Recurring class fees that collect themselves.
A term of classes is a subscription whether you call it one or not. GoCardless gives Zooza two things: Direct Debit collection against a mandate the parent signed once, and automatic reading of incoming bank transfers so the office stops matching payments by eye.
Two functions, often confused. You can run either without the other, and most providers end up running both.
Two functions, not one
Worth separating before you set anything up, because they fail in different ways and are authorised separately.
Direct Debit collection
Zooza → GoCardless → the parent’s bank Zooza sends the collection request and GoCardless pulls the money from the client’s account via SEPA Direct Debit, against a mandate the parent authorised. Three things must all be true: an active mandate on the booking, a payment plan with offline charging enabled, and the payment moved to Processed rather than left Scheduled.
Bank reading and matching
your bank → GoCardless → Zooza GoCardless reads incoming transactions from your bank account and passes them to Zooza, which matches them against the right invoice. This is the half that removes the manual reconciliation job, and it works for transfers you never asked GoCardless to collect.
Mandate status
visible per booking Each booking shows whether a mandate is Active, with its Mandate ID and provider, in the Payments tile. If a collection has not gone out, this is the first place to look.
Getting collections running
The order matters — a plan without a mandate silently collects nothing.
The parent authorises a mandate
One signature, reused for every term afterwards. The booking then shows Active against a Mandate ID.
Put the booking on a payment plan
With offline charging enabled, so Zooza knows the money is collected rather than taken at the checkout.
Move the payment to Processed
A payment left as Scheduled is not a collection instruction. This is the single most common reason a collection never leaves.
Timing and limits worth knowing
None of these are faults, but all of them look like faults the first time you meet them.
The debit lands before the date you see
GoCardless usually collects several days ahead of the scheduled date, because the banking system needs the lead time. The parent’s account is debited earlier than Zooza displays, which is worth saying in your own payment terms so nobody is surprised.
Up to 24 hours before a payment appears
GoCardless typically syncs once a day, so money can be in your bank account a day before it shows in Zooza. If you reconcile in the morning, you are reconciling yesterday.
Bank authorisation expires within 90 days
Ninety days is the ceiling, not the rule: the connection lapses at whichever comes first, the period your own bank granted or ninety days. Zooza warns 14 days before and again when it lapses, so the renewal is a diary item rather than a surprise.
Payments can arrive before the debt exists
A parent who pays early, before the invoice is raised, gives the matcher nothing to match against. The payment is not lost, but it waits.
Fees and retry behaviour are GoCardless’s, not ours
What a failed collection costs and how it is retried is set in your own GoCardless account, because the account is yours. When you connect your own gateway, Zooza takes no cut of the transactions.
Setup detail lives in the help centre: help.zooza.online/payments/gocardless-faq/ · help.zooza.online/payments/gocardless-direct-debit-mandates/ · help.zooza.online/payments/gocardless-connection-lifecycle/
Questions before switching to Direct Debit
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A collection did not go out. Where do I look first?
In order: is the mandate Active on that booking, is the payment plan set to offline charging, and is the payment Processed rather than Scheduled? A payment sitting in Scheduled is not an instruction to collect, and that accounts for most of these. -
Why was the parent debited earlier than the date in Zooza?
Because GoCardless submits ahead of the scheduled date to allow for bank clearing. It is normal, and it is the reason to word your payment terms as "on or shortly before" rather than naming an exact day. -
Do I need GoCardless to take bank transfers?
No, but the matching is the point. Without the bank-reading half, someone in the office is comparing a statement to a list of invoices. With it, transfers arrive in Zooza already matched, including ones GoCardless did not collect. -
How often does my bank connection need renewing?
At most every 90 days, sooner if your bank granted a shorter period. Zooza sends a warning 14 days before expiry and a notification if it lapses, which matters because an expired connection stops the matching quietly rather than loudly. -
Does Zooza take a percentage of Direct Debit collections?
No. GoCardless is your account and its fees are between you and them. Zooza takes no cut of transactions when you run your own payment gateway; a card fee applies only where Zooza itself provides the card processing. -
Can we take card payments as well?
Yes — Stripe handles cards and wallets alongside Direct Debit, and both appear against the same booking. Most providers use cards for trials and one-off purchases and Direct Debit for the term.
Stop chasing the same fees every term.
One mandate, collected automatically, matched automatically. Connect your own GoCardless account and Zooza takes nothing from the transactions.
