the related setting Direct Debit payments with Sources

Use Sources to accept payments using the related setting Direct Debit, a popular European banking payment method.

Warning

We deprecated the Sources API and plan to remove support for local payment methods. If you currently integrate with the related setting Direct Debit using the Sources API, you must migrate to the Payment Methods API.

For information about integrating the related setting Direct Debit with the current APIs, see the related setting Direct Debit payments.

Stripe users in Europe and the United States can use Sources —a single integration path for creating payments using any supported method—to accept the related setting Direct Debit payments from customers in countries within the Single Euro Payments Area.

During the payment process, your integration collects your customer’s EUR-denominated the related setting bank account information. the related setting Direct Debits require the bank account holder to accept a mandate (debit authorization) that allows you to debit their account. A Source object is then created and your integration uses this to make a charge request and complete the payment.

Within the scope of Sources, the related setting Direct Debit is a pull -based, reusable and asynchronous method of payment. This means that you take action to debit the amount from the customer’s account. It can take up to 14 business days to confirm the success or failure of a payment.

Caution

the related setting direct debit transactions have a limit of 10,000 EUR each. For new users, there’s an additional weekly limit of 10,000 EUR, which quickly increases as you process more the related setting direct debit payments. If you need higher limits, please contact support.

Prerequisite: Collect mandate acceptance

Before a source can be created, your customer must accept the the related setting Direct Debit mandate. Their acceptance authorizes you to collect payments for the specified amount from their bank account using the related setting Direct Debit.

When your customer confirms the payment they’re making, they’re also accepting a mandate. Their acceptance authorizes you to collect payments for the specified amount from their bank account through the related setting Direct Debit. You must display the following standard authorization text, replacing Rocketship Inc. with your company name, close to the payment confirmation button so that your customer can read and accept it.

Caution

By providing your the related setting and confirming this payment, you authorise (A) Rocketship Inc. and Stripe, our payment service provider, to send instructions to your bank to debit your account and (B) your bank to debit your account in accordance with those instructions. You’re entitled to a refund from your bank under the terms and conditions of your agreement with your bank. A refund must be claimed within 8 weeks starting from the date on which your account was debited.

The details of the accepted mandate is generated as part of the Source object creation. A URL to view the mandate is returned as the value for sepa_debit[mandate_url]. Since this is the mandate that the customer has implicitly signed when accepting the terms suggested above, it must be communicated to them, either on the payment confirmation page or by email.

Create a Source object

Bank account information is sensitive by nature. To securely collect your customer’s the related setting details and create a source, use Stripe.js and the the related setting Element. This prevents your customer’s bank account information from touching your server and reduces the amount of sensitive data that you need to handle securely.

Follow the the related setting Element Quickstart to create your payment form, collect your customers’ the related setting, and create a source. Once you’ve created a source object, you can proceed to charge the source in the next step.

Custom client-side source creation

If you choose to handle bank account numbers yourself, you can create your own form and call stripe.createSource as described in the Stripe.js reference. When doing so, make sure to collect the following information from your customer:

Server-side source creation

Use Stripe.js to create a the related setting Direct Debit source. Although doing so is optional, if you forgo this step and pass the information directly to Stripe when creating a Source object, you must take appropriate steps to safeguard the sensitive bank information that passes through your servers.

Command Line

Select a language

cURL

Stripe CLI

Ruby

Python

PHP

Java

Node.js

Go

.NET

No results

Note

Only IBANs with the following country codes require the owner address: AD, PF, TF, GI, GB, GG, VA, IM, JE, MC, NC, BL, PM, SM, CH, WF

Using either method, Stripe returns a Source object containing the relevant details for the method of payment used. Information specific to the related setting Direct Debit is provided within the sepa_debit subhash.

{
 "id": "src_18HgGjHNCLa1Vra6Y9TIP6tU",
 "object": "source",
 "amount": null,
 "client_secret": "src_client_secret_XcBmS94nTg5o0xc9MSliSlDW",
 "created": 1464803577,
 "currency": "eur",
 "flow": "none",
 "livemode": false,
 "owner": {

As the related setting Direct Debit payments are a pull-based payment method, there is no movement of funds during the creation of a source. Only when a successful charge request has been made is the customer’s bank account debited and you eventually receive the funds.

