GoCardless

GoCardless is a payment processing service that enables businesses to collect recurring payments directly from customer bank accounts via direct debit. It is particularly useful for managing subscriptions, memberships, and regular billing cycles.

Data Model

• Mandates — customer authorizations to collect from their bank account; must be active before creating payments.
• Payments — individual direct debit transactions linked to a mandate.
• Payouts — batched transfers of collected funds to your bank account.
• Refunds — reversals of payments; time-limited by scheme rules.

Gotchas

• Mandate state: Payments fail if the mandate is not active; check mandate status before creating payments.
• Idempotency: Use idempotency keys when creating payments to avoid duplicates on retries.
• Payout timing: Payouts are batched; funds typically arrive 3–5 business days after collection.