How much should Direct Debit payments cost for large businesses?

With 9 out of 10 households with at least 1 Direct Debit, Direct Debit is one of the cheapest and most popular types of payment in UK.

Direct Debit is used by different sized organisations, from SMEs to enterprises who use it to collect regular or recurring payments including utility payments, mobile phone bills, membership subscriptions, regular giving and business invoicing.

However, pricing models vary across Direct Debit providers, and understanding how much you should be paying for a Direct Debit collection service can be tricky, but even more so if you’re an enterprise with a large volume of transactions.

Direct Debit services for large businesses can vary, and fees for large transaction volumes can differ depending if quotes are based on volume or the value of transactions.

Can you get transaction fee discounts for enterprise businesses?

The short answer here is yes, most providers will try to offer discounted pricing for large businesses in order to win the book. This is usually phrased as customised packages for large volumes – but what those discounts are will depend on the industry you operate in, the value of your transactions or how your business model works.

Some providers may not offer discounts as the industry is deemed as too high risk, or will want a higher reserve to protect their income. However, either way – providers will do their best to offer their most attractive prices.

What should you consider when looking at cost for high Direct Debit transactions?

Most Direct Debit providers will offer a bespoke, customised offer for large volumes – as they know this is recurring revenue to their bottom line. This could be from 0.5p per transaction or even less, for example, depending on the volume.

However to get the best Direct Debit processing fees, you also have to consider the value-add services – not just the price per transaction. This could be dedicated customer support, so you can pick up the phone or email an actual person to get answers.

You can also get API integration services and support, so you can integrate your payments processing in your accounting, membership or CRM software. You could also be asked to take part in user research to help guide direction of their software, features and functionality in order to shape it to your requirements.

Either way, while pricing is definitely a driver for processing, it shouldn’t be the exclusive measure of choosing a provider.