Holiday Direct Debit Processing – Are you covered?

A newsletter was released by Bacs today: Are you prepared for your well-earned break?  – have you received your copy?

The newsletter highlights how recent easing of lockdown restrictions has allowed many to consider travel plans and holidays once more. Often when users go away and pass the responsibility of managing their Direct Debit collections to a colleague, issues can occur! When the colleague has limited experience dealing with Direct Debits, they may understand which buttons to press but not always the reasons why they are pressing them! We have seen errors occur time and time again in this scenario. It is much more likely that mistakes will be made and your colleague may not know what to do if something out of the ordinary happens. So if you are away, who is going to cover your responsibilities? Do your colleagues have a good understanding of the Direct Debit scheme rules and how Bacs works?

If the answer is “No” then there is an easy solution for this! From just £150 + VAT we can deliver “Online Direct Debit Scheme Training”.

Our online, face-to-face Direct Debit Training course provides a thorough overview of the Direct Debit scheme. Courses are delivered by our experienced Training Manager via online platforms such as Zoom, using a mix of learning techniques. These include interactive breakout sessions, online whiteboards, presentation slides and discussion points. You can read further details about our training options on our website.

Often when organisation use Direct Debit software to manage their collections there are vital parts of the process that need to be managed on a daily basis e.g. collecting and actioning Bacs reports; authorising and submitting files to Bacs etc. To do these tasks the user may require a “Smart Card”. If your colleague does not have their own Smart Card then you will need to apply to your sponsoring bank to request one and it is chargeable! Note: The sharing of Smart Cards is a serious breach of scheme rules – all users should have their own.

If this is all sounding like a lot of hassle for a weeks break in the sunshine then using a Direct Debit Bureau to process your Direct Debits would permanently solve these issues. With our Bureau your staff  would not need Smart Cards to submit as we would be sending files to Bacs for you. We would also check your Bacs reports on a daily basis and make the reports available to you via a secure method e.g. SFTP. Using a bureau can make processing completely hassle-free for Service Users and don’t forget you get the added bonus of our knowledge and expertise in Direct Debits. If anything outside of the ordinary occurs, we can support you.

Another options is to use our Clear Contingency Bureau. This means you can continue with your current solution but if something goes wrong e.g. if a user is away; your Smart Card breaks; you cannot access your office or even your current solution, you can have our Bureau as a backup. For further details about our Bureau offering please see our website.

If you have any questions about our Training or Bureau options please feel free to get in touch with the team on email: info@cleardirectdebit.co.uk or by phone on 01737 826957.