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How to Set Up Direct Debit and a SEPA Mandate for a Customer

The Bank & direct debit section of the customer screen holds how a customer pays by direct debit: their bank account and, where your company collects in euro through the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA), their SEPA mandate. Open the customer from Customers and select Bank & direct debit under Account in the sections rail on the left of the customer screen.

How do I set a customer up to pay by direct debit?​

Open the customer, select Bank & direct debit in the sections rail, choose which calls are taken by direct debit in Take by direct debit, fill in the bank details on the Direct debit card, and save the customer.

  1. Open the customer from Customers.
  2. Select Bank & direct debit in the sections rail, under Account.
  3. Choose an option in Take by direct debit on the Direct debit card:
    • None — the customer does not pay by direct debit. This is where every new customer starts.
    • Contract only — only contract work is taken by direct debit.
    • Manual only — only manual work, outside a contract, is taken by direct debit.
    • All — both kinds are taken by direct debit.
  4. Type the Bank account name as the bank has it.
  5. Type the Bank account no., the Sort code and the Debit ID.
  6. Select Save at the top of the customer screen, or press Ctrl and S together (Ctrl+S).

As soon as Take by direct debit is anything other than None, Bank account name is required and shows an asterisk. Saving without it gives "A bank account name is required once the customer is taken by direct debit." and ABM Service opens Bank & direct debit with the box marked, wherever you pressed Save.

To stop taking a customer by direct debit, set Take by direct debit back to None and save.

ABM Service only records these details on the customer. Nothing in it collects a payment, sends anything to the bank or shows the direct debits already taken; any collecting happens outside ABM Service.

Which bank details have to be filled in together?​

On the Direct debit card of Bank & direct debit, Bank account no., Sort code and Debit ID go together: fill in one and all three are required. The card says so under the boxes: "Account number, sort code and debit ID go together: fill one, all three are required."

If you save with only some of them, the save is refused with "Bank account number, sort code and debit ID go together: fill one and all three are required." Fill in the missing ones, or clear all three.

Two more rules are checked when you save:

  • The sort code is digits only. The Sort code box, whose hint reads "digits only", takes up to six characters, and a sort code with anything other than digits is refused with "A sort code is digits only." Type it without dashes or spaces.
  • A debit ID belongs to one customer. If another customer already has the same Debit ID, the save is refused with "That debit ID belongs to another customer." Check the reference with your accounts team before using a different one.

Bank account name and Debit ID each hold up to 35 characters, and Bank account no. up to 30. A refused save changes nothing; your typing stays on screen, and the banner at the top of the customer screen says what to fix.

How do I record a customer's SEPA mandate?​

Fill in the SEPA mandate card in the Bank & direct debit section of the customer screen, then save the customer. The mandate is the customer's signed permission to collect by SEPA direct debit.

  1. Open the customer and select Bank & direct debit in the sections rail.
  2. Type the BIC (the bank's Bank Identifier Code, up to 11 characters).
  3. Type the IBAN (the International Bank Account Number, up to 34 characters).
  4. Type the Mandate ID (up to 35 characters).
  5. Choose the Direct debit type: Not assigned, FRST — first, RCUR — recurring, OOFF — one-off or FNAL — final.
  6. Pick the Signature date, the date the mandate was signed.
  7. Select Save at the top of the customer screen.

BIC, IBAN and Mandate ID go together: fill in one and all three are required. The line under them on the SEPA mandate card reads "BIC, IBAN and mandate ID go together." Saving with only some of them gives "BIC, IBAN and mandate ID go together: fill one and all three are required." Direct debit type and Signature date are not part of that rule.

A mandate ID belongs to one customer. If another customer already has the same Mandate ID, the save is refused with "That SEPA mandate ID belongs to another customer."

Why is there no SEPA mandate on this customer's screen?​

If your company's ABM system was never set up to store SEPA mandates, the SEPA mandate card in Bank & direct debit has no boxes and says: "This database has no SEPA columns, so a mandate cannot be stored on it." That is a fact about your company's system, not about the customer, so every saved customer shows the same message, and the ABM desktop leaves the SEPA details out too.

A new customer that has not been saved yet still shows the BIC, IBAN and Mandate ID boxes on the SEPA mandate card, because ABM Service only learns this about your system when it reads a saved customer. If you fill them in on such a system, Save customer is refused with the same sentence, "This database has no SEPA columns, so a mandate cannot be stored on it." Clear the BIC, IBAN and Mandate ID boxes and save the customer again.

The Direct debit card still works as usual, so you can still record the bank account, sort code and debit ID.