Advantages of Paperless Direct Debit for Your Members

Direct Debit – particularly paperless direct debit – offers a number of advantages for organisations receiving payment in this way – but as with any such system, the benefits have to be mutual. As any membership organisation knows, it’s vital to be able to present the advantages of direct debit to your members and potential members in a way that encourages them to sign up. So what are the benefits of using direct debit for your members?

Easy sign up

Even before the more recent versions of the direct debit system were introduced, signing up for direct debit was as easy as filling out a form. As the system has developed, with the introduction of paperless direct debit, it has become even easier for your members to complete the administration relating to direct debit set up – with paperless direct debit, there is no paper form to complete, and all the necessary information is provided over the telephone or via a website form.

Another huge benefit for members of the paperless direct debit system is that people can sign up whenever they want. There’s no need for them to wait for opening times, for ‘office hours’ which might not be convenient.

One less thing

Direct debit gives the organisation collecting membership fees a degree of certainty relating to payment. In the same way, the members who have signed up to pay their membership fees using direct debit have one less thing to remember. Memberships are often paid annually, and having a direct debit set up means they don’t have to worry about sending a cheque off in time. For memberships that are paid more frequently – monthly or bi-monthly perhaps, the direct debit means another thing that doesn’t need to get added to the ‘to do’ list on a regular basis.

A more efficient way to pay

With payments taken care of through direct debit, the club administrators save time – and money – which can be used to invest in the services and activities the club runs. The cost savings can also be passed on to members for example in the form of membership incentives and discounts. the organisation has more time to concentrate on running the club’s core activities rather than chasing after late payments – and that has to be good for the members.

Avoids disruption to membership

Following on from the last point, paying membership fees by direct debit avoids disruption to membership, and the embarrassment on both sides, that might arise from late payment.

Peace of mind

Direct debit is subject to stringent online security and encryption, and all direct debits are protected by the Direct Debit Guarantee which means that any payments taken in error – or fraudulently – will be refunded. It avoids the possibility of cheques going missing in the post – or not being cashed promptly, and of cash being misappropriated.

How you communicate these advantages to your members is up to you. If you’re encouraging paperless direct debit sign up, you can include a summary of these advantages on your website and any other publicity material you produce. Otherwise, it’s a good idea to include some text encouraging your members to choose direct debit alongside the paper direct debit instruction that you send out.

If you’d like to introduce direct debit solutions for your members but don’t have the resources available to get it set up, why not get in touch with us? We offer tailored direct debit consultancy services to help organisations like yours get started with direct debit. And of course, as well as consultancy, we can also process the direct debit files and send these to BACS for you through our direct debit bureau service.