Recurring collections are the engine that keeps cashflow predictable. Getting those collections to run reliably starts at the mandate, and how that mandate is authenticated makes all the difference.
DebiCheck offers three ways to authenticate your transactions. TT1 sends a real-time mandate request to the customer's banking channel, app, USSD or ATM, and if they don't respond, the mandate expires. TT2 works the same way, but gives customers two days to authenticate, with the same outcome if they don't. TT3 removes the wait entirely: the customer authenticates in the room, at the time of registration, using their bank card and PIN
Why TT1 leaves revenue on the table
With TT1 and TT2, a request goes out and the business waits. Between 35% and 40% of attempts fail every month, not because customers are unwilling, but because they miss the notification or simply can't get to their banking app in time. Every failed attempt carries a transaction fee borne entirely by the merchant.
Businesses running high TT1 volumes are effectively paying for a third of their mandates twice: once in fees, and again in lost collections. Businesses moving to TT3 can recover up to 40% of that lost volume. TT3 successful authentications exceed 99.5%. The only cause of failure is a network outage, and in those cases the agent retries immediately.
TT3: Collect more, dispute less
The mandate is captured on a TT3-enabled device; the customer inserts their card and enters their PIN; and authentication is confirmed by their bank in real-time. Every subsequent debit runs against that bank-held mandate, and if there is a dispute, the record is retrieved instantly from a central digital repository. There is no need for manual searches and chasing documents.
Use cases
Insurance and funeral cover in the field
One of the biggest challenges in short-term insurance, particularly in townships and rural areas, is that collecting premiums depends on the customer having to do something to pay their fees. In some communities, a person physically collects cash, travels to a branch and manually processes each payment: expensive, fraud-prone and vulnerable to policy then lapsing.
With TT3 on a portable device, the agent goes to the customer and the policy is explained, the mandate is captured, the customer taps their card and the debit is confirmed all in one interaction. Banking details are validated by the system, eliminating capture errors. The policy runs from that point, for insurers managing large field networks, every authenticated mandate feeds into real-time agent performance reporting and shows which policies are signed by which agent, in which area, on the day.
Credit providers
For credit businesses, disbursing cash before a valid mandate is in place carries significant risk. NuCash ensures funds are only released once mandate confirmation is received, closing one of the most common fraud vectors in the sector by confirming the correct account and matching it back to the TT3 DebiCheck transaction.
Subscription and membership services
Any physical sign-up touch points like a gym, a promotional kiosk or a retail counter now become a mandate authentication point. The customer agrees and authenticates their transaction before they leave. There are no notifications sent into the void, no expiry windows, no lapsed mandates and no missed income that you still pay for.
Retail
South Africa's retail landscape spans national chains, furniture stores and informal traders, all with customers who want to take goods home today and pay them off over time. TT3 authenticates the mandate at point of sale, in the moment of purchase. No waiting on banking notifications, no failed authentication fees, no disputed mandates months later.
Agent networks and field sales
Businesses deploying agents in the field such as insurance, consumer finance or goods on contract share a common problem. By the time the agents return to the office, documents are incomplete, lost or unreconciled. With TT3 on an Android device, every mandate is captured electronically, signed on the device and stored in real-time on a central server. Management has a live view of what each agent signed up, where and when. No end-of-day filing and no paper trail to reconstruct.
Healthcare (medical practitioners, optometrists and hospitals)
Payment plans are confirmed at reception, immediately after a consultation, while the patient is present and the context of the transaction is clear. Not three days later when they no longer remember what the notification relates to.
Property rental management
At lease signing, the tenant authenticates their debit order mandate on the spot with their card and PIN, before they leave the office. For property managers handling large residential or commercial portfolios, this means predictable monthly collections and fewer unpaid transactions. Under the new PASA dispute rules, a tenant who authenticated their own mandate has very limited grounds to reverse a transaction that was correctly collected. It professionalises onboarding and tenants see a business that is organised and has its process worked out.
Collect more, your way
Growing a debit order book isn't just about signing more mandates, it's about knowing collections will be successful. TT3-authenticated DebiCheck mandates that are closed at the point of engagement eliminate drop-off as well as the authentication fees that cost you revenue on unauthenticated channels.
Real-time agent reporting gives you full visibility across your collection book, who collected, what authenticated and where the gaps are, so you can act on verifiable data, not assumptions. The result is lower collection costs, fewer disputes and a more predictable revenue line that compounds as your book grows.
Talk to Altron FinTech about enabling TT3 DebiCheck mandates for your business: https://eu1.hubs.ly/H0wn_GF0
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