Importing Mandates

Hold onto the ID, you'll need it to add entries and submit.

Add one entry per mandate. Each entry requires:

• links.mandate_import: the ID from Step 1

• customer: identifying details for the customer

• bank_account: account holder name and either an IBAN or [local bank details]

• record_identifier: Your own reference for this mandate (see below)

SEPA mandates only: You must also provide amendment details, the original mandate reference, creditor ID, and creditor name from your previous provider. These are required by the SEPA scheme to maintain a valid audit trail.

Repeat for each mandate. If you provide invalid data, the API returns a descriptive error for that entry — fix it and retry before submitting.

SEPA example with amendment details:

Once all entries are added, submit the import. All imports are reviewed by GoCardless before processing to prevent fraudulent use.

GoCardless reviews all submitted imports before processing. During this time, the import status will be submitted.

Common reasons for rejection:

• Entries contain invalid or mismatched bank details

• SEPA amendment details are missing or incorrect

• The scheme specified doesn't match the bank accounts provided

If your import is rejected, GoCardless will contact you with details. You'll need to create a new import with corrected entries.

When the import is approved, GoCardless processes the mandates. You'll receive webhooks as each mandate is created, the same events as mandates created through the standard API:

To map your internal records to the new GoCardless IDs, retrieve the entries once the import status is processed. Match each entry using the record_identifier you set in Step 2:

Use the mandate ID from each entry to start collecting payments. See One-off payments and Recurring payments.