Switching payment provider is a short project with five parts: checking your current contract, moving your direct debit mandates, telling your customers, setting up your schedules on the new side and getting reconciliation right in the first month. Your mandates can move without customers signing anything, through the Bacs bulk change process, which takes several weeks. Start with the contract, because it decides when you can leave and what it costs.
In this article
The short version
- Read your current contract first: term, notice period, exit fee and any reserve on your money.
- Mandates can move through a Bacs bulk change without customers signing again; it takes several weeks.
- Adfin moves 10 or more mandates this way; with fewer, customers sign a new mandate online.
- Send every customer approved written notice, including the name they'll see on their statement.
- In the first month, check every mandate arrived and expect payouts to reconcile differently.
The order to do it in
Most of the calendar time goes on the mandate transfer, which runs between two providers and two banks while you get on with other things. Most of your own time goes on the parts either side of it: the contract, the customer letter and setting up schedules on the new side. Those are the parts that tend to get left too late.
| When | What happens | Who does it |
|---|---|---|
| Before anything else | Read your current contract for term, notice period and exit fees | You |
| Week 1 | Choose the new provider, count your mandates and request the move | You and the new provider |
| Weeks 1 to 5 | Both sponsoring banks approve the bulk change and mandate details are transferred | The two providers |
| Before the change date | Written notice to every direct debit customer | You, using the new provider's template |
| Several days before | Stop creating collections on the old provider | You |
| Change date and after | Collections start on the new provider; schedules are already set up | You and the new provider |
| First month | Check every mandate arrived, reconcile the new payouts, close the old account | You |
If you also take cards or bank transfers, those move faster. There's nothing to transfer: customers simply pay through the new provider's payment links or bank details from their next invoice.
Check your current contract first
Scheme rules protect your mandates but say nothing about your contract. Since January 2018, Bacs rules have required an outgoing direct debit provider to co-operate with a bulk change when you or your new provider ask for one, so outside a few narrow exceptions your old provider can't refuse to move your mandates. The Bacs switching guide is equally clear that the commercial relationship between you and your provider is outside the scheme rules, which means whatever your contract says about leaving still applies.
So read the terms document itself, not just the pricing page, and look for:
- An initial term: some UK direct debit bureaux set 12 months or longer, renewing automatically.
- A notice period: often 90 days, sometimes only valid if it expires at the end of a term.
- An early termination fee: sometimes set as a number of months of the fees you've been paying.
- A reserve or retention after you leave: part of your collections can be held back for months.
- Any fee for the bulk change itself, or for exporting your data.
A pricing page promising no commitment and a terms document setting a 12-month term can both be live at the same time, and it's the terms that bind you. If anything is unclear, ask your provider to confirm it in writing before you give notice.
It helps to line up your notice with the transfer. If you need to give 90 days' notice, giving it on the day you request a five-week bulk change can leave you paying any monthly charges to the old provider for about two months after your last collection with them. It's usually better to give notice first and time the change date to land shortly before the contract ends.
If you move to Adfin, there's no contract, no minimum term and no monthly minimum, so you aren't locked in to the new provider either.
Your mandates and what to tell customers
A mandate is an instruction your customer gave their own bank, and it points at whichever provider runs your collections. Moving provider means repointing every instruction, and there are two ways to do it.
In a Bacs bulk change, your old and new providers and their sponsoring banks sign a deed and agree a change date, and the instructions are transferred in one go. Your customers get written notice and sign nothing. Bacs expects the basic procedure to take about four to six weeks, mostly waiting for the banks.
The alternative is new mandates: every customer signs a fresh one with the new provider. It starts immediately, with no bank approvals, but it relies on each customer acting.
The scheme doesn't set a minimum number of mandates for a bulk change, so each provider draws its own line. Adfin moves 10 or more mandates from GoCardless, London & Zurich or AccessPay through the bulk change, sets the change date at least five weeks after your request and activates the moved mandates three working days after it. With fewer than 10, customers sign a new mandate online, and anyone who hasn't signed is chased and offered another way to pay.
