Protect your Bacs payments in the best way possible

Managing payments in and out of your business safely, without delay and in full compliance, is critical.

Here at paygate, protecting security is the number one priority in every decision we make, from how we develop our products to how we do business.  You’d expect nothing less.

 

We have a range of tools that will help you improve payment security and reduce the risk of fraud.

Data validation

Used at point of entry, as part of your payment or collection processes, paygate’s validate quickly checks account accuracy against up to date bank account data, avoiding errors and remediation costs.

Process Automation

paygate’s powerful process automation functionality gives you improved process control, management and auditing. It allows you to lock down payment procedures to help reduce fraud risk, avoid legislation breaches and minimise costly payment errors and remediation. 

Achieve stronger security with HSM

As the most secure method of submitting payment data to Bacs, HSM is the smarter alternative to smartcards. HSM ensures secure signing of your payments, from any location, removes the reliance on Internet Explorer browser and opens the door to automation for maximum efficiency.

Be 'in the know' with your Bacs processing

We answer those all important questions on submitting Bacs files on time, safely and securely.

Types of Bacs payments 
There are 2 core types of Bacs payments: 

  1. Direct Debit: An instruction from a person to their bank or building society, authorising the organisation they want to pay to collect money from their account. For example, your monthly gym membership.
  2. Direct Credit: An electronic deposit to your account. For example#, your monthly salary.

Yes, anyone can make a Bacs payment, as long as their bank offers this service. Businesses tend to use a Bacs product or service rather than using bank portals etc as it’s easier, faster, and less prone to errors, or alternatively a Bacs bureau for handling the Bacs transfers on their behalf. 

Bacs Direct Credit payments is simple and efficient – and it takes less than three days from start to finish. You remain in control of the process at all times. Bacs payment (credit and debit) take 3 working days to clear. On day 1 (submission day), the instruction (credit or debit) is sent to Bacs. On day 2 (Processing Day) the bank processes the request and the transaction is completed on day 3 (due date), where the funds are moved from the sender account and credited to the recipient account.

You remain in control of the process at all times. You can submit your payment instructions up to 30 days in advance of the payment date. 

Submissions can be input from 7:00 onwards. The submission window remains open until 22:30. 

  1. Submit payment file.
  2. Collect input report, available on the day
    of submission.
  3. Monitor regularly for ADDACS and AWACS advices,
    ideally daily.
  4. Apply updates from ADDACS and AWACS advices no later
    than 3 working days after they are available.
  5. Collect any ARUDD and ARUCS reports. These are
    available within 1 to 2 working days after the
    payment / collection date.

You can download a copy of the Bacs processing calendar here

To make a Bacs Direct Credit payment, the minimum information you require is the sort code and account number of the payee’s account. It is vital that you double check that the account number and sort code you are given are correct; payments are processed only using these numbers.

  • Remind customers making payments to include accurate reference information
  • Educate customers so they are clear why correct reference information benefits them
  • Advise customers how many digits make up the reference, to help them identify any mistakes
  • Help customers identify the reference by displaying it clearly and unambiguously at the top of the bill.

When making file submissions remember the Bacs Payment System only accepts uppercase letters, any lowercase characters used are converted into spaces. Using the wrong character format can have unintended consequences and might cause confusion for your customers when reviewing their bank statements.

Yes. Very important. You must access and act on your reports promptly, as they contain time-critical information. When reports are not accessed and the correct action isn’t taken in a timely manner, then payments to accounts, or collections against them may be unsuccessful in the future, which could result in issues with failed payments or unpaid Direct Debits. Frequent checks are essential and if the usual staff are away, identify a colleague who can pick this up in their absence.

  • ADDACS – Automated Direct Debit Amendment and Cancellation
    Service. These advise of changes to a Direct Debit Instruction.
  • ARUCS – Automated Return of Unapplied Credits Service. If a
    Bacs Direct Credit payment (eg. salary or supplier payment)
    is sent to an account which has been closed, or if the account
    details are not correct, the credit will automatically be returned
    to the paying organisation’s PSP account.
  • ARUDD – Automated Return of Unpaid Direct Debits. These tell
    you when a Direct Debit has been returned unpaid for one of a
    number of reasons, eg. if a customer’s account has been closed.
  • AWACS – Advice of Wrong Account for Credits Service. These
    advise of any changes to a Bacs Direct Credit payment, eg. if an
    account has been closed or moved.

If an expected payment has not been received, you should first find out how the organisation sent it e.g. via Bacs. Also ask them for the sort code and account number they quoted on the payment, and the date they requested it to be credited to your account. Next contact your payment service provider to ensure that they haven’t received the payment. They may require additional information, including details of the remitting organisation and their sort code and account number.  

If you’d like to review your current solution, 

our payment experts are here to help