We have finished our new “Take a Tour” screencast to detail the new functionality and better user interface. If you have any questions or feedback, it would be much appreciated.

We a proud to announce the activation of our new REST API. As a priority we converted our account validation and electronic debit mandate capturing features. We are in the process of completing the documentation. Please contact us for assistance if you require more technical information.

Account Validation
The bank account validation test will verify your customers South African ID number, Cell number, branch code and bank account number. This will greatly reduce any initial account errors. The pre check will give you the opportunity to contact your customer to update their details before submitting the debit order.

Electronic Debit Mandate Capturing
A prerequisite for the processing of any debit order is to have a confirmed debit mandate from the customer. We can facilitate this via our electronic mandate capturing feature. You submit the clients banking details and mobile number. We sms the customer notifying them of your request. The customer dials a USSD number and either accepts or declines the request. The request is logged.

Debit orders are one of the most convenient ways of paying accounts that occur on a monthly basis but Galia Durbach, CEO of Core Banking Solutions at FNB, says that it’s important to understand the implications of linking a debit order to a current account.

The process begins with the signing of a legal contract between you and your service provider, such as an insurance company, for the deduction of an agreed premium from your account on a regular basis; usually monthly. The contract contains your signature, payment reference and banking details. The insurance company in turn instructs your bank to debit the agreed amount from your account and pay it into their account.

“Your contract is not with the bank. All the bank is doing is carrying out your instruction to the insurance company to debit your bank account,” stresses Durbach.

Be careful
Convenient as it may be, Durbach warns that you should be careful not to sign a debit order agreement
unless you trust the company you are giving authority to. “Because you are giving the service provider a certain amount of control over your bank account, it is crucial that you confirm their credibility before you sign any agreement.”

Before you enter into a debit order agreement with a service provider company, make sure you clearly understand your rights and responsibilities, as listed below, to avoid problems in future.

What are your rights?

• When, for example, your premiums increase, the company will automatically adjust the debit order after informing you, if this was in the original contract or document you signed.
• The agreement can be cancelled by a written notification to the service provider. This is not the responsibility of the bank where you hold your account.
• The service provider may not change any of its rights with regard to a debit order agreement without permission from you.

Taking care of
debit orders
To ensure that things are running smoothly with your debit orders you should:

• Check your bank statement regularly to make sure that correct amounts are paid to your service provider.
• Ensure that you have sufficient funds in your account for the debit order to go through.
• If you decide to cancel the debit order you have to inform the company concerned.
• Read the debit order agreement well — it is a contract between you and the company, not the bank.
• Be careful not to sign a debit order agreement form unless you trust the company that you are giving authority to.
• Should something go wrong with your debit order, you need to contact the company you are paying. If they can’t help you, contact your bank.

Generally, debit orders represent a convenient form of payment and the vast majority of these transactions are processed without any difficulty. However, if you think something
has gone wrong with your debit order, for example a premium higher than that agreed is coming out of your account, it is advisable that you immediately query it with them.

If you feel the need to reverse the debit order, request a reversal from the bank. You may also request the bank to place a stop payment on the debit order.

Stop orders a safer option
If you are not comfortable with the idea of giving control to the insurance company, Durbach recommends a stop order or scheduled payment as a better option since you, not the company, are giving the instruction to your bank to process a debit to your account and pay it to a beneficiary. “With a stop order or scheduled payment you remain in control and can change or cancel the instruction whenever you feel the need to.”

While a stop order or scheduled payment may seem more appealing, Durbach says most companies don’t accept it where a regular payment like a monthly instalment is the core deal
between you and them. The risk of contracts being cancelled soon after being taken out because of non-payment is too great, so most companies prefer to have control over the collection of payments.

Durbach therefore recommends a stop order or scheduled payment for a recurring payment, like school fees, rent or paying your domestic worker’s salary. “The person will regularly receive the money, but you can change or cancel the payment at any time, when circumstances change.”

Article From

Online Debit Order Processing

KNOWING the difference between a stop order and a debit order can save you money – and spare you inconvenience. Bank debit and stop orders are commonly used methods of paying regular expenses, but few customers realise debit orders are a lot cheaper than stop orders.

The one downside of paying by debit order, though, is that you have no control over how much the beneficiary is paid.

In the December 1997 edition of the You and Your Bank newsletter, Standard Bank explains the difference between debit and stop orders, and highlights the advantages and disadvantages of each payment method. Debit order

A debit order involves you authorising a third party (the beneficiary) to regularly debit your account.

The amount debited may, however, be adjusted by the beneficiary.

When, say, your insurance premium increases, the beneficiary (the insurance company) will automatically amend the debit order, and only then inform you in writing.

The contract of payment is between you and the beneficiary – the bank merely facilitates the transaction by allowing the debit order to go through your account.

If you cancel the debit order you have to notify the beneficiary. Any dispute must be resolved between you and the beneficiary.

Standard Bank says debit order beneficiaries are screened thoroughly and only reputable companies are allowed to process debits through a customer’s account.

Standard Bank charges R2.30 or R2.50 for a debit order payment. Stop order

If you make a payment by stop order, you instruct your bank in writing to debit your account with a specific amount regularly and to credit the account of the beneficiary.

The contract in this case is between you and your bank. To cancel or amend the stop order you must notify your bank.

A stop order costs more than a debit order because the bank has more administration work.

Standard Bank charges R4.50 for a stop order payment. Which to use?

The beneficiary is often the deciding factor on whether a debit order or a stop order is appropriate.

While debit orders are cheaper than stop orders, they can be used only where the beneficiaries are authorised by your bank to use the debit order system.

Companies on the debit order system will usually not accept payment by stop order.

Article from

We have updated our excel file format to version 1.1. Please download to review the changes in the date formatting. We have added an additional error check to confirm that the date column is correct during upload.

The date should be as follows. yyyy-mm-dd

Example: 18th October 2008 will be
formatted 2008-10-18

Download the file at here.

Kind Regards,

Star120 Support Team

We would like to provide you with an excellent service so we added an email list manager solution. Customers can be kept up-to-date with news and system update notifications by subscribing. We will keep you updated so you stay ahead of the curve.

We are using a solution called ListMessenger. A well designed, easy to use and extremely robust mailing list management solution for any web site. ListMessenger is feature packed but because of its intuitive design remains simple enough so any administrator can quickly manage his or her own mailing list and send out important newsletters or information to their subscriber base.

Take a tour of our Debit Engine

This video details the requirements of setting up an account.

This video details the column name we require for uploading into our Debit Engine.

In this video you will see the columns we require for uploading of customer debit order information into our engine.