Before you request the move, tidy the data. Check each mandate has the account holder's name, email address and postal address, remove duplicates and customers who've left, and export your payment history, because only the mandates move.
Every direct debit customer needs written notice before the change date, in wording a sponsoring bank has approved. Your new provider supplies the template and you send it. Use it as it stands: approved wording is what tells a customer the change is genuine and that the Direct Debit Guarantee still protects them.
Put two practical points in the letter. First, the name they'll see on their bank statement from the change date, because a customer who doesn't recognise a new name may cancel the debit at their bank. On most providers that's the provider's own name unless you pay to show yours; on Adfin it's £36 a month for Adfin Custom, which is chosen when you join. Second, any change to collection dates around the switch.
Anything else, such as a price rise, is better in a separate letter. A price rise needs its own advance notice, and one letter about two changes tends to bring in calls.
If you're changing the bank account customers pay into by transfer, tell them through a channel they already trust and ask them to confirm by phone if in doubt. Changed bank details are a common route for invoice fraud, and a careful customer will want to check.
Your first month on the new provider
Your schedules don't move with the mandates. A mandate is permission to collect and carries no amounts, dates or invoices, so set up every recurring schedule and instalment plan on the new side before its first collection date, and check each against what the customer was told.
Your old provider is likely to ask you to stop creating collections several days before the change date, and the new one starts a few working days after it, so there's a gap to plan around. List every customer whose collection falls in that window and decide which side takes their next payment, so nobody is missed and nobody is charged twice. Don't raise invoices through both systems for the same customers while the move is in progress.
Once the change date has passed, compare the list of active mandates on the new provider with your old records and follow up every gap; a missing customer needs to sign a new mandate.
Reconciliation may look different on the new side. Providers that take their fee out of each payout pay you a net lump sum, while Adfin pays out every weekday at the full amount collected and invoices its fee separately, so each payment matches its invoice in Xero or QuickBooks. Payment references may change too, so if you match by reference, check the new format before the first payout. Once the old provider's final payout has landed, switch off any integration still posting its payouts into your accounts, then close the account.
If an invoice slips through during the switch, Adfin's Customer Agents can follow it up over email, SMS or WhatsApp on a schedule you set, within rules you approve.
Common questions
How long does it take to switch payment provider? Moving direct debit mandates usually takes several weeks, because both sponsoring banks have to approve it; Bacs expects about four to six. Card and bank transfer customers can move from their next invoice.
Can my current provider stop me moving my mandates? Generally not. Since January 2018 scheme rules have required an outgoing provider to co-operate with a bulk change, with only narrow exceptions. Your contract can still set a notice period or exit fee.
Will my customers have to sign a new direct debit mandate? Not if your mandates move through a Bacs bulk change. With Adfin that's 10 or more mandates; with fewer, customers sign a new mandate online.
Will collections stop while we switch? There's a gap of several days around the change date. Decide in advance which provider takes each affected customer's next payment.
Will my customers see a different name on their statement? Usually, unless you pay to show your own business name. Say which name to expect in the notice you send.
What should I do with my old account? Keep it open until the final payout has landed and you've exported your history, then switch off its integrations and close it.
Sources
- Bacs - The little Bacs guide to switching facilities management provider (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.bacs.co.uk/media/xglbtzor/little_bacs_guide_to_switching_fm_providers.pdf
- Payment Systems Regulator - PS17/3 Direct Debit facilities management (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.psr.org.uk/media/amfft3uf/psr-ps-17-3-direct-debit-facilities-management-december-2017.pdf
- Pay.UK (Direct Debit) - The Direct Debit Guarantee (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.directdebit.co.uk/direct-debit-explained/direct-debit-guarantee/
- Adfin Help Center - Bulk-migrate your direct debit mandates to Adfin (10+ mandates) (accurate as of October 2026) https://support.adfin.com/en/articles/12688044-how-to-migrate-direct-debit-mandates-to-adfin
- Adfin - Pricing (accurate as of October 2026) https://www.adfin.com/pricing
