The GoCardless redirect flow 30-minute time-out

WPdirectdebit uses the GoCardless Redirect Flow API to create customers, bank accounts and mandates. This saves you having to create pages that are scheme rules compliant and the difficult task of getting them approved. Instead you’ll use GoCardless’ hosted payment pages to set up mandates with your customers. These pages are fully compliant and have been translated into Danish, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Norwegian, Portuguese, Slovak, Spanish and Swedish. As the name suggests, the pages are hosted by GoCardless and require no setting up by you.

Once the redirect flow completes, the visitor is returned to the confirmation page that you select in the form settings. It could be a different page for each form, if necessary. The main job of the page is to confirm that their Direct Debit has been set up. It’s also a good place to start the onboarding process for new members.

Redirect flows expire 30 minutes after they are first created. Expiration may occur if the visitor completes the application form that you create and is taken to the GoCardless hosted payment page to enter their bank details, but they do not complete this step within 30 minutes. You cannot complete an expired redirect flow. In this case, the form will have been completed but the mandate will not have been set up. Payments and subscriptions are not set up until the mandate has been created. You can check the status of an application by examining the notes attached to the form entry.

Multiple creditors are not supported

Each payment is linked to a “creditor”, to whom the payment is then paid out. In most cases your organisation will have a single “creditor”, but the GoCardless API also supports collecting payments on behalf of others.

Currently, WPdirectdebit does not offer support for multiple creditors.

Mandate references

The GoCardless API allows for provision of a unique reference which is attached to the mandate on creation. Different schemes have different length and character set requirements. WPdirectdebit does not provide this reference. GoCardless generates a unique reference satisfying the different scheme requirements.

Mandate meta data

The GoCardless API allows for three sets of key-value pairs for custom data. Key names can be up to 50 characters and values up to 500 characters. The first pair is used by WPdirectdebit for the Order reference (e.g. the form entry ID); the second pair is available to you if you need it. You can set the values on a per-form basis via the form settings. The third pair is not used.

Multiple copies of WPdirectdebit are not permitted

When you connect your website to GoCardless using WPdirectdebit, a new access token is generated and this invalidates any previously issued access tokens. It has the effect of disconnecting any other GoCardless app you might have previously connected to the same bank account, even on another website. This means that only one copy of WPdirectdebit can be in use with your bank account at any one time.  It could be an issue for you if, for example, you have more than one website that you use for online transactions with the same bank account.