Bacs system. The end-customer also requests that you cancel the DDI, and you attempt to do so using the DELETE endpoint. As the instruction was already cancelled, it no longer exists and cannot be found. You will then receive a Bacs Mandate Cancellation Failed webhook.
You can use the GET endpoint (GET /{vn}/Accounts/{accountId}/Mandates) to check the DDIs in place for the account and verify that everything is as it should be.
Dormant Direct Debit Instructions
Please note that ClearBank also performs weekly dormancy checks on Direct Debit Instructions set up against your accounts. After a set period of inactivity against a DDI, the instruction will be marked as Cancelled and further payment will not be processed.
By default, a DDI must be dormant for 24 months before it is automatically flagged for cancellation. However, this period can be extended by the service user in agreement with their sponsor bank. ClearBank uses the current value from the latest Direct Debit Originator (DDO) Database maintained by Pay.UK when we run the dormancy check.
If a Direct Debit is cancelled due to dormancy but is still required, the service user will need to arrange to send a new instruction.
Manage DDIs for real accounts
Manage DDIs for virtual accounts
Bacs DDI webhooks
The following webhooks relate to managing Direct Debit Instructions. The webhooks can occur in response to an endpoint (as detailed below) but also if we receive a DDI from the Bacs payment service. The webhooks returned are the same regardless of whether a real or virtual account endpoint is used. Note that the webhook names include the term "mandate". This reflects the code, but should be understood to mean "Direct Debit Instruction".
You may also receive a Bacs Mandate Migrated webhook which is prompted by information received from Bacs.
Bacs DDI codes reference
The following tables give additional detail on the meanings of the various codes used in managing Bacs DDIs.
- AUDDIS codes
- ADDACS Direct Debit Instruction amendment reason codes
- Bank returned AUDDIS (rejection) codes
AUDDIS codes
| Code | Description |
|---|---|
| 0N | New Instruction |
| 0C | Cancel Instruction |
| 0S | Substitute Instruction (Migrate the Instruction from paper to AUDDIS) |
ADDACS Direct Debit Instruction amendment reason codes
| Code | Reason | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| C | Instruction transferred to another account at a different branch of the paying bank | The payer has moved to a new house and wishes to transfer their account to a local branch. The paying bank has closed a branch and set up a new customer account at another sort code. |
| E | Instruction transferred to another account at the same branch of the paying bank | The payer has got married and wants to transfer a DDI from their own account to a joint account. The paying bank has allocated a new account to the customer. |
ADDACS Direct Debit Instruction cancellation reason codes
| Code | Reason | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Institution cancelled - refer to payer | Paying bank has cancelled the Direct Debit Instruction. Service user cannot collect via Direct Debit on this account. If Direct Debit is to continue the service user must obtain a new DDI for a new account. |
| 1 | Instruction cancelled by payer | Payer has instructed the paying bank to cancel the Direct Debit Instruction. |
| 2 | Payer deceased | |
| B | Account closed | Payer has closed their account for an unknown reason. |
Bank returned AUDDIS (rejection) codes
| Code | Reason | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Instruction cancelled by payer | Payer has instructed paying bank to cancel DDI. |
| 2 | Payer deceased. | |
| 3 | Account transferred | Account transferred to another bank or building society. |
| 5 | No account | Account number is not recognised at the paying bank. |
| 6 | No Instruction | Instruction does not exist on paying bank’s database (only applies to receipt of a 0C). |
| B | Account closed | Payer has closed their account for an unknown reason. |
| C | Account transferred to a different branch of the bank/building society | New account details supplied to the service user by paying bank. |
| F | Invalid account type | Paying bank does not allow Direct Debits on this type of account. |
| G | Bank will not accept Direct Debits on account | Paying bank does not allow Direct Debits on this account. |
| H | Instruction has expired | Occurs when a service user attempts to convert a DDI which is shown as expired on the paying bank’s database. |
| I | Payer Reference is not unique | Paying bank has matched the DDI to an existing DDI with a similar reference that has more or fewer characters. |
| K | Instruction cancelled by paying bank | Paying bank has cancelled the DDI. Service user cannot collect via Direct Debit on this account. If Direct Debit is to continue the service user must obtain a new DDI for a new account. |