General Mandate Requirements

Q: Why does my recipient need to complete a mandate form to receive an international payment?

A: By law, the South African Reserve Bank ("SARB") requires anyone receiving money from overseas to sign a mandate or "Balance of Payment" form before they can be paid any anticipated funds. The mandate form is specific to both the sender and recipient and is valid for a calendar year, automatically expiring at midnight on 31 December of each such year.

Q: How will my recipient be notified to sign the mandate form?

A: If they have signed a mandate form in the previous calendar year, our partner, Bidvest Bank, will contact them in January via email to renew the mandate form for another calendar year. If they have not previously signed a mandate form, or if they receive an international payment from a new sender, a new mandate form will be sent to be signed. This will be sent as a secure link to the email address and South African cellphone number provided by you (the sender) when you created the transaction.

Q: What is the timeframe to sign the form, and what happens if it is completed late?

A: The recipient will need to sign the mandate form within 7 days in order to receive the funds. If the mandate form is completed AFTER the 7-day period, the mandate form link will still allow the recipient to proceed; however, the recipient must advise the sender to rebook the transaction. In which case, you (the sender) may reach out to our support to assist you with this.

Q: What do I do if my recipient has not received a mandate form link?

A: You may engage us directly via our support channels (in-app chat or email) to resend the mandate form link to your recipient. Alternatively, the recipient can request the mandate form link to be sent again via email or SMS by contacting our partner's dedicated mandate support team at [email protected] and providing their full name and details of any payment they are expecting to receive. 

Q: Can my recipient access the mandate form link on any other website or digital platform?

A: No, the mandate form link is specific to each individual and therefore can only be accessed through the precise link that is sent to the recipient via email or SMS.

Q: Can a mandate form link be sent via SMS?

A: Yes, the link can be sent via SMS and also via email. The mandate form is fully optimized to function seamlessly on both a cellphone or computer browser.

Managing and Verifying Your Information

Q: Can a recipient change their email address during the process?

A: Yes. The recipient must first verify the email address or cellphone number that was originally confirmed by the sender in order to access their unique mandate form link. Once accessed, the recipient can then amend their email address on step 2 of the mandate process.

Q: How does my recipient know that a mandate link is legitimate and safe?

A: There are several ways that your recipient can check to ensure the email and link are legitimate and not a phishing attempt: • The email will be sent explicitly from [email protected] (our processing partner). • If they hover over the link, it will show https://mandates.bidvestbank.co.za followed by a long string of letters and numbers. • The email communication will clearly contain the name of the sender (your name) as well as the exact transaction amount.

Q: What personal information will my recipient need to provide to complete the mandate form?

A: SARB requires specific regulatory information to confirm their identity, including their ID, Passport, or Company Registration number, along with their physical address. They will also have to validate the bank details the sender provided. If these cannot be verified online, they may be asked to provide additional supporting documents. Please note: Our partners will never ask you for your Account Number. If they encounter any issues with this process, you may engage us for further review.

Q: Can my recipient amend their bank name, branch code, and account number directly on the mandate form?

A: No. To help prevent fraud, the transaction needs to be canceled by the sender (or allowed to expire so funds are reimbursed to the sender) and completely rebooked by the sender with the correct, verified banking information.

Q: What should I do if I inputted an incorrect name or surname?

A: The mandate system will allow your recipient to make minor amendments. Permissible minor changes include simple typos or re-arranging the order of the names. Anything else would be considered as the transaction being booked with incorrect information, meaning the transaction must be canceled and rebooked with the correct beneficiary information.

Q: Why might I be required to sign a mandate again if I have already completed one?

A: You will need to complete and sign a new mandate form if your sender changes, or if the incoming funds are being received into a completely different bank account.

Security, Troubleshooting, and Errors

Q: My recipient does not have a South African address and phone number. How do they proceed?

A: All transactions flowing into South Africa must be strictly reported to the South African Reserve Bank. Because these reporting requirements are highly stringent, the system can only accept a South African physical address and telephone number. Alternatively, they can input their South African bank's physical branch address and telephone number.

Q: The form requires a South African suburb, but my recipient’s suburb is not listed in the options. What should I select?

A: Your recipient should click on the "Other" option within the dropdown menu and manually input their specific suburb.

Q: My recipient tried submitting the mandate, but it didn't go through / keeps showing an error. What should they do?

A: Your recipient should  double-check that their banking details match 100% with what their bank has listed for you on the account. We strongly recommend referencing their official Bank Details Confirmation Letter. If everything matches perfectly but the error persists, please advise them to forward their official bank letter to our support or alternatively to [email protected] so that our partner's team can manually verify their details and troubleshoot the error.

Q: My recipient can't log in, and the system doesn't accept their email address or phone number.

A: Please ensure they are trying to log in using the exact original email address or cellphone number to which the mandate link was first sent by the system.

Payments, Timelines, and Third-Party Queries

Q: When will my transaction be paid out after completing the mandate?

A: Your transaction will be processed and paid on the same working day if the mandate is successfully signed before 1:00 PM South African time. Otherwise, it will be paid on the next working day. Please note that payments are not processed over weekends, domestic public holidays, or international bank holidays.

Q: My recipient has uploaded all requested supporting documents and the portal says complete. Must they try again?

A: No, if your recipient document was successfully uploaded, there is no need to attempt a re-upload. Please send a quick notification email to our support channels or alternatively they can send an email to [email protected] to inform them that their documents have been submitted for review.

Q: How can I urgently follow up on an outstanding payment to my recipient?

A: To allow our processing partner to investigate immediately, please contact support and provide the outstanding transaction amounts along with the exact beneficiary bank details.