🏦 Kontingent via Direct Debit

Members authorise a Direct Debit once, on GoCardless’s own secure page. From then on, when their subscription falls due, Pavilion asks GoCardless to collect it and marks them paid when the money arrives. Pavilion never sees or stores anybody’s bank details — only a reference to the Direct Debit.

Setting it up

1. Settings → Payments → GoCardless card: paste your access token (a sandbox one while testing) and press Save Keys, then Test Connection.
2. In GoCardless: Developers → Create → Webhook endpoint. Paste the webhook address shown on the GoCardless card, then copy the secret GoCardless gives you into Webhook Secret and save. This is required. Without it Pavilion refuses GoCardless’s messages, so nobody would be marked paid.
3. Subscriptions by Direct Debit (on the same screen): tick Offer Direct Debit to members, set how many days before the renewal date to collect (ten is a good start — a Direct Debit takes about three working days to arrive), and save.

Direct Debit works beside your card provider. A club that takes cards through Stripe can offer both; the member picks.

How members set it up

• On the renewal page, Pay by Direct Debit pays this year’s subscription and sets up the Direct Debit for future years in one go.
• On the members’ app, the subscription card shows the Direct Debit’s status, or a Pay by Direct Debit button to set one up.

Collecting

The Due for collection now list shows every member who has a Direct Debit, has not paid for the year, and whose renewal date is inside your notice period (or has passed). Members who have already paid, leavers, honorary members and anybody with a collection already on its way are left out, so pressing the button twice never takes two subscriptions. If the member has a subscription charge on their account, the amount still owing on it is collected and set against that charge; otherwise the fee for their membership type.

Tick Collect automatically to have the daily run do this for you. The treasurer is emailed a summary each time it collects anything.

What happens next

• GoCardless emails the member before the money leaves their account.
• When it arrives, the member is marked paid for the year, their subscription charge is settled, and they are emailed a confirmation.
• If a collection fails, it is marked failed and the member is emailed to arrange another way to pay.
• If a Direct Debit is cancelled (by the member at their bank, or here), or the bank takes a payment back, the treasurer is emailed. Pavilion does not undo a membership on its own — that is the committee’s decision.

Common questions

Do we have to make GoCardless our main payment provider?

No. Keep Stripe, PayPal or SumUp as the main provider for cards and tick “Offer Direct Debit to members”. If GoCardless is the main provider, Direct Debit is always offered.

A member paid by Direct Debit but still shows as unpaid.

A Direct Debit takes a few working days to arrive, and the member is marked paid when GoCardless says it has. If it has been longer than a week, check the webhook in GoCardless (Developers → Webhooks) shows successful deliveries — a missing or wrong secret is the usual cause. The “Check” button next to a member re-reads their Direct Debit from GoCardless.

Can members pay monthly by Direct Debit?

Not yet — Pavilion collects the subscription in one payment when it falls due. A member can still pay part of their subscription by another method; the Direct Debit then collects only what is left on their subscription charge.

How does a member stop paying by Direct Debit?

They can cancel it at their bank at any time, or the treasurer can press Cancel next to their name in the Direct Debit list. Either way Pavilion stops collecting from it.

Is anything collected in Test Mode?

No. In Test Mode Pavilion uses your GoCardless sandbox token, and sandbox payments go through every step without any real money moving. Switch to Live Mode and add the live token when you are ready.