Sick of manually importing and reconciling your Direct Debits from a previous provider? Transfer them to GoCardless so that not only are they all in one place, but all new payments will flow into Beacon automatically. You can even change amounts or cancel mandates from within Beacon!
Transferring mandates can take some time, and there's a few hoops to jump through, so we've created a guide to take you through the process.
We've even got some handy tips for choosing your migration date!
Process overview
Requirements:
For each donor being moved, you will need their:
Name
Email
Address
Bank details
Note: If you are missing email addresses for some donors, see our answer below
As early as possible, inform GoCardless and your previous provider of your intention to move mandates.
Complete and submit a 'Bulk change deed' and a 'Notification of change' form
Notify the Beacon team of the upcoming change
Notify your donors of the upcoming change
Export and clean your full list of mandates ready for transfer
Take final payments with your previous provider
Upload your cleaned mandates to GoCardless
New mandates have been moved and you can start charging people! But, there's no payment information in GoCardless yet, so it won't know how much to charge, and when. You won't be able to bulk create subscriptions yourself, so Beacon will create them for you!
Compile a list of the payment schedules/subscriptions
Send to us on the agreed date! We'll create them all in your GoCardless account
Update your Subscriptions in Beacon
Your new payments will start to be taken a minimum of 7 days later, and will then appear in Beacon immediately.
Transferring mandates to GoCardless
1. As early as possible, inform GoCardless and your previous provider of your intention to move mandates
Minimum 4-6 weeks before transfer
It's important to kick off the process as early as possible when you know you'd like to move your mandates. Your old provider may have long lead-times on completing a changeover, and it can take time to get forms signed and ready to go.
2. Complete and submit a 'Bulk change deed' and a 'Notification of change' form
3+ weeks before transfer
Two forms are required to process the move between providers.
The Bulk Change Deed
This transfers liability for indemnity claims to the new Service User Number (SUN) provider.
What is a Service User Number? A SUN is like the licence number of the provider or their bank (the Service User) that does the actual processing of Direct Debits. You won't likely have your own SUN, so you'll need to get your old provider to fill out the form and send it back to GoCardless. You're the go-between here!
The Notification of Change Form
This form informs GoCardless's sponsor bank of the size and date of the change. The dates will be those you've agreed with both your previous provider and GoCardless.Tip: There are a few considerations for choosing the ideal migration date. See our advice here.
3. Notify the Beacon team of the upcoming change
3+ weeks before transfer
Note: Unfortunately, GoCardless don't have any way for you to add subscription information in bulk (you'd have to go one-by-one)...
However: Fortunately, Beacon is super helpful and will upload this for you!
Once you've notified your sponsor bank and GoCardless, tell us too!
To ensure the smooth transition of your direct debit data, make sure to get in touch with the Beacon team to make us aware of your upcoming migration date.
We're more than happy to upload this for you, but we need to know several weeks in advance so that we can schedule the time to do so. We operate a 4-day week at Beacon, so can create subscriptions Monday to Thursday.
Don't skip this step! We can't guarantee that we'll be able to upload your subscriptions to GoCardless without the required notice.
4. Notify your donors of the upcoming change
1-3 weeks before transfer
You are required to inform your customers in writing of your change in provider in advance of your agreed bulk change date. Notice can be provided via post or email, and GoCardless will be able to provide you with a template message to use as there are strict legal requirements for what needs to be on the notice. See an example here.
You will need to inform GoCardless once you've notified your customers.
5. Export and clean your full list of mandates ready for transfer
1 week before transfer
It's important to have your list of donors ready to import on your changeover date. To get it ready, you'll upload it to a GoCardless test account to check it's valid.
First, you'll need your donor/mandate list:
If you were storing your customer's bank information prior to migrating to Beacon, you will likely have this information already.
If this is stored with your last Direct Debit provider, you will need to contact them to get an export of the data.
Transfer the data into 'Step 1' of this template ready for upload to GoCardless.
For Google Sheets, click 'File > Make a copy'
For Excel, click 'File > Download > Microsoft Excel (.xlsx)'
If you're getting this data from your previous provider, you could ask if they'll put it into the template for you. More detailed instructions for filling out the template are available here.
Tip: The next steps in the process will be much easier if you are sure to include an ID for these mandates in the 'customer.metadata.custom_reference' column that you also have in Beacon. e.g. a member number, a record ID from your last CRM, or Beacon's record ID. If any people have more than one subscription, the ID should be for the Subscription rather than the Person.
Next, create a 'Sandbox' GoCardless account here. This is different from your real GoCardless account, and is solely to check your donor/mandate data. Once you've created your account, contact GoCardless to let them know so that they can update it ready to test your mandates (they need to enable the BACS/Direct Debit mandate feature).
Head to your imports section in your new sandbox GoCardless account (https://manage-sandbox.gocardless.com/imports), click 'Import', choose 'Migrate Bacs mandates (GBP)', and upload your file.
GoCardless will run through your list and check that each row is valid, returning errors where it's not yet ready.
Tip: You'll likely have a bunch of errors to work through, and this is totally normal! The validation is quite strict, so let us know if you need help understanding any of the messages you see.
Clean the errors and repeat the upload process to check your sheet again.
Once you can upload with no errors, your data is ready!
6. Take final payments with your previous provider
1-2 days before transfer
Just before your official change date, your old supplier will take their final set of Direct Debits.
7. Upload your cleaned mandates to GoCardless
From transfer date
On the bulk change date, your previous Direct Debit provider will cancel your existing customers' mandates, and the option will be enabled in your GoCardless account to upload your customers' details.
Go to the import section of your live GoCardless account, and select the 'Migrate Bacs mandates (GBP)' just like you did in your sandbox account. Your cleaned list should upload without any errors, but if there are any that come up, simply fix them in your sheet and re-upload.