Source creation in mobile applications

If you’re building an iOS or Android app, you can implement sources using our mobile SDKs.

Error codes

Source creation for the related setting Direct Debit payments may return any of the following errors:

Charge the source

Unlike most other payment methods, the related setting Direct Debit payments don’t require any customer action after the source has been created. Once the customer has provided their the related setting details and accepted the mandate, no further action is needed and the resulting source is directly chargeable.

Before creating a charge request to complete the payment, you should attach the source to a Customer for later reuse.

Attaching the source to a Customer

You must attach a source to a Customer object if you plan to reuse it for future payments (for example, with a billing product).

Command Line

Select a language

cURL

Stripe CLI

Ruby

Python

PHP

Java

Node.js

Go

.NET

No results

Making a charge request

Once attached, you can use the Source object’s ID along with the Customer object’s ID to perform a charge request and finalize the payment.

Command Line

Select a language

cURL

Stripe CLI

Ruby

Python

PHP

Java

Node.js

Go

.NET

No results

The resulting Charge object is created with a status of pending. At this stage, the payment is in progress.

By default, your account’s statement descriptor appears on customer statements whenever you create a the related setting Direct Debit payment. If you need to provide a custom description for a payment, include the statement_descriptor parameter when making a charge request. Statement descriptors are limited to 22 characters and can’t use the special characters <, >, ', or ".

Confirm that the charge has succeeded

the related setting Direct Debit payments are an asynchronous method, so funds aren’t immediately available. A charge created from a the related setting Direct Debit source can remain in a pending state for up to 14 business days from its creation, though the average time is around five business days. Once the charge is confirmed, its status is updated to succeeded.

The following events are sent when the charge’s status is updated:

After confirming that the charge has succeeded, notify your customer that the payment process has been completed and their order is confirmed.

A charge is successful once we receive funds from the customer’s bank. However, this often occurs before the bank has debited their customer’s bank account. If there is a problem debiting the customer’s bank account after a charge has been successful, the funds are retrieved in the form of a dispute.

Testing Sepa Direct Debit

You can mimic a successful or failed charge by first creating a test source with one of the following test the related setting account numbers. Use the resulting source in a charge request to create a test charge that is either successful or failed.

Handling failed charges

If a charge isn’t confirmed, its status automatically transitions from pending to failed. Should a charge fail, notify your customer immediately upon receipt of the charge.failed event. When using the related setting Direct Debit, you may prefer not to fulfill orders until the charge.succeeded webhook has been received.

If a the related setting Direct Debit charge fails and we have reason to believe that subsequent charges will also fail, we will update the source to failed.

Note

the related setting Direct Debit charges can fail due to exceeding your rolling-window processing limits. If charging the source fails with error code charge_exceeds_source_limit, then you can retry the charge later. Please get in touch if you need to request higher processing limits.

Notifying customers of recurring payments

The the related setting Direct Debit rulebook requires that you notify your customer each time a debit is to be made on their account. You can send these notifications separately or together with other documents (for example, an invoice).

These notifications should be sent at least 14 calendar days before you create a payment. You can send them closer to the payment date as long as your mandate makes it clear when your customer can expect to receive them. The mandate provided by Stripe specifies this can happen up to two calendar days in advance of future payments, allowing you to send notifications during charge creation. For recurring payments of the same amount (for example, a subscription of a fixed amount), you may indicate multiple upcoming debits with corresponding dates in a single notice.

When sending your customers a notice, it must include:

• The last 4 digits of the debtor’s bank account
• The mandate reference ( sepa _ debit[mandate _ reference] on the Source object)
• The amount to be debited
• Your the related setting creditor identifier
• Your contact information

Using webhooks or automated emails

Source objects provide tooling to help you notify your users compliantly. At Source creation it is possible to specify a mandate[notification_method]. The possible values are the following:

By default, mandate[notification_method] is set to none at Source creation but can be updated later.

