Adding a Direct Debit Agreement to a family

This article explains how to set a family up with a Direct Debit Agreement.

1. Go to the required family. (see note at end)

2. Below the Finance section, you will see a section called "Active Direct Debit Agreements". Click on "Manage Direct Debits".

3. Click "Add Direct Debit Agreement".

4. Fill out the fields and then click "Next".

Direct Debit Type: Select the Direct Debit Type from your dropdown menu (these are created on your Configuration screen). If you only have one Direct Debit Type, it will default to this and you do not need to make a selection.

Agreement Start Date: Defaults to today's date. Generally, leave this as is unless you want a specific start date. Families will not be debited unless their agreement is active and they have charges in the date range and their agreement was active prior to you creating a batch.

Agreement End Date: Generally leave as the default so the agreement is ongoing until you make it inactive / they leave the centre.

Pre-set Amount: Tick this box if you want to override the direct debit calculated amount (you have this set to either account balance or calculated lesson value for the period being debited). Generally you only need this if, say, a family has accrued a debt prior to set up of their agreement and they want to pay it down in instalments rather than in one hit).

Pre-set Amount $: Enter a dollar amount without a dollar sign, eg: 55.00. Note a pre-set amount will only be taken if the box is ticked also. You will need to untick the box and remove the amount and update the agreement once you no longer wish a pre-set amount to be taken.

5. Check the details entered and then click "Send Payrix eDDR to Family". This will send the debit form as a secure link to the Family to complete with the "Direct Debit - eDDR Notification Email (v2)" email template (Configuration > E-Mail / SMS Templates).

This will create an agreement that is active in SimplySwim, but will not be active with Payrix to enable payment until the family completes the form. As soon as they complete the form, the agreement will be active with both Payrix and SimplySwim. This is required to enable their account to be debited.

Check Status of a debit agreement from a Family's screen

1. Click on "Manage Direct Debits".

2. Click on the magnifying glass in the actions column

3. If the setup is incomplete, you can Re-send the eDDR form either via email or SMS (do not click on eDDR link as this will send a new agreement to the family. If they complete both forms, they will have 2 active agreements and be debited twice.).

Check the Status of your Centre's debit agreements in bulk

1. Go to Administration.

2. Click on Direct Debit.

3. Click on "Provider Specific Functions".

4. Click on "Check Payrix status of all Active Direct Debit Agreements in SimplySwim". This will bring up a live up-to-date list of all families who have been sent an agreement that are active in SimplySwim.

 5. The list shows the Family Name (interactive), their Payrix Status - will either be Active (ACTIVE), Cancelled with a reason displaying (e.g. stolen card), or Suspended - Incomplete Setup (SUSPENDED), and then an Actions column.

View eDDR - this will pull up the eDDR form if your customer hasn't yet completed their form or needs to update details, you can pull this up for them to complete at your centre

Send SMS - this will re-send their eDDR form via SMS (if SMS is configured on your site)

Send E-Mail - this will re-send their eDDR form via email.

It is good to regularly check this list to make sure all families are active.

Refer to these articles on how to create and check your direct debit batches:

Creating a Direct Debit Batch

Direct Debit Timeline - Step by Step Process example

NOTE: When you first set direct debit up in your site, you will need to send an eDDR form to all Families. The quickest and simplest way to do this is to go to your Families screen.

Click on "List Active Students".

This will bring up an interactive list of all your families. You can open each family in a new tab and complete the above steps for each family. 

To open each family in a new tab whilst keeping the Families list open:

Mac users: hold down your command key and click on each family

PC users: hold down your control key and left click on each family

Last updated 23 June 2022