Accept Direct Debit Payments
Direct debits allow you to pull funds directly from your customer’s bank account for both one-time and recurring purchases.
This is useful for businesses working with renewing subscriptions or for those who want a low-cost alternative to cards – direct debit fees are reduced by more than 60% compared to credit card transactions.
Note that direct debit transactions may take some time to settle. During this time, customers can make use of their purchases.
Direct debits take different forms depending on the country your businesses is located. Momence supports ACH (US), BACS (UK), BECS (AU), ACSS (CA), SEPA (EU).
Where can I enable this?
Click Settings > Get paid under the Administrative heading, and toggle on the direct debit payment methods you'd like to enable.
What's the customer experience?
If you've enabled direct debit from Settings > Get Paid, your customers will now see an option in their Momence checkout pages to Pay with Direct Debit.
If they click it they'll be prompted to sign into their bank account to provide account information for this transaction and any future checkouts where they elect to use direct debit.
How long does a Direct Debit payment typically take?
Direct Debit transfers take an average of one to three business days to complete. They're processed in batches throughout the day and are not instantaneous.
The reason for this is that a receiving bank may choose to hold the funds before releasing them to ensure the originating bank has sufficient funds -- much like a bank might behave if they received a physical check deposit.
What's the upside to using Direct Debit?
Customer's and Hosts love Direct Debit for its fee saving aspects. If you're on a Momence plan where credit card fees are factored in, then not having to pay these fees (or pass them on to customers) is appealing.
For a Momence Pro account that has its customer's absorbing CC fees and direct debit fees, here's the difference in fees for a customer purchasing a monthly renewing membership priced at $100/month.
Is there a potential downside?
Direct Debit works much like taking a written check. There's a delay in determining if the payment passes or fails.
If the goods/service are rendered before a failure occurs, then the business will need to follow up with the customer. In short, if your business is willing to accept a physical check, taking Direct Debit effectively runs the same risk as a customer bouncing a check.
Does Momence notify the customer when a failure occurs?
Yes, in the instance of a failed renewal, the customer is notified by email that their payment failed for the subscription. They're prompted to update their payment method.
If you've enabled renewal retries they're also made aware that Momence will automatically retry the charge again soon (based on the number of days you've set from Settings > General Setup > membership renewals > enable renewal retries).
How can I keep track of any failures that occur?
There's a report you can view for this from Analytics > Reports > scroll to 'Other' > click on 'Failed Direct Debits'. To keep this report at the top of your reports page, click the star icon next to it.
For renewals, can I prioritize Direct Debits over cards?
Yes. This can be enabled from Settings > General setup > scroll to Misc. Account Settings > enable 'Prioritize direct debit payment methods when processing membership renewals.'
If a customer has both a credit card and direct debit on file, and their membership renewal is approaching, this setting will prioritize charging their direct debit. This saves on fees. If direct debit is not found, the card on file will be used.