Direct Debit Blog

The wonderful thing about humans is that we’re all different and love to partake in varied and interesting hobbies.

We could spend our leisure time playing sports, painting with watercolours, dancing salsa or leading boy scout groups. We could choose to meet with others sharing a similar characteristic, such as a club for deaf people, or with those who have the same political outlook. Or we might like playing chess, or discussing the latest books.

Whatever the favoured pastime, clubs and associations are led by passionate and dedicated individuals who enjoy their hobby and want to help bring together others who enjoy it too.

No matter what your preferred leisure pursuit – from martial arts to amateur dramatics – if you’re thinking about starting a club, group, society or association then read on. Below we go into more detail on how to start a club and manage it successfully.

FastPay has been providing clients of all shapes and sizes across the country with an easy-to-set-up, cost effective and efficient Direct Debit service since 2008.

Our many happy clients span numerous industries from schools to IT support, gyms to private healthcare.

We also work with businesses in the equipment leasing sector, including copiersandprinters.co.uk. Read on to find out how setting up a Direct Debit scheme with FastPay helped this equipment leasing company streamline its customer payments, improve cash flow, and save time and money.

As a Direct Debit devotee, you’re already enjoying the benefits it’s bringing to your business.

But what about those long-term customers who need a little more convincing that it’s worth making the switch? And the new ones who need guidance on the best way to pay you?

If they’re clinging on to cheques or stuck on Standing Orders, we have some helpful tips on how to increase your Direct Debit take-up levels.

Take them on board and you’ll easily be able to persuade customers that it’s the most secure, reliable and straightforward option.

As an office equipment leasing company, you’re serving your customers successfully by allowing them to lease equipment and furniture that could otherwise be cost prohibitive to purchase outright.

For SMEs, there are many benefits to leasing their office furnishings, as well as IT hardware and industry-specific machinery. These advantages include improved cash flow, as there are no huge upfront purchase costs and payments are spread across a set timeframe.

Leasing also offers the ability for SMEs to scale up quickly and is tax allowable. And contracts often include maintenance and upgrades so a customer can also keep up to date with the latest décor trends and technology enhancements.

However, while you might be helping your customers with their business cash flow, are you managing yours efficiently?

If you’re not yet collecting payments using Bacs Direct Debit, then your business could be suffering from increased financial admin time, unpredictable payments and unnecessary cash processing costs.

When it comes to streamlining how you collect regular payments, Direct Debit is hard to beat for simplicity.

But while you’re delving deeper into the world of Direct Debit management, you’ll probably come across some terminology that’s unfamiliar to you.

Phrases like ‘facility management bureau’, ‘service user number’ and ‘Bacs-approved’ may not feature in your current business vocabulary.

But once you’ve decided to access the power of Direct Debit, you’ll quickly get to grips with the lingo and realise it’s not at all complicated.

Here we’re going to focus on what a facility management bureau is and explore the differences between the two main Direct Debit management services available.

Possibly one of the most frustrating aspects of running your own business is chasing up late payments. Whether you’re the one chasing or if you hire someone to manage the task, there is always a tightrope to walk to ensure that you get paid without losing clients.

Late payments have a knock-on effect across the business, which can be highly disruptive. Pursuing unpaid invoices means:

• more time is spent on financial admin that could be allocated to business growth activities
• money is wasted on the stationery required to post out letters, telephone bills as well as any fees your business incurs if you miss your own payments, go into an overdraft or have to take out a loan to cover a deficit in your funds
• cash flow is impacted and you can’t pay staff, suppliers or other business overheads
• forecasting becomes impossible as you can’t plan for business development because you simply don’t know when you’ll have the cash available
• the absolute worse could happen and your business is no longer viable and so fails

Asking for money can feel awkward or impolite, but you’re completely entitled to do it. You’ve done the work, supplied the service or shipped the product. Thankfully, there are some tried and tested ways to tackle this issue.

Here are our best tactics for chasing up late payments.

Direct Debit is popular, secure and trusted. A staggering 4.2 billion Direct Debits were processed in the UK last year. And the value of Direct Debits has increased by £400 billion in the past decade reaching £1.3 trillion in 2017.

If your business takes recurring payments from your customers and you’re not using Direct Debit, then you could be missing out on a number of benefits. These include a reduction in financial admin time, cost savings, customer and employee satisfaction and improved cashflow.

Changing your business processes can be daunting, especially if you’ve been operating for a while using the same procedures. If you’re considering taking the plunge to set up a new Direct Debit scheme but have some concerns, then read on.

Below are the five most common hurdles that businesses face when considering switching their payment method and moving customers onto paying by Direct Debit.

British banking is on the threshold of a revolution. A revolution that could transform the way your business manages money.

It’s all thanks to the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2). It may sound like a droid in the next Star Wars film but is in fact new European legislation that will help many SMEs reach for the stars.

Known in the UK as Open Banking, it’s an invisible but important change to how data can be shared: one small step that could fundamentally disrupt how banks operate.

A survey by consumer champions Which found that in September 2017 92% of the public had never heard of the Open Banking regulation. As it’s being rolled out gradually, awareness will be a slow burner.

So, if you’re still in the dark, this article will enlighten you with answers to all the important questions: what is Open Banking? How will it affect B2B payments? What benefits will it bring to my business?

Paying by debit or credit card is big business in the medical finance sector.

Figures from UK Finance show that in 2017 medical services accounted for 17.5 million card transactions worth £2.4 billion. For medical goods these figures stand at 9 million transactions worth £256 million. And for optical goods, 6 million transactions worth £983 million were processed.

They’re clearly a popular and convenient way for consumers to settle their healthcare bills. But there’s a sting in the tail.

Google “Direct Debit bureau” and you’ll be spoilt for choice. With each one broadcasting the benefits they can bring to your business, how do you choose between them all?

As a private healthcare business, you want the best fit for your company to keep it in peak condition.