Australia (AU_BECS_DEBIT)
Before you begin
Check your eligibility
BECS direct debit is only available to customers who are onboarded to the Airwallex Australia entity with a local Australian Bank Account
- Platforms must ensure that only customers that are Australian entities and onboarded to Airwallex Australia are allowed to set up BECS direct debit
- If you, as the Platform, would also like to use BECS direct debit for your operational purposes, you must also be onboarded to Airwallex Australia
Settlement time
As indicated above, BECS direct debit in Australia takes 2-3 business days to settle, depending on submission before/after the cut-off time. Therefore, we recommend leaving some buffer time ahead of the cut-off to avoid delays.
Customers who wish to accelerate the settlement time may apply for our Faster Direct Debit offering, which offers a shortened settlement time of 0-2 business days throughout the day. To enable this capability, please contact your Account Manager and confirm our terms, conditions, and fees.
Mandate requirements
To add funds via BECS direct debit, your customers must first link their Australian external bank accounts, as outlined in Linked Accounts.
Before any BECS direct debits are processed, the owner of the external bank account must agree with the Direct Debit Request Service Agreement (“DDRSA”). They may do so by submitting a Direct Debit Request (“DDR”, see below), which gives Airwallex a mandate to debit the account. While we do not expect this to occur frequently, if and when the DDRSA is changed, you must ask the owners to update their agreements to the updated version. A copy of the signed DDRSA will be sent by Airwallex via email to the bank account owner, and is stored and made available to be shared with the customer at all times.
Failure to comply with BECS Rules will result in disputes, return fees, and reversed transactions that you will be responsible for.
The following is a guide to building your native product experience for your customers to link their external bank account and sign the mandate/agreement.
1. Linking an external bank account
The title should clearly inform your customers that they are linking an external bank account to set up direct debit.
You must ask the external bank account owner for:
- Bank account name
- Bank account number
- BSB code
- Bank account owner's email address
3. Confirmation of direct debit set up
It is recommended that you provide a confirmation page to your customers at the end of the process to inform them that direct debit has been successfully set up for the Linked Bank Account.
API instructions
1. Create Linked Account with direct debit mandate
Referring to Linked Account requirements for direct debit, both BUSINESS and INDIVIDUAL Linked Account types are supported for BECS direct debit in Australia.
Micro-deposit is available as the verification method. Please follow the instructions in Create a Linked Account using micro-deposit verification and submit the required mandate information under the mandate object.
Example request
If you are registered as a platform account, you can call this endpoint on behalf of your customers by specifying the open ID in the x-on-behalf-of header.
Example response
If you already have a Linked Account created using micro-deposit verification, you may call Update a Direct Debit Mandate API to create the mandate.
Example request
If you are registered as a platform account, you can call this endpoint on behalf of your customers by specifying the open ID in the x-on-behalf-of header.
2. Create direct debit deposit
Before creating a direct debit deposit, please ensure that you have a sufficient funding limit by checking your available funding limit.
Next, follow the instructions outlined in Create a direct debit deposit. Please note that the direct debit deposit reference for BECS direct debit should not exceed 18 characters.
Example request
If you are registered as a platform account, you can call this endpoint on behalf of your customers by specifying the open ID in the x-on-behalf-of header.
Example response
Clearing system error codes
To help you handle exceptions systematically, the tables below provide a comprehensive list of all possible clearing system errors and detailed descriptions when the Linked Accounts or a direct debit deposit from Linked Accounts have failed.
We recommend using the Airwallex error code or the iso_code for systematic exception handling. The code from provider_failure_details can be used for troubleshooting against the clearing system rules, but it is not advised for systematic handling because the clearing system may update it from time to time.
Linked Account error codes
| code | iso code | provider failure details code | description |
|---|---|---|---|
incorrect_account_number | AC01 | 005 | The payer’s bank account number is invalid. Please confirm the account number with the payer. |
closed_account_number | AC04 | 003 | The payer’s bank account is closed. Contact the payer to reopen the account, or create a new mandate to charge a different bank account. |
Direct debit deposit error codes
| code | iso code | provider failure details code | description |
|---|---|---|---|
transaction_forbidden | AG01 | 002 | The payer requests to stop all direct debit transactions. Contact the payer or payer’s bank for further information. |
closed_account_number | AC04 | 003 | The payer’s bank account is closed. Contact the payer to reopen the account, or create a new mandate to charge a different bank account. |
end_customer_deceased | MD07 | 004 | You cannot create a direct debit against the payer’s bank account because the payer is deceased. Contact the payer’s bank for further instructions. |
incorrect_account_number | AC01 | 005 | The payer’s bank account number is invalid. Please confirm the account number with the payer. |
refer_to_payer | NARR | 006 | Contact the payer or payer’s bank for further information. |
other | NARR | 009 | Reason has not been specified. Contact the payer or payer’s bank for further information. |