Moving to GoCardless: A Simple, Secure Way to Pay Your Phoenix Fees

Danyon Billings
4 days ago
4 min read

As we mentioned in our recent community update, from September Mudeford Phoenix GLFC will be moving to GoCardless to collect monthly club fees.

We know that changing the way you pay can sometimes raise questions, so we wanted to explain exactly what GoCardless is, why we’re making the change and what you need to do.

Why are we moving to GoCardless?

There are several benefits to both families and the club.

Less to remember

Once your Direct Debit is set up, your monthly fees will be collected automatically. This means you won't need to remember to make a payment each month or worry about accidentally missing a payment.

More time for the club

At the moment, our Treasurer spends a significant amount of time checking payments, identifying missed payments and following up with families.

Moving to GoCardless will significantly reduce this administration and free up valuable volunteer time to focus on things that directly benefit the club - including applying for grants, securing additional funding and investing back into our players and teams.

Fewer missed payments

We completely understand that life gets busy and sometimes payments are forgotten or missed.

However, even a small number of missed payments can have a significant impact on the club. If just five payments a month were missed, this could represent more than £1,000 a year that isn't available to invest into the club.

GoCardless will help us make our income more predictable and ensure that the money coming into the club can be put towards supporting our players.

How are you protected?

GoCardless uses the Direct Debit system, which provides protections for customers.

Your payment details are entered securely through GoCardless rather than being shared with the club. Mudeford Phoenix does not receive or store your full online banking login details.

You will also receive notifications about payments, so you know when money is due to be collected.

If there are any changes to your Direct Debit, you will be notified in advance. We do not expect any changes to the agreed fees or collection arrangements, but should anything need to change, we will communicate this with you.

The Direct Debit system also provides protection through the Direct Debit Guarantee, giving customers reassurance around payments collected by Direct Debit.

How will I know when a payment is being taken?

GoCardless will email you before a payment is requested, confirming the amount and date of the collection.

Your first payment will be taken on 28th September.

You will therefore have notification before any money is taken from your account.

If there are ever any changes to the Direct Debit, you will also be notified. Again, we don't anticipate any changes without communicating with families first.

IMPORTANT: Please cancel your standing order

If you currently pay your Phoenix fees by standing order, please cancel your standing order for September onwards.

From September, payments will be collected through GoCardless, so you should not continue your existing standing order.

Setting up GoCardless

After this blog post, we will send out a message with three different GoCardless links:

1 player – for families with one player registered with Mudeford Phoenix
2 players – for families with two players registered
3 players – for families with three players registered

Please make sure you click the link that corresponds to the number of players you have registered with the club.

Step 1 – Click the correct link

Choose the link for 1, 2 or 3 players, depending on your family.

Step 2 – Enter your details

You will be asked to provide your:

Name
Email address
Address
Bank details

Please use the family name of the player or players wherever possible, so that we can easily match your GoCardless registration to our club records.

For example, if the players are registered under the family name Smith, please use the relevant family name when completing the setup.

Step 3 – Enter your bank details

GoCardless will then ask you to enter the bank details for the account you would like the fees to be collected from.

This is completed securely through GoCardless.

Step 4 – Confirm your Direct Debit

You will then be asked to review and confirm the Direct Debit instruction.

Please check that your details are correct before confirming.

Step 5 – You're all set

Once you have confirmed the Direct Debit, we will receive confirmation that your setup has been completed.

Your first payment will then be collected on 28th September.

GoCardless will notify you before the payment is requested, so you will know the amount and collection date in advance.

What happens after I set it up?

Once your Direct Debit is active, there is nothing else you need to do each month.

Your fees will automatically be collected through GoCardless, meaning you won't need to make a manual payment or remember to transfer the money to the club.

This should make things much easier for families and significantly reduce the administration involved for our volunteer Treasurer.

Most importantly, it will allow us to spend more of our time working on grants, fundraising and investment into Mudeford Phoenix, rather than chasing payments.