Obtaining a creditor identifier for EU businesses

Note

This section applies to EU businesses only.

For EU businesses, your the related setting creditor identifier is associated with each the related setting Direct Debit payment instruction and identifies the company making the payment. While companies may have multiple creditor identifiers, each creditor identifier is unique and allows your customers to easily identify the debits on their account. This can help reduce the likelihood of disputed payments. Some payment providers don’t request that you provide your own the related setting creditor identifier. Stripe requests a the related setting creditor identifier to improve the experience of your customers.

You can request a the related setting creditor identifier from a financial institution in the country in which you have your main office or residence. For example, you can request the the related setting creditor identifier from the bank that holds your account. This is commonly done online and can sometimes take a few days. In some cases, your bank may take additional steps to issue a creditor identifier. When contacting your bank for your the related setting creditor identifier, clarify that you are not requesting they process the related setting Direct Debit payments for you.

If you have trouble obtaining your creditor identifier, let us know.

Disputed payments

the related setting Direct Debit provides a dispute process for bank account holders to dispute payments. As such, you should make the appropriate decisions regarding your business and how you approach the related setting Direct Debit payments.

For a period of eight weeks after their account was debited, an account holder can dispute a payment through their bank on a “no questions asked” basis. Any disputes within this period are automatically honored.

Beyond the eight-week period after the creation of the payment, and for up to 13 months, a customer may only dispute a payment with their bank if they consider the debit had not been authorized. In this event, we automatically provide the customer’s bank with the mandate that the customer approved. This doesn’t guarantee that the dispute can be canceled as the customer’s bank can still decide that the debit wasn’t authorized by the mandate—and that their customer is entitled to a refund.

A dispute can also occur if the customer’s bank is unable to debit their account because of a problem (for example, the account is frozen or has insufficient funds), but it has already provided the funds to make a charge successful. In this instance, the bank reclaims those funds in the form of a dispute.

If a dispute is created, a charge.dispute.created webhook event is sent and Stripe deducts the amount of the dispute and dispute fee from your Stripe balance. This fee varies based on your account’s default settlement currency:

Unlike credit card disputes, all the related setting Direct Debit disputes are final and there is no appeals process. If a customer successfully disputes a payment, you must reach out to them if you would like to resolve the situation. If you’re able to come to an arrangement and your customer is willing to return the funds to you, they will need to make a new payment.

In general, each dispute includes the reason for its creation, though this can vary from country to country. For instance, disputed payments in Germany do not provide additional information for privacy reasons.

Refunds

Payments made with the related setting Direct Debit can only be submitted for refund within 180 days from the date of the original charge. After 180 days, it is no longer possible to refund the charge. Similar to the delays introduced to payments with the related setting Direct Debit, refunds also require additional time to process (typically 3-4 business days). Should you accidentally debit your customer, contact them immediately to avoid having the payment disputed.

A refund can only be processed after the payment process has completed. If you create a full or partial refund on a payment that hasn’t yet been completed, the refund is actioned once the Charge object’s status has transitioned to succeeded. In the event of a payment where the Charge object’s status transitioned to failed, full and partial refunds are marked as canceled, as the money never left the customer’s bank account.

the related setting doesn’t explicitly label refunds when the funds are deposited back to the customer’s account. Instead, they’re processed as a credit and include a visible reference to the original payment’s statement descriptor.

Due to longer settlement time periods and the nature of how banks process the related setting Direct Debit transactions, there is potential for confusion between you, your customer, your customer’s bank, and Stripe. For instance, your customer may contact both you and their bank to dispute a payment. If you proactively issue your customer a refund while the customer’s bank also initiates the dispute process, your customer could end up receiving two credits for the same transaction.

When issuing a refund, it’s important that you immediately inform your customer that it may take up to five business days for the refund to arrive in their bank account.

See also

• Other supported payment methods
• Sources API reference