Direct Debit batch management overview

The Direct Debit collection process defines how an Originator (housing organisation) collects electronic payments from its payers (tenants) who have completed a Direct Debit Instruction (DDI) form. The housing organisation must provide 'advance notice' to the tenant, typically in the form of a payment schedule, before the first Direct Debit collection is made. BACS rules dictate that the collection must be made on or within 3 working days of the due date i.e. the date advised on the advance notice communication. All Direct Debits due for collection will be compiled into a batch, based on the scheduled payment due date, and these can then be submitted as a separate BACS input file, ready for processing by the BACS Bureau or intermediary software. The BACS file is created by Civica Cx Housing in a prescribed format, with each Direct Debit submitted to the payer's bank account being annotated with the appropriate transaction code. For each tenant's Direct Debit instruction, the BACS input file contains the following data:

• Core Reference - typically this is the payer's mandate reference (a minimum of 6 alphanumeric characters)
• Payer Details - the account name of the tenant
• Payer's sort code - the unique six digit identifier for the bank and branch combination
• Payer's account number - the bank account number of the tenant
• Amount - the individual payment value to be collected (decimal)
• Transaction Code - indicating the status of the Direct Debit collection (01: The first Direct Debit to be collected; 17: All standard Direct Debit Payments; 18: Re-presentation of previously returned Direct Debit; 19: The final Direct Debit).

In addition to submitting the necessary BACS input file to control the electronic payments between banks, the end user can also post a separate financial batch of equivalent payment transactions to be uploaded to a third party accounting system. In the event that any number of Direct Debits are returned, a contra 'rejection' payment batch can also be created.

Separate help articles have been created for each key aspect of Direct Debit batch management, including:

• To create a new direct debit payment batch
• To submit a direct debit payment batch
• To post a direct debit payment batch
• To cancel a direct debit payment batch
• To submit a direct debit rejection payment batch