Whether you own an online e-commerce store or a subscription service, you care about getting paid for your service easily. Nowadays, there are several ways you can collect payments from customers at the point of sale; from bank transfers to cards, or account-to-account payments.
As online payments continue to evolve, businesses in Africa need more secure and seamless methods of collecting customer payments. This is why we built Mono DirectPay and Mono Direct Debit to empower these businesses to grow.
In this article, I will explain how Mono DirectPay and Mono Direct Debit work, the differences between them, and how each product can work best for your business.
Key Takeaway
| Features | Mono DirectPay | Mono Direct Debit |
| Payment type | One-time payments | Automated recurring payments |
| Authorisation method | No mandate setup required | A direct debit mandate is set up on the customer’s account |
| Use case | Ideal for e-commerce payments, instant transfers, one-off payments for services | Ideal for loan repayments, regular account funding, subscription services, insurance payments |
| Payment trigger | Customers initiate payments each time they want to pay | The business initiate pre-authorized and pre-approved debits on due dates, directly from customers’ accounts |
What is Mono DirectPay?
Mono DirectPay is a one-time account-to-account payment solution. It enables businesses to collect direct bank payments from customers’ accounts securely on a one-time basis. With DirectPay, the customer initiates the payment whenever they want to pay and can complete it in a few clicks without a card or manually entering your business’ account details, saving your business transaction fees and preventing any errors in the transaction. All they need to do is securely enter their bank details to link and verify ownership of their account to authorise the payment.
What types of businesses use Mono DirectPay?
The Mono DirectPay payment method is useful for businesses in the e-commerce space, digital finance wallet and investment businesses, and any businesses that offer services that only require one-off payments from customers.
Here’s what the Mono DirectPay payment flow looks like on a Flutterwave Merchant’s store:
Why Mono DirectPay is great for your business
Instant and secure one-time payments
Access to all major financial institutions in Nigeria
Faster and more convenient than cards
Affordable transaction costs
No-code payment page option; DirectPay page
How to get started with Mono DirectPay
You can get started with DirectPay by
Signing up/logging into your Mono dashboard
Requesting access to the DirectPay product
Reading through the DirectPay documentation for all the resources you’ll need for integrating the Mono DirectPay API
Setting up a Mono DirectPay Page if this no-code option works better for your business’ needs.
What is Mono Direct Debit?
Mono Direct Debit is an account-to-account recurring payment solution. With Mono Direct Debit, businesses can securely collect automated payments directly from customers’ accounts at scheduled intervals. Direct Debit payments are often called ‘mandates’.
A business initiates a direct debit mandate on a customer’s account and prompts them to authorize this mandate by securely sharing their account details and entering an e-signature or completing an authorization transfer. This mandate is then approved by their bank before the business is authorised to process the debits at agreed dates.
Who can use Mono Direct Debit?
Mono Direct Debit is great for your businesses if you offer subscription-based products or services and generally require recurring payments from your customers. Lending and Buy Now, Pay Later, insurance, subscription, or payroll automation businesses can benefit from the secure, fast, and automated nature of Direct Debit for their recurring payments collections.
Direct Debit is also a great solution for businesses that rely on the card payment method for collecting recurring payments. Using Mono Direct Debit to enable their customers to pay for subscriptions, repay loans, top-up digital finance wallets on a schedule directly from their bank accounts results in a more seamless experience for both the business and the customers.
Mono Direct Debit can be initiated in multiple ways;
via an API call after you integrate the Direct Debit API,
by uploading physically signed mandate documents and digitizing them on the Mono dashboard
via the Mono dashboard to create and initiate a mandate without coding
Here’s how the Mono Direct Debit payment flow works:
Why Mono Direct Debit is great for your business
Automated, flexible payments across personal and corporate bank accounts
Secure payments with authorization from both the customer and their bank
Better success rates than cards: mandates, once approved cannot expire or be stolen
Access to 20+ financial institutions in Nigeria
Fast mandate approval time
Affordable transaction costs
Multiple mandate authorisation methods (e-mandates, signature, and global standing mandates)
How to get started with Mono Direct Debit
You can get started with Mono Direct Debit by:
Signing up/logging into your Mono dashboard
Requesting access to the Direct Debit product
Reading through the Direct Debit documentation for all the resources you’ll need for integrating the Mono Direct Debit API
Creating a No-code Mono Direct Debit Mandate if that would work better for your business.
Payments are the lifeblood of the digital economy, and providing your customers with faster and more convenient ways to pay can help you unlock growth for your business. With the open banking-powered payment tools Mono has built for African businesses, you can easily collect one-time payments with Mono DirectPay or accept recurring payments on schedule with Mono Direct Debit, ensuring better customer experience.
If you want to get started with Mono DirectPay or Mono Direct Debit for your business, you can get started at mono.co/signup and check our technical documentation, or reach out to our team at sales@mono.co.
