FinDock e-mandates

FinDock e-mandates is an optional paid feature that enables organizations to leverage the growing popularity of electronic identification (eID).

For many payment methods, payer authorization requires an explicit signature from the payer. Through the e-mandate service, FinDock offers a simple, seamless process for creating and storing digitally signed electronic mandates (e-mandates).

Availability

What counts as a legally binding eID varies from country to country, and payment method to payment method.

Currently, the FinDock e-mandate feature supports Autogiro direct debit payments in Sweden where the eID for online mandate signup uses the payer’s BankID app for verification.

Pre-requisites

• FinDock contract includes the e-mandate feature
• FinDock with the FinDock for Sweden fully configured
• A Bankgirot contract allowing online mandate signup

How the e-mandate service works

The e-mandate service can be initiated for direct debit payments accepted online through Giving Pages or a custom front-end integrated to the Payment API.

• Step 1 - When a new payment is set up, FinDock creates a mandate for the one-time installment or recurring payment and sets the status to Pending signature while the online signature process proceeds.
• Step 2 - The payer is redirected to the FinDock e-mandate service and prompted to sign the mandate with the BankID app.
• Step 3 - The payer uses the BankID app to digitally sign the mandate. (This can be done on the same device or another device by scanning a QR code.)
• Step 4 & 5 - FinDock generates and stores a digitally signed PDF of the payer’s authorization on a Mandate record and sets the record status to Pending registration.

Mandates with status Pending registration are picked up by the next mandate schedule run and sent to Bankgirot for registration. Once the mandate schedule is completed and the records sent to Bankgirot for registration, the mandate status is changed to Pending registration acceptance.

When FinDock receives confirmation of the registration, the mandate status is set to Success and the record is marked as active (Is Active set to true). At this point, payments against the mandate can be collected.

Configure e-mandate service

Signed mandates are needed for both one-time and recurring Autogiro payments. Once the e-mandate feature is activated, you need to ensure the company information fields on the Target configuration, like city, street and postal code, are correctly completed. These fields are required as they are used on the generated e-mandate form and need to be present for the signed mandate to be fully compliant.

Special testing considerations

When testing the e-mandate service, you should use a target that is defined as a test target. In addition, you need to set up a special test variant of the BankID app.

To set up a BankID app for testing:

1. Download the BankID security app from your respective mobile app store.
2. Configure the app to use the BankID testing environment as instructed here.
3. Create a test account according to the test BankID instructions, using the "order personal code" option to register.

Once the test app is configured, you can start testing e-mandates, for example, by setting up a Giving Page as described in the next section.

E-mandate service with Giving Pages and PayLinks

For orgs with FinDock for Sweden and the e-mandate feature activated, e-mandates are a built-in step for new Autogiro payments made through Giving Pages and PayLinks.

When configuring the Payment Form component, you see as part of the payment methods configuration an additional required parameter for the Autogiro method with FinDock as processor. The appDevice parameter gives payers three signature options: use the BankID app on their current device, use the app on another device, or chose to provide a signature on paper.

New mandates get the status Pending Digital Signature or Pending Paper Signature depending on the payer's selection.

E-mandate service via Payment API

For custom front-end integrations to the Payment API, it is important to ensure the paymentIntent message includes all required parameters for Autogiro. If FinDock e-mandates are used, this means including the required appDevice parameter amongst others (see above).

Mandate archiving

Autogiro mandates need to be archived and available to payers on request as outlined in the Bankgirot user manual. The digitally signed PDFs stored on Mandate records in Salesforce can service as your archive if data retention and access policies permit.