You've uploaded your mandates! They will take a day or two to be approved and ready to take charges. Whilst you're waiting, proceed to set up the subscription details for your new mandates...
Setting up subscriptions in GoCardless
Your mandates and customers are in GoCardless, but there isn't any information for how much to charge each donor. This will need to be added before any payments start getting taken.
1. Compile a list of the payment schedules/subscriptions
So that we can create all the required subscriptions in your GoCardless account, you'll need to fill in 'Step 2' of the spreadsheet here.
For Google Sheets, click 'File > Make a copy'
For Excel, click 'File > Download > Microsoft Excel (.xlsx)'
To add your data to the sheet, you'll likely need data from both Beacon and GoCardless:
Export subscription information from Beacon
If you've already migrated your data, you can export this information from Beacon. Create an export template with the following fields:
Record type: Subscriptions
Type
Amount (Currency)
Amount (Value)
Frequency
Next payment date (you might need to add this manually if it's not accurate in Beacon)
The ID that you included in your mandate sheet (Important!)
If your subscription data is not in Beacon yet, you will still need the details above, minus the 'Record ID'.
Tip: If you'd like to retain the same 'anchor day' for a subscription, you should enter the next payment date of that day, regardless of whether it falls on a weekend or bank holiday.
e.g. the next payment date for a subscription is due on Saturday the 1st of June, so it will get taken on Monday the 3rd of June. You should enter in the 1st of June in the spreadsheet anyway, so that GoCardless returns to that day for subsequent payments.
Export customer information from GoCardless
To create subscriptions in GoCardless accurately, you'll need an export of your newly-created customers in GoCardless to cross reference.
Log in to your GoCardless account, go to 'Customers'...
...and click 'Export'.
2. Send to us on the agreed date! We'll create them all in your GoCardless account
Send a copy of the GoCardless migration templates with your subscription information to your friendly Beacon team. Reach out to us between 9am - 11am on your migration day via the in-app chat and we'll give you a secure upload link for your file.
We will upload to GoCardless, creating subscriptions for all your donors.
Note: Once subscriptions are created in GoCardless, they will send notifications to each of your customers advising them that a subscription has been set up. If you've already notified your supporters of the change, this shouldn't be a surprise for them!
⚠️ Warning: If you've enabled the import of manual payments in your GoCardless settings, make sure you switch this off before we upload your subscriptions to GoCardless.
Subscriptions will be duplicated in Beacon if this is switched on when we run the upload.
3. Update your Subscriptions in Beacon
Once we've created subscriptions in GoCardless, we will send you a file back ('Step 3' of the migration sheet) with some information to update your subscriptions in Beacon.
Specifically, you'll want the new GoCardless subscription IDs (they start with SB ) to be added to the 'External ID' field of the Subscription record in Beacon. With that added, any new payments will be added to Beacon automatically when they are made.
It's easiest to create an import template for the file to update Subscriptions.
4. Your new payments will start to be taken a minimum of 7 days later, and will then appear in Beacon immediately.
Well done! Payments will be lined up and scheduled to come out at the next payment dates. Your GoCardless account is sorted, your Beacon account is updated and ready, and you deserve a muffin and a cup of tea for that epic job!
How to choose a migration date
Here are some tips and considerations from us on how to pick the perfect date for your Direct Debit migration.
Day of the week
We work a 4-day week at Beacon, so will only be able to create subscriptions for you on a Monday to Thursday. Choosing a Friday/Saturday/Sunday will mean we'll create the subscriptions the following Monday.
Delay before first payments can be taken
Since it can take 7-10 days before your first payments are able to be taken, it's good to choose a date with the fewest payments to go out in the next week.
For example: If you are a membership charity and charge all your members at the start of the month, pick a date in the middle of the month so there's plenty of leeway before the next charge.
If there aren't any 7 day periods without payments due, it's best to pick the period with the fewest payments.
See our FAQ for what happens with payments dates that are < 7 days after a migration.
Keeping anchor days for all subscriptions
If it's essential to retain the same day of the month for all of your subscriptions, and there is no period in the month where you have no (or few) payments due, it is possible to run two migrations.
For example:
All payments due in the second half of the month can be migrated on the 1st.
All payments due in the first half of the month can be migrated on the 15th.
This would need to be agreed by GoCardless and your previous provider and is logistically more complex, so is only advisable where you have a large volume of Direct Debits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do our donors / members need to agree to the transfer?
No. You do need to advise them that you're changing providers, but they don't need to opt-in to the transfer.
Do I need email addresses for everyone?
Yes. Since GoCardless automates ongoing notifications to your donors they require an email address for them.
If you don't have an email address for everyone, there are 2 options:
Contact these customers to get an email address where they can be reached (it could be for a close relative or partner if they don't have their own email address)
Use an internal email address, and have processes in place to send any notifications received to the intended recipient (e.g. by post). This is a legal requirement, so having a tight system in place will be essential!
What happens with payments due in the 7 days after a migration?
Any subscription payments that are due < 7 days after the migration date will be taken ASAP, and will continue to be taken on the successful charge date, NOT the original date.
Here are some examples for a migration date of the 1st of January.
Monthly payment due 1st of January
Will be taken on 8th of January
Will continue to be taken on the 8th of each month
Monthly payment due 7th of January
Will be taken on 8th of January
Will continue to be taken on the 8th of each month
Monthly payment due 8th of January
Will be taken on 8th of January as expected
Will continue to be taken on the 8th of each month
See our section on how to choose a migration date for some tips!
Note: These dates are estimates. It can take 7-10 days before payments can be taken, and may be affected by bank holidays or other Direct Debit cycle factors.