Following up failed direct debits

Anyone who introduces direct debit counts on peace of mind. It does arrive, until the first debits come back. From that moment, it is not your collection but your follow-up that determines how much you bring in.

The sting is in the scale. With twenty customers you call the two whose debits failed. With five hundred customers that is twenty per month, every month, and that is exactly the work that gets left lying around first.

Why direct debits fail

A failed direct debit comes back with a reason. That reason determines what you need to do, and that distinction is more important than the number.

Reason	What is going on	What works
Insufficient balance	Account was too low on the collection date	Retry after the next payday
Account closed	The account no longer exists	Ask for new details, a retry is pointless
Incorrect account number	IBAN is wrong	Have the customer correct the details
Account blocked	Bank does not allow the debit	Contact the customer, a retry is pointless
No valid mandate	Authorisation is missing or has lapsed	Record a new mandate
Reversal on request	Customer had it reversed themselves	Contact first, only then a payment link

The rough split: with insufficient balance there is a timing problem and retrying makes sense. For everything to do with the account or the mandate itself, a second attempt yields nothing except another failure. If it goes wrong on the mandate, see the SEPA direct debit mandate: a recurring authorisation lapses after 36 months without use.

A retry schedule that works

There is no universally correct schedule, but there are three principles that make the difference.

Retry when there is money, not as soon as possible. Debiting again straight away from an empty account only produces a second failure, and with some banks extra charges for your customer. Around the next payday, usually the last days of the month, the chance is greatest.

Stop after two attempts. A third debit on the same account rarely adds anything and irritates. Switch to a payment link after that, so the customer can choose how to pay.

Fall back to another payment method. This is where most revenue is recovered. A customer who has no balance this month can often pay with iDEAL as soon as they get a link. Waiting for the next collection run means you lose a month; a payment link solves it today.

A practical schedule for a monthly subscription: debit on the fixed date, on failure a second attempt around the end of the month, and in between already a payment link by email so the customer can sort it out themselves.

The tone of your follow-up

The email about a failed payment is the hardest one you send. Too friendly and nothing happens; too firm and you damage a customer relationship over an amount that was often simply a mistake.

What works: state it factually, give the reason if you have it, and put the solution in the first two lines. A customer who has to read three paragraphs before seeing the payment link does not click. And keep the most common cause in mind: there was briefly no balance. That is not non-payment.

Why this costs more than it seems

Three things add up without you seeing them on an invoice.

Direct loss of revenue. A customer whose debit fails and who is not followed up does not pay that month. With a subscription it usually does not stop there: the month after, it fails again.

Silent cancellations. Some of the customers who disappear from your base never cancelled. Their payment got stuck and nobody got in touch. You see that loss in your figures as churn, even though it was an administrative problem.

Your own time. Sorting out chargebacks, emailing customers, keeping track of who has already paid: it is repetitive work that nobody picks up voluntarily and that therefore piles up.

Also remember that a debit is only final after eight weeks. A chargeback can therefore arrive on an amount you booked as revenue long ago.

How to automate it

The pattern is the same every time, which is why it is easy to hand off. RCUR handles it as soon as a debit comes back:

• Automatically retrying the failed SEPA debit, or sending the customer a payment link so they can still pay.
• Email templates that you set up yourself, so the tone suits your business rather than your payment provider.
• Reminders on an open payment link, for customers who let the first email pass.
• An overview per customer, so you see who is still outstanding without keeping a spreadsheet.
• Invoices that run along via Moneybird, Exact Online, WeFact, e-Boekhouden, HostFact or Teamleader, so your administration matches what was actually collected.

Automatic follow-ups come with the Expert plan (€ 24 per month). RCUR charges no fee per transaction and no percentage of your revenue; you only pay Mollie's ordinary transaction fees on top.

You can try it free for 7 days, no credit card required.