Receiving standing orders

marks87 · 3 October 2017 at 10:56AM

I'm the treasurer of a small club and as part of our fundraising we have a scheme where members can pay a small monthly amount, which we prefer to have via standing order (vs. cash in hand). The amounts involved make accepting direct debits prohibitively expensive.

What I've normally been doing is giving new "subscribers" (for want of a better word) a slip of paper with the bank details, and asking them to take that to their bank. This, however, causes delays and in some cases puts people off because of the hassles of going to their bank, or even using online banking.

While going through some old paperwork, I found an old form from before I was treasurer, where the member would enter their bank details and return the form to us. We would then somehow process that ourselves.

I can't get in contact with the former treasurer to find out how this worked, so I thought I'd ask here.

Assuming the form is properly filled in and signed, does that mean we (the club) can set up the standing order on the member's behalf? If so, do I take the form to our bank, or does it need to be a branch of the member's bank?

I was always under the impression that SOs could only be set up in-person (or, now, online) by the account holder. But if they can delegate that responsibility to us that would make life a lot easier.

Thanks in advance.

Buzby · 3 October 2017 at 11:50AM

SO’s are disliked because you (the club) cannot vary it. The forms you refer to are still valid, and can be used, however it must be sent to the subscribers branch as it is an instruction from them to their bank - you are not a party to it.

Aquamania · 3 October 2017 at 12:10PM

marks87 wrote: »

I'm the treasurer of a small club and as part of our fundraising we have a scheme where members can pay a small monthly amount, which we prefer to have via standing order (vs. cash in hand). The amounts involved make accepting direct debits prohibitively expensive.

What I've normally been doing is giving new "subscribers" (for want of a better word) a slip of paper with the bank details, and asking them to take that to their bank. This, however, causes delays and in some cases puts people off because of the hassles of going to their bank, or even using online banking.

While going through some old paperwork, I found an old form from before I was treasurer, where the member would enter their bank details and return the form to us. We would then somehow process that ourselves.

I can't get in contact with the former treasurer to find out how this worked, so I thought I'd ask here.

Assuming the form is properly filled in and signed, does that mean we (the club) can set up the standing order on the member's behalf? If so, do I take the form to our bank, or does it need to be a branch of the member's bank?

I was always under the impression that SOs could only be set up in-person (or, now, online) by the account holder. But if they can delegate that responsibility to us that would make life a lot easier.

Thanks in advance.

Yes indeed.

As long as the account holder has filled in a fully completed and correctly authorised Standing Order Mandate, it matters not who sends it to the bank. (Actually it is only their authorisation that is important - anyone can fill the rest in beforehand

)

To clarify, the instruction must be sent to the payer's bank.
A Standing Order essentially 'pushes' money from the payers account to the payees account, as opposed to a Direct Debit when the payee arranges to 'pull' the money from a payers account.

Direct Debits can only be operated by those appropriately authorised (typically large businesses) so I very much doubt you could operate this way even if you wanted to - although some agencies are now popping up that will carry out the DD for you, and pay you once they have received the money - the agency essentially acting as a middle-man in the overall transaction.

As you say, the Standing Order must be set up by the authorised signatory to the acccount (or via their otherwise authorised online / telephone banking), so you need to get the authorised signarory to sign the mandate before it can be submitted to their bank.
The bank will not respond to you (but will accept post from anyone) - the only way you will know the SO is set up correctly (and not subsequently cancelled) is when you receive the payments you expect.

paddyrg · 3 October 2017 at 1:23PM

Another option is to look at continuous payment authority on a credit card where you can pull the finance instead of relying on a push, and you can use fairly simple software for administering who has and hasn't paid.

marks87 · 3 October 2017 at 2:57PM

Thanks for the replies. So it's just a case of getting people to fill in the form, returning it, and us sending it to their bank. That should lower the barrier to signups that we've encountered.

On direct debits and CPA's I'd looked into them via companies like GoCardless but their fees are too high to make it worthwhile.

Aquamania · 3 October 2017 at 3:21PM

marks87 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. So it's just a case of getting people to fill in the form, returning it, and us sending it to their bank. That should lower the barrier to signups that we've encountered....

Indeed.

However, if you are expecting them to fill the form in elsewhere, and then return it to you, they could return it themself direct to their bank.

I suppose if they return it to you, at least you will know they have completed the form, but you will have to then forward it to their bank yourself ... which itself will cost time & money.
Could you get them to fill the form in there and then at the club? Most of the details would be available from the customer's debit card (bank, account number, sort-code, etc) - the only thing they may not know is their bank branch's address, but you could find that out from the sort code they provide

paddyrg · 3 October 2017 at 3:29PM

Paypal subscriptions?

marks87 · 3 October 2017 at 3:55PM

Aquamania wrote: »

Could you get them to fill the form in there and then at the club? Most of the details would be available from the customer's debit card (bank, account number, sort-code, etc) - the only thing they may not know is their bank branch's address, but you could find that out from the sort code they provide

That's exactly the intention. Well, it's not so much "at the club" but "on the bus" - it's a football supporters' club. So getting them to fill out the initial form is fine; it's just the going to the bank that raises a barrier (a few of our members don't use online banking). Most people do generally carry their bank details in the form of a debit card, and as you say it's easy to find the branch from the sort code.

There is the overhead involved with sending the form but I'm usually sending out cheques etc. at least once a month anyway so an extra couple of letters on the pile (and the price of an extra stamp) won't make too much difference.

00ec25 · 3 October 2017 at 4:59PM

marks87 wrote: »

On direct debits and CPA's I'd looked into them via companies like GoCardless but their fees are too high to make it worthwhile.

yes Gocardless's fee is 1% but there is no minimum charge so it is literally 1 p in every £ collected. Patently for example a £10 sub costs 10p in charges, the "loss" of 10p does not impact the financial viability of the club of which I'm treasurer that much

Savvy_Sue · 3 October 2017 at 10:29PM

Personally I'd far rather set up a SO from my bank than a CPA through my credit card, and I'd have thought it would work better for you too, because if someone switches bank account their SOs will go with them to the new account, but when their credit card expires or they cancel it, you may stop getting your money.

Are you eligible to claim Gift Aid under the CASC scheme? You don't have to be registered charity if you are a Community Amateur Sports Club, but I don't know what the exact definition of that is!

Receiving standing orders

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