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Can I move a direct debit mandate to a different business?

A mandate belongs to the business it was signed for and cannot be transferred to another one. Here is why, and what to do instead.

Written by Angus Tylee

No. A direct debit mandate is an authority your customer gives to one specific business, and it cannot be moved to a different one.

Why not

The direct debit guarantee sits behind every mandate. It gives your customer the right to an immediate refund from their bank if a payment is taken in error, and it works because the mandate names the organisation allowed to collect. Moving a mandate from one business to another changes who holds that authority, which is a change your customer has not agreed to. That protection is the whole point of the guarantee, so the scheme does not allow it.

This applies whether the second business is a new legal entity, a group company, or another Adfin account you also own.


What to do instead

Ask your customer to set up a new mandate. You can send the request from Adfin in the usual way, and once it is signed, collection carries on as normal.


Things this is not

Two similar sounding changes that are possible, so it is worth being clear which one you need:

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