GoCardless Direct Debit

Kolva Club is a GoCardless Connect partner. Clubs connect their own GoCardless account in a few clicks. Parents pay by Direct Debit, or pay the first amount instantly through their bank app and set up Direct Debit in the same journey.

What this gives you

Lower fees on recurring payments — GoCardless charges 1% + 20p per transaction, capped at £4, plus Kolva's 0.75% platform fee.
Automatic monthly collection — once a mandate is set up, monthly fees are collected on schedule with no action from the parent.
Smart retries (Success+) — if a payment fails (for example, insufficient funds), GoCardless may retry it at a time more likely to succeed. Kolva asks GoCardless to do this, but it only happens if your GoCardless plan includes Success+. Kolva never retries a Direct Debit itself.
Fraud protection (Protect+) — GoCardless can check new mandates for suspicious sign-ups, if your GoCardless plan includes Protect+.
Combined Pay & Set Up flow — the parent pays the amount they owe instantly through their bank app and signs the Bacs mandate in a single journey. Later months are collected by Direct Debit as normal.

Connecting GoCardless to your club

Go to Settings → Payments in the Kolva Club admin.
Find the GoCardless card and click Connect GoCardless.
You're redirected to GoCardless. Sign in to an existing GoCardless account or sign up.
Authorise Kolva Club to act on your behalf for taking Direct Debit payments.
You're returned to Kolva. The card shows Connected & Verified once GoCardless has finished verifying your account.

While GoCardless is verifying you, the card shows Verification in review. You can still onboard parents during this period, though some payments may be held until verification completes. If GoCardless needs more information, the card shows Action required by GoCardless. Sign in to your GoCardless account to see what they need.

How parents set up Direct Debit

Direct Debit mandates do not carry over from another platform. Each parent sets up a new mandate, from the link in the email you send them or from their own portal.

Path A — Direct Debit only

From Payments → Payment methods, the parent clicks Set Up Direct Debit. They're taken to a hosted GoCardless page, confirm their bank details and sign the Bacs mandate. Future monthly fees are collected automatically.

Path B — Combined Pay & Set Up

When a parent has a payment due and no Direct Debit mandate yet, their Payments page shows a Pay £X & set up Direct Debit card. One click takes them to GoCardless where they:

Authenticate with their bank app (Open Banking).
Authorise the payment. The funds clear in seconds.
Sign the Bacs mandate for future months, with no extra forms.

This is GoCardless's recommended journey for first-time payers because it pays one payment that's due now and sets up recurring collection in a single flow. Anything else that's due isn't included in that payment.

Fees

Two layers of fees on each Direct Debit payment:

GoCardless — 1% + 20p per transaction, capped at £4, charged by GoCardless.
Kolva platform fee — 0.75%, taken automatically on every payment. There is no monthly subscription.

Worked example on a £50 monthly fee: GoCardless takes 50p + 20p = £0.70. Kolva takes 0.75% of £50, which is 37.5p and rounds to 38p. That leaves £48.92 for the club.

Refunds

From the admin Payments page, click Refund on any paid Direct Debit payment. You can refund the full amount or part of it. The refund goes back to the parent's bank account, usually within 5 working days.

Troubleshooting

"Reconnection Required" on the GoCardless card

Your connection to GoCardless has expired. Click Reconnect on the Settings → Payments card to authorise it again. This does not affect existing parent mandates.

A parent's mandate shows as "Pending"

A new Direct Debit mandate usually takes 1–3 working days to become active. The parent's first collection is scheduled once the mandate is confirmed.

A payment failed

Common causes: insufficient funds, a closed account, or the parent disputing the payment with their bank. Kolva does not retry a failed Direct Debit itself. GoCardless may retry it on a date it chooses, if your GoCardless plan includes Success+. If the payment finally fails, it shows as Failed on your Payments page and the parent is emailed a link to pay by card. If you decide the money will not be collected, you can cancel the payment from the Payments page.

A payment was charged back

Under the Direct Debit Guarantee, a parent can dispute a payment with their bank. Kolva marks the payment as Disputed on your Payments page, emails every club admin, and adds an alert to their in-app notifications. The email names the family, the amount and the original charge date. Coaches are not told. A Disputed payment is not chased, so follow it up with the family yourself. If you think the chargeback is wrong, contact GoCardless support.