November

Ucollect :2014 :November
CategoriesGateways
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Australian ABA file

Australian Banks ABA Xero Direct DebitMost banks in Australia allow approved customers to initiate Direct Debits using an industry-standard file format called the “Australian Banking Association” file format (or ABA file).  This file is not a comma separated file (CSV) like NZ banks mostly use – it is a fixed length file format which takes a bit more effort to create than a CSV file.

uCollect can output Direct Debit collection requests in this file format for you – initiated by the due date of the invoice in Xero.  All you have to do is to configure the Gateway in uCollect with your unique data, and then tell uCollect which contacts will be collected using this method.  We retrieve the bank account details from Xero, so uCollect never stores any sensitive data in our database (and this way there is only one place for you to change it), and generate the file for you.  We send you an email when there are collections due so that you know to come back to uCollect to download the ABA file (it contains other people’s bank account numbers, so we never send it by email).  As soon as you download the file we mark the invoices as paid in Xero.

If you are using Direct Debits in Australia please use our 30 day free trial to give it a try.

CategoriesNews
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Welcome to uCollect

We are pleased to announce that uCollect is now available for Beta customers.  It is by “invitation only” at this stage – so just fillin the contact us form and we will send you an email invite if you are qualified.

The Release 1.0 version of uCollect contains most of our core Xero integration that we expect, including all aspects of being able to schedule collections based on the invoice due date.  We also have both Upload and Direct interface types functional, including:

  • Upload (CSV) formats for all major NZ banks (ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Westpac) for Direct Debits
  • Generic ABA file format (a fixed-length file format) which is accepted by all major banks in Australia for Direct Debits
  • A Direct API interface to EziDebit for NZ and AU (works with both credit cards and direct debits)

The work is not over yet – we have heaps more coming out in the new year, so stay tuned.