The Direct Debit alternative for variable amounts
Commercial VRP gives recurring collection the flexibility Direct Debit cannot. The payer sets a consent in their banking app with a maximum amount and frequency, then you collect a different amount each cycle within those limits, settled instantly, with no indemnity scheme and the payer in control.
What it is
Commercial VRP, or cVRP, is an open banking rail for recurring collection. The customer authorises a consent once, setting the limits, and you collect variable amounts within them. Each collection settles in near real time.
Unlike Direct Debit, there is no mandate you manage and no indemnity scheme; the consent and its limits sit with the customer, who can revoke them. That makes it well suited to repayments that move with income or turnover.
Where it wins, and where it doesn't
- Repayments that vary with income or turnover
- SME splits, like a share of daily or weekly card takings
- Reducing failed collections by taking what the customer can afford
- Instant settlement and clear, customer-set limits
- Fixed monthly amounts, where Direct Debit's reach is simpler
- Customers whose bank does not yet support cVRP
- Cases where you specifically want the Direct Debit indemnity framework
Cost shape
Commercial VRP is priced as a fixed amount per transaction, like the other open banking rails, rather than a percentage. It does not carry the acquirer holdbacks that percentage-based card collection can.
We quote on volume, not per rail. No price points here by design.
Failure and risk
There is no indemnity scheme as there is with Direct Debit, so the dispute framework is different; the customer holds the consent and can revoke it. The practical risk is reach: availability depends on the payer's bank, and the market scope continues to expand.
Best for
The industries where this rail does the most work. Each one has its own payment mix.
Variable collection, reconciled against the ledger
Credit Canary sets up the consent with the right limits, collects the variable amount each cycle, handles retries and status, and reconciles expected against received on one ledger. Where a customer's bank does not support cVRP, the same integration falls back to Direct Debit without a second build.
Commercial VRP: FAQs
cVRP collects a variable amount on a consent the payer sets in their banking app, settles instantly, and has no indemnity scheme. Direct Debit collects a fixed or pre-notified amount on a mandate over Bacs with an indemnity scheme. cVRP for variable, Direct Debit for fixed.
Yes, it is live today through a regulated partner. Availability depends on the payer's bank and continues to expand.
Orchestration falls back to Direct Debit for that customer, so a mixed book collects on whichever rail each customer's bank supports, through one integration.
Yes. The consent and its limits belong to the customer, who can revoke them at any time. That control is part of the design.
Collect variable amounts that reconcile
Tell us the mix of payments you take and make, and we will quote one integration across the rails that fit, priced on your volume.