Skip to main content

Introduction to mandate handling

A “mandate” in FinDock is the authorization a payer gives you to collect money from his or her account. This authorization is stored and managed by FinDock in Salesforce using the Mandate object.

For some payment processors and methods, the mandate record merely stores the authorization token from the payment processor. The authorization itself is managed by the payment processor (through payment method specific authorities), and FinDock mirrors that information in Salesforce for indemnity should a payer make a claim against a collection.

In the case of SEPA Direct Debit and Swiss direct debit schemes CH-DD and LSV+, FinDock both creates and stores mandates for indemnity purposes. These schemes do not require mandates to be registered, so they do not need to be sent to banks for authorization. This type of mandate handling is used for the following method-processor combinations:

  • CH-DD / FinDock
  • LSV+ / FinDock
  • SEPA Direct Debit / Buckaroo
  • SEPA Direct Debit / Mollie
  • SEPA Direct Debit / FinDock

For other direct debit schemes, mandates need to be created, (pre)registered and actively managed. FinDock creates mandates and handles certain mandate actions for the following method-processor combinations:

  • Autogiro / FinDock
  • AvtaleGiro / FinDock
  • Bacs Direct Debit / FinDock
  • Bacs Direct Debit / Access PaySuite (formerly SmartDebit)
  • SEDA / FinDock

Mandate creation or selection​

FinDock automatically creates (or selects) mandate records for payment methods and processors where FinDock is the primary source of the payer authorization information. This applies to all method-processor combinations listed above.

How FinDock creates mandates is determined by the FinDock Core settings, where you can, for example, define a unique prefix to be added to the mandate record reference Id. For further information, see Configure mandates.

With the installation of a source connector, the source objects get a field called Mandate. This is a lookup to the Mandate object in FinDock and serves as a reference to the mandate to be used in all transactions coming from this source.

Usually, the mandate can be created automatically and as such doesn't require any interaction from FinDock users. Because of this, the field is usually not marked as required. Should automatic creation be prohibited by the processor or is not possible due to other constraints, FinDock users are presented with an error if they try to save a record without a valid mandate attached.

Upon saving the source object record, FinDock checks if a mandate is required, and if so, it checks if it is allowed to reuse an already existing mandate for the indicated payment profile.

Mandate flow

The mandate is linked to the payment profile, payment method, payment processor and target, and as such this process is invoked every time one of these fields is changed.

Mandate registration​

For Bacs Direct Debit and SEDA payments, mandates need to be registered by your bank or service bureau. This gives you authorization to collect payments. Payments cannot be collected before mandates are registered.

FinDock uses mandate schedules to collect new mandates into registration files. The files are generated by ProcessingHub and uploaded to Chatter for you to download and send to your bank. For Bacs Direct Debit with SmartDebit, the file transfer process is automatic.

For further information about mandate schedules, see Using mandate schedules.

Mandate amendment and cancellation​

Changes to existing registered mandates are handled through manual or bank file operations. For details, please refer to the processor-specific guidance for Bacs and SEDA.