Mandy – we have 15 Almshouses and have a mix of Residents paying by SO (7 properties) and DD (8 properties). Those on SO are ‘old’ Residents. We insist on DD payment for anyone moving in and encourage each time our WMC values change to move to DD…putting us in control rather than the Resident having found as they age, they find it harder to amend their SO, especially when they do not do online banking.
I set up GoCardless very easily and successfully. They offer a discounted charity rate – we pay £3.60 per DD we collect each month. So costs us currently £28.80 to collect just over £5k per month.
Good system – been very happy with it and been using for 2+ years now.
https://manage.gocardless.com/refer/gb/becky/oxcdrb-amz
Hope this helps.
Becky Harradine
Scheme Manager
office@rogersalmshouses.org.uk