standing order mandate
- Thread starter gtechrob
- Start date
You would have sent them a template standing order request with your bank details pre-filled? The customer would then complete the form and send it to their own bank branch with their account details and signature.
You would only send the request to your own bank as a business if it were a direct debit mandate and you had a direct debit acceptance facility setup.
Standing order setup requests must go to the customers own bank.
Ben
You would only send the request to your own bank as a business if it were a direct debit mandate and you had a direct debit acceptance facility setup.
Standing order setup requests must go to the customers own bank.
Ben
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Ian-M
With a standing order the customer "pushes" a fixed payment to you each month, so this is organised through their bank. It is fairly simple and ideal if it is a fixed amount.
With a direct debit you "pull" the money from your customer's account each month and the value can change each month. When you read it like this you can see why direct debits have far more controls and regulations and you have to be registered with your bank to do this. You are unlikely to get a direct debit facility in the early days of setting up a business but there are third party providers who can help.
Ian
With a direct debit you "pull" the money from your customer's account each month and the value can change each month. When you read it like this you can see why direct debits have far more controls and regulations and you have to be registered with your bank to do this. You are unlikely to get a direct debit facility in the early days of setting up a business but there are third party providers who can help.
Ian
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They need to go to your clients banks as others have posted.
It's best to specifically ask your clients to send them to their banks when you send them for completion it saves confusion.
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kjmcculloch
I much prefer to get clients to return the completed form to me, then I can send it to their bank.
My reason is simply that I then know the form is completed and the bank have it. It save the whole "cheque's in the post" routine when you are unsure if the bank is delaying things, or the client.
Maybe I'm just less trusting than you, Nicola.
Kris
My reason is simply that I then know the form is completed and the bank have it. It save the whole "cheque's in the post" routine when you are unsure if the bank is delaying things, or the client.
Maybe I'm just less trusting than you, Nicola.
Kris
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We started off doing that but it seemed such a waste of time and money, and although we send s/o mandates to new clients well over 50% use them to simply set up standing orders online.
Anything we can do to save admin., paper and postage helps keep costs and fees down too which is great for us and clients
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When providing the client's bank with a standing order mandate, can the mandate be hand delivered to ANY bank branch on the highstreet, or does it need to be posted to the bank's headoffice?
Also, what is an estimated time-frame for banks to action the standing order and send the first payment (in case where the date of the first payment is on the day the mandate is given to the bank)?
Also, what is an estimated time-frame for banks to action the standing order and send the first payment (in case where the date of the first payment is on the day the mandate is given to the bank)?
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You can do - in the past I've done this. I believe they are passed to the relevant branch via internal mail.
With a paper mandate often several weeks in my experience - if online no delay.
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kjmcculloch
I'd send it to their branch to speed up the process. I normally give 4 weeks and haven't been let down yet.
Kris
Beaten by Nicola again!
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I do the same if the customer doesn't have internet banking, I want to see a signed mandate it to prove it exists!
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Used to be secretary of a sports club that required a (pretty consistent) monthly payment for each member.
Standing orders were a good solution. To make them work best, complete as much information as you can yourself. You can invent your own SO form, there is not a required format. eg First payment date and amount, dates of subsequent payments and amounts, date of last payment if appropriate. Your reference. And put a note on it telling the person what they have to do to complete the SO and where they should send it. Customers are not idiots, but its best to treat them as though they are, to reduce risk of error as low as you can.
If the amount of the SO changes, send them the new form with the new amounts filled in fully.
I was dealing with 300 SO's a month so I had to get them working efficiently.
Standing orders were a good solution. To make them work best, complete as much information as you can yourself. You can invent your own SO form, there is not a required format. eg First payment date and amount, dates of subsequent payments and amounts, date of last payment if appropriate. Your reference. And put a note on it telling the person what they have to do to complete the SO and where they should send it. Customers are not idiots, but its best to treat them as though they are, to reduce risk of error as low as you can.
If the amount of the SO changes, send them the new form with the new amounts filled in fully.
I was dealing with 300 SO's a month so I had to get them working efficiently.
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Oh! I assumed it would be 1 week at most! I am thinking of using standing orders for my residential construction business. Seeing as many projects have a duration of approximately 2 weeks and require payment after week 1 and week 2, this could be a problem.
When you say there is no delay online, is it truly instant in that a payment could be made within 24 hours of the client setting up the mandate?
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A week should be enough for a bank to deal with a paper mandate. Online you may be able to get somebody to sort it in 24 hours depending who they bank with - some banks you have to wait 2-3 days for some reason I don't know.
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My experience was that it took about two weeks from sending the form to the customer.
But I am not sure that SO's are appropriate for anything other than monthly payments?
I think the reference to online was to electronic transfer, not standing order by paperwork.
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