Some do and some don't, and the published pricing pages are rarely where you'll find out. Most UK direct debit providers publish a headline rate per successful collection, then handle failures, retries and indemnity claims in the fee schedule behind the contract. Adfin's position is straightforward: retries are free, and a failed direct debit can fall back to card automatically.
This matters more than a few pounds, because a fee on a retry discourages you from retrying, and that's where most of the money comes back.
The short version
- Failure fees are usually in the fee schedule, not on the pricing page, so ask before you sign.
- 97.0% of direct debit requests on Adfin succeed at the first attempt, and 98.7% are collected eventually (Adfin platform data).
- 60.1% of requests that suffered a failed attempt are still recovered (Adfin platform data).
- Adfin doesn't charge for retries, and can fall back to card when a direct debit fails.
- A failed collection and an indemnity claim are separate events, and providers price them separately.
What happens when a direct debit fails
The payer's bank returns the payment to you through ARUDD, described by Bacs as "the service allowing PSPs to return Direct Debit payments to the service user that they could not apply". The return carries a reason code telling you whether you're looking at an empty balance, a closed account, a cancelled instruction or a disputed amount.
Your provider then has a decision to make on your behalf, and that's where charging models diverge. A retry costs the provider almost nothing, so whether it costs you anything is a commercial choice rather than a cost-recovery one.
Three separate events tend to get priced separately, and they're worth telling apart when you compare providers:
| Event | What it is | Common charging approach |
|---|---|---|
| Failed collection | The bank returns the payment unpaid | A flat fee per failure, or nothing |
| Retry | You present the same collection again | Sometimes free, sometimes charged as a new attempt |
| Indemnity claim | The payer's bank refunds under the Guarantee | Usually a separate, higher administration fee |
What's in the published pricing
GoCardless publishes its transaction pricing openly: pay as you go with no monthly fee, at 1% + 20p per transaction capped at £4 on its standard plan, 1.25% + 20p capped at £5 on Advanced, and 1.4% + 20p capped at £5.60 on Pro. That's the clearest published comparison available for a UK direct debit provider.
What none of the pricing material we checked sets out is a per-failure charge, and that's a gap in the public record, not evidence that no fee exists. Other major UK direct debit providers vary more widely, and several treat failed collection handling as part of a monthly or per-mandate arrangement instead of a line item.
So don't assume either way. Check the fee schedule for your own provider, and ask for the failure and indemnity lines in writing. A provider that charges you nothing will tell you happily.
Why a failure fee costs you more than the fee
Charging for a failed collection changes what you do next, and that's the expensive part.
Look at how failures resolve. On Adfin, 97.0% of direct debit requests succeed at the first attempt and 98.7% are collected in the end (Adfin platform data, measured on 269,518 direct debit collections first attempted between July 2024 and mid-July 2026). Everything in the gap between those two numbers is a collection that failed once and came back afterwards.
Getting more specific about the failures themselves: 60.1% of requests that suffered a failed attempt are still recovered (Adfin platform data). So most of what looks like a lost payment on the day comes back through a retry or another method, without anyone needing to have a conversation about it.
If each of those attempts carries a fee, the arithmetic starts pushing you towards giving up early on small invoices, or towards passing the charge to your customer. Charging a customer for a bounced direct debit turns a mechanical problem, usually a balance on the wrong day, into a dispute you now have to handle. That tends to cost more than the collection was worth.
Where Adfin stands
Adfin charges 1% + 20p per successful payment, capped at £4 for direct debit and bank payments, with high-value direct debit adding 0.15% on the amount above £2,000. Retries are free, and a failed direct debit can fall back to card automatically so the invoice can clear the same day instead of waiting for the next collection date.
The card side has its own charge you'll want to know about, since a chargeback costs £15. Chargebacks are a card mechanism, not a direct debit one, and the direct debit equivalent is an indemnity claim under the Guarantee.
What to ask a provider before you sign
Five questions get you the whole picture, and the answers belong in writing.
- Is there a fee when a collection fails, and does it depend on the reason code?
- Are retries charged as new transactions?
- How many retries happen automatically, and can you set the schedule?
- What happens when an indemnity claim is raised, and what does that cost?
- Can a failed direct debit be collected another way without you rekeying anything?
That fifth one changes your recovery rate more than the first four change your costs. A provider that charges nothing for failures but hasn't got an alternative route for the money leaves you chasing it manually anyway.
Common questions
Do payment providers charge for failed direct debits? Some do and some don't, and most publish a headline transaction rate without mentioning failures at all. The charge, if there is one, is usually in the fee schedule behind the contract, so ask for it in writing.
Does Adfin charge for a failed direct debit or a retry? No. Retries are free, and a failed direct debit can fall back to card so the invoice can be paid another way.
How many direct debits actually fail? On Adfin, 97.0% of direct debit requests succeed at the first attempt and 98.7% are collected eventually, so failures are common enough to plan for and rarely final.
Are failed direct debits usually recovered? Often. 60.1% of requests that suffered a failed attempt are still recovered, mostly through a retry or an alternative payment method.
Can you pass a failed direct debit fee on to your customer? Your contract can allow it, but a charge on a bounced collection turns a timing problem into a dispute, and the amounts involved are rarely worth that.
Is an indemnity claim the same as a failed collection? No. A failure means the payer's bank couldn't apply the payment, while an indemnity claim is a refund made under the Direct Debit Guarantee and recovered from you afterwards. Providers price them separately.
Sources
- Bacs — glossary (accurate as of August 2026)
This article explains how direct debit charging works and is not legal or financial advice. Competitor pricing is quoted from published pages and should be verified before you rely on it. Last updated August 2026.
