Enabling direct debit payments on your donation payments can help minimize payment failures for recurring contributions and minimize your processing fees.
📌 Note: This feature is currently only available to nations processing payments in GBP on Donation (v2) pages using NationBuilder Payments. Learn more.
Enable direct debit
By default, direct debit will be an accepted payment processing option when you configure a new payment processor in the GBP currency.
If you have a payment processor that was configured prior to October 2025, you will need to explicitly enable direct debit payments from within the settings of that processor. Navigate to Settings > Payment processors > Edit > Enable direct debit.
When this checkbox is ticked, direct debit will automatically be enabled on all existing Donation (v2) pages. For any page where direct debit is active, Bacs direct debit will appear as the default payment option on your donation forms.
Disable direct debit on a page
If you don't want to to accept direct debit as a processing option on given page (such as a page being used for event ticketing), you can disable the option from within the page's settings. Navigate to Donation settings > Basics > Additional payment methods accepted > Direct debit.
Accept payments
Once the feature is enabled, your donors will automatically see the option to contribute using direct debit alongside credit cards and express payment options (if enabled).
📌 Note: Card payments are always an available form of payment on Donation (v2) pages and cannot be disabled.
Donor emails
There are up to four emails a donor will receive for a direct debit transaction.
For the first transaction in a series, or a one-time donation:
A "payment initiated" confirmation email to let the donor know that their information was received for the first payment in a series or a one-time transaction
An automatic email from Stripe to notify the donor that Stripe is the entity processing the transaction
For the initial transaction and all subsequent payments:
An automatic email from Stripe a couple days in advance of the processing date
A payment success or failure notification, confirming the ultimate processing status of the transaction
For subsequent payments in a series: The success notification can be disabled in your donation page settings. A failure notification can be configured in your supporter portal settings.
You will be able to edit the content of the payment initiated, success, and failure notifications from within your donation page's autoresponse settings.
Use the feature with a custom theme
If you do not see direct debit as a payment method option on your pages, despite confirming that it has been enabled, you may need to update your theme. Check out the diagram below to understand which option is best for you.
