Direct Debit is the most reliable recurring payment method available to clubs, with failure rates typically below 2%. But failures do happen. This article explains the common reasons a Direct Debit can fail, how to identify which one has occurred, and what to do next.
How to spot a failed payment
ClubRight surfaces failed payments in four places. Check them regularly so you do not miss them:
Dashboard notifications. A new notification appears when a payment fails or a mandate is cancelled.
The Unpaid tile on your main dashboard, which shows the current count of members with overdue or failed payments.
The Payments area. The Debtors section shows all members with overdue balances in one place, which is the best view for working through failures in bulk. See Working with the Payments area in ClubRight.
The member's payment schedule. Open the member from Contacts, click into their membership, and check the payment schedule for entries marked Failed Refer to Payer or similar.
Common reasons for failure
1. Insufficient funds ("Refer to Payer")
The most common temporary failure. The member's bank rejected the payment because there were not enough funds in the account on the collection day. The mandate itself is still in place and can be used for future collections. In ClubRight, this shows as Failed Refer to Payer on the member's payment schedule.
What to do: for ClubRight Pay users, ClubRight will automatically reattempt collection (see "Automatic reattempts" below). For GoCardless users, you will need to retry manually or follow up with the member.
2. The member cancelled their mandate at their bank
A member can cancel a Direct Debit mandate at any time directly with their bank, under UK payment regulations. When they do, you will see a notification on your dashboard. They may not be overdue yet if they have already paid for the current period, but their next scheduled collection will fail.
On the member's profile, you will see one of two messages on their membership payments view:
"The mandate for this member was suspended": the cancellation was recent (within the last two weeks).
"There is currently no ClubRight Pay mandate in place": the cancellation happened more than two weeks ago, or the mandate was never set up successfully.
What to do: contact the member first. Under UK payment regulations, you must have their active permission before reinstating or creating a new mandate. Once you have it, click Reinstate Mandate on their profile and re-enter their sort code, account number, and bank account name. ClubRight verifies the details live against the bank's verification system. After reinstating, you may be prompted to collect a one-off payment to recover any overdue amount.
3. The mandate is not yet active
When a member sets up a Direct Debit mandate, it takes four to five working days under the BACS scheme before payments can be taken. If a member joined recently and their first payment is failing, the mandate may not be active yet.
What to do: wait until the mandate is fully active before attempting another collection. See Direct Debit timings explained for the full BACS schedule.
4. Bank details are invalid or the account has changed
If the bank details on the mandate are wrong (a typo, account number transposed, and so on), or the member has closed the account they originally set up the mandate against, payments will fail. This is less common because ClubRight verifies bank details when the mandate is created, but it can happen if the member has changed accounts since.
What to do: contact the member to confirm their current bank details, then set up a new mandate using their current account.
5. The member's bank rejected the payment for another reason
Occasionally a bank will reject a payment for reasons other than insufficient funds, such as flagging unusual activity, an account hold, or similar. These are rare and are usually one-off issues that resolve on the next collection cycle.
What to do: if the bank's rejection reason is not clear from the failure notification, ask the member to check with their bank, then attempt collection again.
6. The member has raised an indemnity claim
Under the Direct Debit Guarantee, a payer can ask their bank to refund a Direct Debit payment if they believe it was taken in error. This appears in ClubRight as an indemnity claim. The payment is reversed, and the funds are returned to the member's account.
What to do: review the claim and decide whether to challenge it. See Direct Debit indemnity claims for the process.
Automatic reattempts (ClubRight Pay)
For ClubRight Pay Direct Debit users, ClubRight automatically reattempts failed collections. You do not need to take any action for the first three attempts.
Up to three reattempts are made after a failure.
Each reattempt happens five days after the previous failure notification.
You will see a Requested payment attempt pending on the member's schedule between attempts.
Can I stop a reattempt and take payment another way?
It depends on where in the reattempt cycle you are. Look for the bin icon next to the pending payment on the member's profile:
If the bin icon is showing, the reattempt has not yet been submitted to the member's bank. You can cancel it and take payment another way (for example, by card or cash at the till).
If you see N/A next to the request, the reattempt has already been submitted to the bank. You cannot stop it. Taking payment by another method is blocked at this point to prevent duplicate charges.
Talking to the member
If a member tells you they had sufficient funds, or that they did not cancel the mandate, do not argue. The information ClubRight receives comes directly from their bank via the Direct Debit network. If the member disputes what the bank reported, ask them politely to speak with their bank to find out why the message was sent.
Helpful tip
š” Check your dashboard notifications daily. Failed Direct Debits affect cash flow and member relationships. Catching them quickly gives you the best chance to recover the payment before the member becomes more overdue or harder to reach.
Have more questions about Direct Debit failures?
If you have a question that is not covered here, our Customer Success team is happy to help. Reach out via the orange chat button at the bottom right of your ClubRight dashboard.
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