It can be, once you count more than the fee. A small fee saving on its own can take a while to cover the effort of moving, but the picture changes once you count the time your current set-up costs you each month: failed payments, manual retries, splitting net payouts in Xero and chasing clients who haven't paid. Add that time to the fee difference, set the total against the one-off work of switching, and you'll have a payback period you can judge.
In this article
The short version
- A small fee saving on its own can take a long time to pay back the effort of moving.
- Count the monthly time spent on failed payments, retries, reconciling payouts and chasing.
- Add that to the fee difference and divide the cost of moving by the total.
- Moving 10 or more direct debit mandates to Adfin doesn't need clients to re-sign.
- If you need to collect in other currencies, a multi-currency provider will suit you better.
Why the fee difference is only part of the sum
Most people compare providers on the headline rate, and on that basis the gap can look like a few pounds a month. It's easy to decide that isn't worth the disruption.
Your current provider costs you more than its fees, though. Each month someone in the office deals with direct debits that failed, retries them by hand or emails bank details to the client, works out which invoices a lump-sum payout covers, and chases the clients who still haven't paid. None of that shows up on a pricing page, but it's time you're paying for.
Some fees are easy to miss as well. Some providers charge their transaction fee on every payment you submit, including the ones that fail, and pay you one lump sum a day with their fees already taken off, which is why each payout needs splitting before it matches your invoices.
How to work out whether switching pays
You can do this with last month's figures and a rough log of where the time went.
- Work out the fee difference per month, including any fees on failed payments and anything charged as a monthly add-on.
- Estimate the hours spent each month on failed payments and retries, reconciling payouts, and chasing.
- Put a cost on those hours, at your own rate or the rate of whoever does the work.
- Estimate how much of that time a new set-up would remove. Be cautious here.
- Add the time saving to the fee difference to get a monthly gain.
- Estimate the one-off effort of moving, in hours, and cost it the same way.
- Divide the one-off cost by the monthly gain to get the number of months until the switch has paid for itself.
Here's an example with invented, round numbers. Say the fee difference is £15 a month. Someone spends four hours a month on failed payments, reconciling payouts and chasing, and you cost their time at £25 an hour, so £100 a month. If a new set-up removed half of that, your monthly gain would be £15 plus £50, so £65. If moving took ten hours, or £250 of time, it would pay for itself in under four months. On the fee difference alone, the same move would take more than sixteen months.
Your numbers will be different, and the time estimates are the shakiest part, so it's worth trying a pessimistic version too.
If you're comparing Adfin, a few lines of that sum change. Failed direct debits are retried free, and there's no charge for a failed payment. Payouts arrive gross every weekday with fees invoiced separately, and payments are marked paid in Xero or QuickBooks automatically, so there's no payout to split. Essential credit control is free, so reminders don't add a monthly cost, and Adfin's collection agents chase clients who haven't paid within rules you approve.
What the move itself involves
For most businesses, the biggest worry is clients having to sign new direct debit mandates. With Adfin, if you're moving 10 or more mandates, they're moved for you through a bulk change and your clients don't re-sign anything. You pick a change date a few weeks ahead, and your clients are emailed about the change in your branding. With fewer than 10, each client signs a new mandate online from an email link.
Beyond the mandates, the work is mostly set-up: connecting Xero or QuickBooks, choosing how you want unpaid invoices chased, and telling your team what's changed. There's no contract or monthly fee, so you're not committing to a minimum term to find out whether it suits you.
When Adfin isn't the right fit
Adfin collects in pounds only. Overseas clients can pay by card in pounds, but if you need to collect in other currencies, a multi-currency provider such as GoCardless, Stripe, Wise or Revolut will suit you better.
It also doesn't take card payments face to face and isn't built for paying suppliers, so if either is your main need, you'll want a different tool.
Common questions
Do my clients have to sign new direct debit mandates if I switch to Adfin? Not if you're moving 10 or more. Those are moved for you and clients don't re-sign. With fewer than 10, each client signs a new mandate from an email link.
Is a lower percentage fee always cheaper? Not always. Check whether fees are charged on failed payments, whether there's a cap on direct debit fees, what premium cards cost, and whether there's a monthly fee or minimum term.
How do I measure time spent on payments if I don't track it? Ask whoever does the work to note it for a month: failed payments, retries, reconciling payouts and chasing. A rough log is enough for this sum.
Does Adfin charge for failed direct debits? No. Adfin charges nothing for a failed payment, and failed direct debits are retried free.
What if I need to collect in other currencies? Adfin collects in pounds only. GoCardless, Stripe, Wise and Revolut offer multi-currency collection, and overseas clients can still pay Adfin invoices by card in pounds.
Do I need to sign a contract to use Adfin? No. There's no contract, no monthly fee and no minimum. You pay per successful payment.
Sources
- Adfin - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/pricing
- Adfin - Bulk-migrate your direct debit mandates to Adfin (10+ mandates) (accurate as of October 2026) https://support.adfin.com/en/articles/12688044-bulk-migrate-your-direct-debit-mandates-to-adfin-10-mandates
- GoCardless - Pricing and fees FAQs (accurate as of October 2026) https://support.gocardless.com/hc/en-gb/articles/115002831125-Pricing-and-fees-FAQs
- GoCardless - Receiving a payout (accurate as of October 2026) https://support.gocardless.com/hc/en-gb/articles/17485089478940-Receiving-a-payout
