Direct Debit transactions in Canada

[seedsysdev]

According to the C & P site, Canadian accounts do not offer direct debit processing. iATS (the payment gateway for Canadian C&P accounts) is, however, able to process direct debit, even for Canadian accounts. Is there a way to activate direct debit for a Canadian account so we can process through C&P?

[seedsysdev]

I have not received any response to this post. Can I get some guidance on how to do this? We phoned iATS and they said it can be done. Thank you.

[CnP.Support]

Good day seedsysdev

At this time we do not support it. If it is a Visa debit card we support it but debit cards are pinned based systems and we do not support pinned transactions.

Hope that answers your question.

[seedsysdev]

Thank you for the response. That answer actually adds more confusion for me. According to the C&P site (https://clickandpledge.com/products/payment-processing/) "Merchant bank payment processing handles all major credit and debit cards". There is an asterisk to explain that Canadian accounts do not offer direct debit, but there is documentation about ACH offered for North American accounts. Would you please clarify your answer? It seems to contradict what C&P claims to offer.

Thank you.

[CnP.Support]

We provide support for Visa Debit Cards / MasterCard debit cards.

In Canada we only offer credit cards. Non Visa/MasterCard debit cards are pin based and as stated we do not support pin-based transactions.

Hope that helps.

[seedsysdev]

Okay, thank you, that clarifies things.

Can you please explain why Canadian accounts do not offer Visa/MasterCard debit? What is the limitation there?

[CnP.Support]

Good day,

If it is a card issued by Visa and MasterCard they can process. Debit cards are bank cards and not issued by a credit card company. Debit cards require you to enter a PIN and are designed for POS systems. A hard keyboard that at a store you enter your pin. Web does not easily support pin based systems.

It is easy really. Visa debit and MasterCard debit, as offered in US, are backed by Visa & MasterCard and do transactions through their network.

Hope that helps.

[seedsysdev]

I understand what you are saying about pin-based systems, but we do have Visa debit in Canada. That is not exclusive to the US. I have never personally seen MasterCard debit, but we probably have that too. Will Canadian Visa debit cards work? I don't know if there is a difference or not, but from what you're saying, it sounds like Canadian Visa debit cards should work.

[CnP.Support]

Good day seedsysdev

Sorry that I am not being clear. I truly (Truly) think I have said it twice already.

If you have Visa Debit Card or MasterCard Debit card then it will work in Canada and US. It is the network and it works. So the answer to your question is yes your card, Visa Debit Card in Canada work.

Hope that helps.

[seedsysdev]

Okay, thank you. That does help. I apologize for all the back-and-forth, but I did want it to be crystal-clear and I don't know know the nuances of Canadian/US banking. You have clarified it for me. Have a great day!

[CnP.LiveSupport.AB]

An additional note to this feed, because it came up in a Live Support call:

Canadian accounts do support echecks - the patron enters the transit information and account information.