Bolt-ons
Bolt-on · quotedDirect Debit mandates through GoCardless
This module sets up and holds Bacs Direct Debit mandates for your clients, through GoCardless. Your customer authorises the mandate on GoCardless’s own page, so their bank details never come near Estimark. All we keep is the mandate reference, the customer reference and the date they signed. Collecting money against those mandates is off. The next section explains why.
What the Direct Debit (GoCardless) module does
- Creates a GoCardless billing request per client and returns the hosted authorisation URL for the payer to complete.
- Tracks mandate status through pending, active, cancelled and failed.
- Stores the GoCardless billing request ID, mandate ID, customer ID, your own reference and the authorisation timestamp.
- Keeps mandates scoped to your company and linked to a specific client record.
- Holds no account number, no sort code, no payer credential of any kind. All of that happens on GoCardless’s hosted page.
Direct Debit (GoCardless): how it works
Can I collect payment from my customers through Estimark?
Not yet. A collection today would settle into one shared GoCardless creditor rather than into your account, and holding your customer’s money on the way through would make Estimark a payment intermediary, which it is not authorised to be. So Estimark refuses the collection and says why, rather than moving money quietly. It switches on once every company has its own GoCardless creditor.
- What works today: creating mandates, sending the payer to GoCardless to authorise, and holding the resulting mandate against a client.
- Switched off today: taking a payment against a mandate.
- Not affected: your own Estimark subscription, which is billed separately and never runs through this module.
- In the meantime: send the invoice and take payment through your own bank or card terminal, and record the payment in Estimark so your books and your accounting sync stay right.
NoteThe same guard covers card payments in the client portal. Right now, your customer can’t pay you through Estimark by any route at all.
Where does Estimark store a customer’s Direct Debit bank details?
With GoCardless. Never with us. Your payer follows a hosted link and types their details into GoCardless’s page. What comes back to Estimark is a set of identifiers (mandate ID, customer ID, billing request ID), a status, and the time they authorised it.
What is a Bacs Direct Debit mandate?
Standing permission from your customer for a named originator to take payments out of their account by Bacs. You set it up once and use it again. It isn’t itself a payment. What this module handles is the life of the mandate: created, authorised, active, cancelled, failed. If you run maintenance retainers, that’s the bit that goes wrong quietly.
Direct Debit (GoCardless): at a glance
- Price
- Ask us
- Type
- Paid bolt-on, every plan
- Provider
- GoCardless (Bacs)
- Collection
- Disabled at launch
Direct Debit (GoCardless)
Quotedfor your company
Direct Debit (GoCardless) is a paid bolt-on. It isn’t bundled with Pro, Enterprise or the free trial, so somebody has to switch it on for your company on top of whatever plan you’re already on.
Sold on a quote, on any plan
- Quoted for your company, then billed on top of your plan.
- Available on Solo, Core, Pro and Enterprise alike.
- Switched on for your company once the quote is agreed, rather than from billing settings.
- Your plan still sets your seat count.
LimitationCollection is switched off. Until every company has its own GoCardless creditor, this module handles mandates and nothing else.
Questions
Direct Debit (GoCardless): frequently asked
How much is the Direct Debit module?
There’s no list price on it yet. It’s a bolt-on you can activate on any plan, and we’ll tell you what it costs before anybody switches it on.
Can my customers pay me by Direct Debit through Estimark?
Not at launch. The module handles the mandates themselves: creating them, getting them authorised, tracking their status. Collection stays off until the money settles into your own GoCardless creditor rather than a shared one. In the meantime, take the payment through your own bank and record it in Estimark.
Does Estimark store my customer’s bank details?
No. They authorise it on GoCardless’s hosted page. We hold the mandate reference, the GoCardless customer and billing request IDs, a status and the date. Nothing else.
Do I need my own GoCardless account?
Yes. The module runs against your own GoCardless account, so it has to be connected first. Until it is, Estimark tells you the module is unavailable rather than failing somewhere you wouldn’t find it. Talk to us about the setup before you build a process around it.
Related
Reactive Maintenance
Maintenance retainers and repairs are the usual reason for a mandate.
Client Portal
A branded client login for progress, documents and variations.
Cash Flow Forecasting
Forecast income against certified value on the job.
For property maintenance firms
Repairs on SLA, appointment windows, schedule of rates and van stock.
Payment applications & retention
Interim applications, retention, payment and pay-less notices under the Construction Act.
Pricing & plans
Solo £39 +VAT, Core £129 +VAT and Pro £299 +VAT a month plus seats. Enterprise is quoted. Bolt-ons are priced separately.
Try it on a real job.
14 days, full access, every plan. No implementation fee. All prices exclude VAT, added at 20% at checkout.