Direct Debit is a payment method that many of our customers in Australia, the US, Canada and UK prefer over cards, due to its low cost.
Direct Debit is a bank account payment method that allows you to "pull" funds from a client's bank account, once they have provided their bank account details.
Fees for Direct Debit payments
1% + $0.30 per payment collected - maximum of $5 NZD.
Payments over $3,000 NZD: an extra fee of 0.3% applies on the amount above $3,000 only.
No fees for failed payments, disputed payments or issuing refunds.
Enable Direct Debit in Ignition
Begin with setting up payments on Ignition. The payments feature in Ignition allows you to collect Direct Debit or Credit Card payments from your clients, in line with the service prices and billing types defined in your proposals. Learn more about setting up payments here.
To enable direct debit:
Navigate Settings → Payment and enable Direct Debit as a default payment method.
You're now able to offer Direct Debit as a payment option when sending a new proposal or using Instant Bill.
You can also proactively start to collect client bank account details by using a Payment Method Request.
Direct debit payment clearing times
Expect 3-5 business days from starting a payment collection until funds are in your bank account. Learn more about payment clearing times here.
Also be aware that Direct Debits are not confirmed instantly, unlike card payments. It may take 3-5 days for a payment to fail (for example due to the client account having insufficient funds).
Client experience
Clients will enter their bank account details securely and be asked to supply an email address.
Ignition will automatically send an email to the address supplied, initially to confirm that a new Direct Debit agreement has been set up, and then subsequently at the time of each charge being made.
Entering New Zealand bank account numbers
New Zealand bank account numbers have four parts, usually shown on your bank statement separated by dashes:
Part | Length | Example |
Bank code | 2 digits | 06 |
Branch code | 4 digits | 1234 |
Account number | 7 digits | 1234567 |
Suffix | 2 or 3 digits | 03 / 003 |
A full account number looks like 06-1234-1234567-03 (15–16 digits in total).
The most common cause of an "invalid bank account number" error is one of these parts having the wrong number of digits. Before re-entering, check each part against your bank statement or internet banking:
The account number (third part) must be exactly 7 digits. If it looks like it has 8, you may have an extra digit, or a digit from the suffix has crept in. If it's shorter than 7, add leading zeros (for example, enter
123456as0123456).
The suffix is 2 or 3 digits. Some banks show a 2-digit suffix such as
03. If you see an error, try entering it as 3 digits by adding a leading zero — so03becomes003.
Enter the numbers exactly as they appear on the bank statement, including any leading zeros.
Note: If you've checked all four parts and still see an error, contact our Support team at help@ignitionapp.com with the format you're entering (you don't need to share your full account number) and we'll help you get set up.