FreeAgent Integrates GoCardless Tools for Enhanced Payment Methods

FreeAgent has recently integrated two tools from GoCardless—Instant Bank Pay and Success+—into its platform, providing users with a wider array of payment options.

This integration builds on an existing partnership between the two companies. With this new feature, FreeAgent users can now combine one-off payments via Instant Bank Pay with their existing recurring Direct Debit functionality, streamlining the collection process for various billing scenarios.

Instant Bank Pay leverages Open Banking technology to enable direct bank-to-bank payments. This method eliminates the need for customers to manually input their bank details, reducing payment delays and minimizing follow-up actions required by businesses. It is especially useful for handling high-value one-off invoices that would otherwise incur card transaction fees.

Success+, now also available in FreeAgent, utilizes machine learning to optimize the timing of payment retries after a failure. GoCardless reports that this tool recovers around two-thirds of failed transactions. Its primary goal is to help businesses minimize involuntary churn and reduce the time spent manually chasing payments.

According to FreeAgent officials, this integration marks the platform’s first incorporation of an Open Banking-based solution for accounts receivable management. They describe the tools as addressing longstanding challenges faced by small businesses: the cost of payment failure and the inconvenience in collecting one-off invoices.

Representatives from GoCardless state that these expanded integrations will provide a wide range of small businesses and accounting professionals with more cost-effective alternatives to card payments while improving revenue collection reliability.