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Payment Clearing Times For BACS Direct Debit (UK customers)
Payment Clearing Times For BACS Direct Debit (UK customers)
Nick Dainty avatar
Written by Nick Dainty
Updated over a week ago

Ignition now supports BACS direct debit payments for UK practices with clients in Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Summary - BACS clearing times

If this is the first charge to your client's account, it will take 10 business days to complete a transfer to your account. This is to allow for BACS direct debit mandate confirmation. Please see below for more details.

Subsequent payments (where a BACS direct debit mandate has already been confirmed) will take 6 business days to clear to your account.

Please note: The very first time you accept payment through your Ignition account, we will require 7 business days to perform checks to verify your account. This initial verification timeline applies whether your client pays via direct debit or credit card.

More details on BACS clearing times

BACS direct debits are required to undergo a direct debit mandate confirmation when your client first enters their bank account information. This confirmation occurs before any funds are debited from your client's account and do not require your client's intervention after they have entered their details.

Further charges (after the first) to the same bank account will not require confirmation, but should your client enter new bank account details, this new bank account will require a new direct debit mandate confirmation.

The first payment (requires mandate confirmation)

After a client enters their bank account details (the "transfer day"), it takes 3 business days after the transfer day to confirm the direct debit mandate for that bank account.

Please note, the client will receive an email within 24 hours to advise them of the bank account for which direct debits have been set up - but this does not mean the mandate for this account has been confirmed yet.


After a direct debit mandate is confirmed, a client's account can be charged. It takes 1-2 business days for a charge to appear on a client's account after a direct debit mandate is confirmed.

Please note, it is possible for a direct debit mandate confirmation to fail. If this happens, the practice will be informed via email to the Payment Recipient Notifications email address(es).

In addition, if a charge fails on a bank account after a mandate is confirmed (e.g., due to insufficient funds), a payment rejected email will also be sent to the above address(es).

After a bank account is successfully charged, it takes 2 business days for this to be transferred to your bank account.

Timeline* (in business days):

  • Day 0 ("transfer day", T) - client inputs bank details

  • T + 3 - Direct debit mandate is confirmed (or fails)

  • T + 4 - Bank account with successful mandate is charged

  • T + 7 - Charge is confirmed to be successful (or is rejected)

  • T + 8 - Transfer to your account commences

  • T + 9 - Transfer to your account is completed (appears in your bank account)

As per the above timeline, it will take 10* business days including the transfer day (day your client inputs their account details) for funds to appear in your account.

*Note, this timeline assumes that the client has input their bank details before the close of business (5 pm GMT). If this occurs after close of business, the mandate confirmation process starts on the next business day - and one business day is added to the above timeline.

Further payments from the same account (not requiring mandate confirmation)

If further payments are initiated on the same bank account after a mandate has been successfully confirmed, these will be completed in less time.

Timeline (in business days):

  • Day 0 ("transfer day", T) - charge is submitted from a proposal

  • T + 3 - Charge is confirmed to be successful (or is rejected)

  • T + 4 - Transfer to your account commences

  • T + 5 - Transfer to your account is completed (appears in your bank account)

As per the above timeline, it will take 6* business days including the transfer day (when the charge is submitted) for funds to appear in your account.

*Note, this timeline assumes that the client has input their bank details before the close of business (5 pm GMT). If this occurs after close of business, the mandate confirmation process starts on the next business day - and one business day is added to the above timeline. 

What if a payment is rejected?

It is important to understand that the above timelines assure that if a payment fails (either due to a mandate confirmation failure or a payment rejection) you are informed of this before a payment is made to your account.

The benefits of this are that:

  • Ignition does not need to charge for payment rejections

  • There are no payment reversals (deductions) from your account for payments rejected by your clients bank - making your bookkeeping much easier

  • We can easily reconcile your sales invoices for you

Please note, that if a direct debit mandate confirmation fails, your client must enter new bank details to set up a BACS direct debit.

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