Recurring Payments: Emails to Your Payer

Only for self-managed recurring payments.

If you are using self-managed recurring payments, you need to make sure that you're communicating the steps and statuses of recurring payments to your payers, which means you have to send emails to your payers. If you are using Flywire-managed recurring payments, Flywire handles all emails for you.

Some emails are mandatory because of legal and compliance reasons.

How do I get the correct email address for sending the emails?

You'll receive the payer's email address in the postMessage of the event listener, see The postMessage of the Event Listener for more details.

Make sure you use the email address you got via the postMessage for the emails to your payer. Even if you already have an email address in your system, your payer might have updated the email address in the UI Form.

Are there specific emails for different kinds of recurring payments?

A recurring payment has a mode which defines its characteristics. Depending on the mode some emails or parts of their content might not be needed, for example there is no "last payment date" for an ongoing subscription.

What payment modes exist?

The mode of a payment depends on three factors:

Frequency: Are the intervals for the payment regular or irregular?
Purchase: Is it one single purchase or are new goods/services purchased?
Delivery: Are the goods/services delivered once or in multiple deliveries?

Available modes

There is no fallback default value for mode. You need to provide a mode for each request.

Mode	Frequency	Purchase	Delivery
installment	regular or irregular intervals	Single purchase of goods or services	Single delivery (can be in advance, at any time during the plan, or at the end)
subscription	Regular intervals	Multiple purchases (for new or renewed goods or services)	Multiple and regular deliveries
unscheduled	No pre-agreed intervals	Multiple purchases (for new or renewed goods or services)	Multiple deliveries at no pre-agreed intervals

List of Emails for Recurring Payments for Cards and Direct Debit

Payment Method

Information

Mandatory?

Direct debit

Delivery of mandate PDF

An email with the PDF mandate attached. It informs the payer that they have agreed to let Flywire charge their bank account according to the direct debit scheme.

The email is sent immediately after a payer fills out the direct debit form and confirms the mandate.

For EFT Canada, you have to send this email yourself.
For SEPA and BACS, you don't have to manage this email. The email is automatically sent by Flywire (for SEPA) or Finastra (for BACS),

Direct debit mandates for SEPA and BACS have to be stored for 3 years. Since the emails with the mandate are managed by Flywire (for SEPA) or Finastra (for BACS), Flywire or Finastra will store the mandate for you.

Which direct debit schemes are supported?

Supported direct debit schemes

SEPA	SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) direct debit is a payment system that makes payments in Europe easier and cheaper. SEPA allows you to collect payments in all countries that follow the SEPA scheme (36 countries in the Eurozone). The currency for all SEPA direct debits is Euros.
BACS	BACS (Bankers' Automated Clearing System) is a network of banks and building societies that participate in the BACS payments scheme. BACS payments are made in GBP and are only available in the UK. BACS payments are one of the most common bank-to-bank transfers in the UK.
EFT Canada	EFT ("Electronic Funds Transfer") Canada is the most common direct debit scheme for payments in Canada. Flywire uses the third-party implementation Plaid to connect your payers to their bank accounts for EFT Canada.
ACH	ACH ("Automated Clearing House") is an electronic network used in the United States of America for processing financial transactions. The ACH system is designed for domestic transactions within the United States, which means the currency for ACH payments is USD.

Important info for a "Delivery of mandate PDF" email for EFT Canada

The mandate PDF for EFT Canada is called PAD (Pre-Authorized Debit Agreement). It is a PDF that always has the same format and content, but you need to provide the current date.

Process for delivering the mandate (PAD) for EFT Canada:

Download the PAD PDF from Flywire.

You can download the Flywire PAD here: Download PAD PDF
Insert the correct date (when the payer agreed to EDT Canada direct debit) into the Flywire PAD PDF.
Send it to your payer as an email attachment. The email needs to contain the following information:
- Total number of scheduled payments
- Total payment amount
- First payment date
- Last payment date
- Flywire PAD (as an attachment)

Mandatory for direct debit due to direct debit rules

Cards and direct debit

Initial sign up for recurring payments

Must be sent within 2 business days after the payer agreed to the recurring payments.

The email must include:

Total number of scheduled payments
Total payment amount
First payment date
Last payment date

You don't need to send this email for EFT Canada direct debit, since you already include this information in the "Delivery of mandate PDF" email (for details about the content see Important info for a "Delivery of mandate PDF" email for EFT Canada).

Mandatory for cards due to Card Scheme Rules

Mandatory for direct debit due to direct debit Scheme Rules

Cards and direct debit

Recurring payments pre-notification

The goal of this email is to guarantee that the payer is notified of the date and amount of the upcoming payment and be prepared to have those funds collected from their bank account.

The email must include:

The payment date
The payment amount

For cards:

You must sent the email 7 days before the payment will be charged.

For direct debit:

The email is sent 3 business days before the payment is charged.

For EFT Canada, you have to send this email yourself.
For SEPA and BACS, you don't have to manage this email. The email is automatically sent by Flywire (for SEPA) or Finastra (for BACS),

Which direct debit schemes are supported?

Supported direct debit schemes

SEPA	SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) direct debit is a payment system that makes payments in Europe easier and cheaper. SEPA allows you to collect payments in all countries that follow the SEPA scheme (36 countries in the Eurozone). The currency for all SEPA direct debits is Euros.
BACS	BACS (Bankers' Automated Clearing System) is a network of banks and building societies that participate in the BACS payments scheme. BACS payments are made in GBP and are only available in the UK. BACS payments are one of the most common bank-to-bank transfers in the UK.
EFT Canada	EFT ("Electronic Funds Transfer") Canada is the most common direct debit scheme for payments in Canada. Flywire uses the third-party implementation Plaid to connect your payers to their bank accounts for EFT Canada.
ACH	ACH ("Automated Clearing House") is an electronic network used in the United States of America for processing financial transactions. The ACH system is designed for domestic transactions within the United States, which means the currency for ACH payments is USD.

Mandatory for cards due to Card Scheme Rules

Mandatory for direct debit due to direct debit rules

Cards and direct debit

Payment has been charged successfully

Sent when a payment has been charged successfully.

Mandatory for cards due to Card Scheme Rules

Mandatory for direct debit due to direct debit Scheme Rules

Cards and direct debit

Payment charge failed

Sent when a payment charge failed, for example because of insufficient funds or an expired card.

Mandatory for cards due to Card Scheme Rules

Mandatory for direct debit due to direct debit Scheme Rules

Cards and direct debit

Cancellation of recurring payments (by payer)

Sent when the payer canceled the recurring payments.

Optional, but highly recommended

Cards and direct debit

Cancellation of recurring payments (by you or Flywire)

Sent when you or Flywire canceled the recurring payments, for example because too many payments failed.

Optional, but highly recommended

Cards and direct debit

Recurring payments completed

Sent when the last payment of the recurring payments has been made successfully.

Optional, but highly recommended