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Connecting GoCardless

How to connect GoCardless

GoCardless specialises in bank-to-bank payments rather than card networks, collecting funds directly from customer bank accounts via direct debit mandates and open banking rails — bypassing Visa/Mastercard entirely.

Direct Debit / Bank Debit Schemes (pull-based):

- ACH Debit — United States (USD)
- Bacs Direct Debit — UK (GBP)
- SEPA Direct Debit — Eurozone (EUR)
- BECS — Australia (AUD)
- BECS NZ — New Zealand (NZD)
- Autogiro (Bankgirot) — Sweden (SEK)
- Betalingsservice — Denmark (DKK)
- PAD (Pre-Authorized Debit) — Canada (CAD)

  Instant / Push Payment Schemes (open banking):

- Faster Payments (Instant Bank Pay) — UK (GBP)
- SEPA Credit Transfer — Eurozone (EUR)
- SEPA Instant Credit Transfer — Eurozone (EUR)


Connecting GoCardless

Connecting to GoCardless is an OAUTH process, this requires you to log into GoCardless, which then shares a security token with us. To complete this you need a GoCardless login with administrator access on your GoCardless account.


Setup

1. When prompted, select “Connect GoCardless” to login to your GoCardless Account.

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2. If you have not recently been logged into GoCardless you will be prompted with a log in screen, you will need to log in as an administrator of the account.

Tip! The application will be listed as “Payments"


3. After login you will be returned to a configuration screen, the connection will be tested and you will be presented a green “Connected to GoCardless” message, if there is an error with the connection, check the account details are correct and you have granted the user all permissions.


Where:

  • Enable Refunds: If you have this feature enabled on your GoCardless account, check this box to be able to use them https://support.gocardless.com/hc/en-gb/articles/210536269-Refunding-payments

  • Enable Custom References: If you have this feature enabled on your GoCardless account, check this box to use them (transaction.reference eg REF-00010012 will be mapped into this field)
    https://support.gocardless.com/hc/en-gb/articles/115003660445-Custom-payment-references

  • Enable Instant Bank Pay: If you have this feature enabled on your GoCardless account, check this box to use it - see below.

  • Use Bank Reason Code as Decline Authorisation:  In the case of a declined transaction, by default a user-friendly GoCardless interpretation of the decline reason will be returned in the authorization field of the transaction. By selecting this checkbox, the less user friendly underlying scheme decline reason code will be returned in this field (eg BACS - ARUDD0, ACH R01)

  • Retry Failed Transactions:GoCardless doe NOT follow the same retry processing as other gateways due to nuances with how they work. You have 3 options for retries:
    • Disable: No automated retries
    • Enabled: Automated retries, as soon as possible (typically 3 days to process)
      • You can select which declined transactions get retried, from “Insufficient Funds” and “Refer to Payer”
      • You can decide the number of retries (between 1 and 3)
    • Success+: If you have this feature enabled on your GoCardless account, GoCardless will run an optimised retry process based on their experience (eg aligning pay days etc).


Instant Bank Pay - BACS (UK) / SEPA (EU) only

Instant Bank Pay and Direct Debit serve different purposes. Instant Bank Pay is a single, pay-now bank transfer that confirms payment immediately at the point of checkout. The customer authorises a one-off push payment from their bank, giving you real-time confirmation that funds have been approved. Direct Debit, by contrast, is a mandate-based method designed for future payments, allowing you to collect money later, on a schedule, or on demand, with settlement occurring over standard bank clearing times.

Used together, Instant Bank Pay handles the “right now” payment while Direct Debit handles “ongoing” payments. The Instant Bank Pay flow can also be used to capture and verify the customer’s bank details and set up a Direct Debit mandate at the same time. This gives you immediate payment confirmation up front, plus confidence that the bank details and mandate are valid for future scheduled or recurring collections, without requiring the customer to complete two separate setup journeys.

Enabling Instant Bank Pay, presents the following options:

  • IBP Fallback behaviour:
    • Fallback to mandate-only:  If a customer cannot complete Instant Bank Pay, they are still able to complete a direct debit mandate and process payment via direct debit 
    • Fail transaction if IBP unavailable: If a customer cannot complete Instant Bank Pay, they can NOT use direct debit




👆 You’re all caught up