How to Accept BECS Payments

Stripe users in Australia can accept Australia BECS Direct Debit payments from customers with an Australian bank account.

As part of the payment process, businesses must collect a mandate that includes the customer’s bank account details (account holder’s name, the Bank-State-Branch or BSB number, and the bank account number) and must also accept the mandate Service Agreement. This gives the business an authorization to debit the account. Stripe can generate this mandate for businesses to present to their customers.

Australia BECS Direct Debit is a reusable, delayed notification payment method. This means that it can take up to three business days to receive notification on the success or failure of a payment after you initiate a debit from the customer’s account.

Enable BECS

To accept BECS payments, visit the Payment tab in the payment form builder and enable BECS.

For new users, Australia BECS Direct Debit transactions have a default limit of 1,500 AUD per transaction and 4,500 AUD per week. If you need higher limits, contact Stripe support.

Using BECS for Subscriptions and Recurring Payments

Starting with WP Simple Pay 4.17.3, BECS Direct Debit can be used for subscriptions and recurring billing on AU/AUD forms. This brings BECS in line with the other bank-debit methods already supported for subscriptions (ACH, Bacs, SEPA).

To configure a recurring BECS form:

1. Open or create a payment form with the General tab’s currency set to AUD.
2. On the Payment tab, enable BECS and configure your price options with a recurring/subscription billing interval.
3. Customers complete the mandate authorization on first payment; subsequent debits run automatically per the schedule you configured.

Because BECS is a delayed-notification method, the first debit (and each renewal) can take up to 3 business days to confirm. Renewal status appears in the customer’s Manage Subscriptions block and in your Stripe Dashboard.