I know this topic has come up in other threads but I believe that I have the simple answer and rather than have people dig through many pages of threads which are usually discussing more general trips of which toll tags are only an element, thought that my findings might help others avoid what appears to be a common failure and i've seen this discussed over about 26 page thread on another forum with no definitive answer.
The requirement:-
Obtaining and paying for French (and other European tolls) via tag providers based in Europe. I know there are some who are based in the UK and bill from the UK so lets stick to those who don't. To avoid foreign exchange fees, some use Revolut or Starling or similar providers.
I chose ULYS, tag was delivered, I set up the account and set up my Direct Debit using my Revolut details...or so I believed and then on the day, just as we emerged from the tunnel on the French side, a text came through saying that the initial payment of €9.90 (delivery) was rejected. Hmm, I was just minutes from wanting to use the first toll gate! Then I figured that they had a deposit anyway so would just see what happened. It worked and on our journey down, I made a point of finding the page on the website in my account to pay an outstanding invoice by card so did that.
Then I tried to have a somewhat pointless discussion with Revolut who said that there was no DD setup. I contacted ULYS who said that I needed to send the DD mandate (downloadable to Revolut), Revolut insisted that this needs to be set up by ULYS and that I need to have funds in my Euro account. It's the last part that is significant.
The problem is that UK Direct Debits and SEPA Direct Debits are close but not the same thing and Revolut states that Direct Debits are only via SWIFT payments and SEPA payments are not via SWIFT. Different banks may vary and without getting to the detail of which bank does what, there's a really simple solution here.
However, I pushed Revolut to answer if SEPA DD is supported and they confirmed that it was, I just need to have funds in my Euro account. Here's the thing... I didn't have a Euro account. I had a similar conversation with Starling Bank who also gave the same response.
Solution:-
This is the trivial part, for SEPA Direct Debits to work, banks like Revolut and Starling need you to have funds in a Euro account, NOT just to have a GBP account as I had set up.
All you have to do is go to your accounts and ADD a Euro account and pop some funds in there. Simple!
Revolut:-
In the second screenshot, I have already added a Euro account so it is not listed anymore but the final shot shows today's payment now pending and all is looking good!
Should this fail tomorrow, i'll come back and update but i'm happy at this point that it's looking promising and given that Starling Bank gave me exactly the same response when pushed on SEPA DD payments, i'm feeling confident. I hope this nugget helps others trying to set this up.
The requirement:-
Obtaining and paying for French (and other European tolls) via tag providers based in Europe. I know there are some who are based in the UK and bill from the UK so lets stick to those who don't. To avoid foreign exchange fees, some use Revolut or Starling or similar providers.
I chose ULYS, tag was delivered, I set up the account and set up my Direct Debit using my Revolut details...or so I believed and then on the day, just as we emerged from the tunnel on the French side, a text came through saying that the initial payment of €9.90 (delivery) was rejected. Hmm, I was just minutes from wanting to use the first toll gate! Then I figured that they had a deposit anyway so would just see what happened. It worked and on our journey down, I made a point of finding the page on the website in my account to pay an outstanding invoice by card so did that.
Then I tried to have a somewhat pointless discussion with Revolut who said that there was no DD setup. I contacted ULYS who said that I needed to send the DD mandate (downloadable to Revolut), Revolut insisted that this needs to be set up by ULYS and that I need to have funds in my Euro account. It's the last part that is significant.
The problem is that UK Direct Debits and SEPA Direct Debits are close but not the same thing and Revolut states that Direct Debits are only via SWIFT payments and SEPA payments are not via SWIFT. Different banks may vary and without getting to the detail of which bank does what, there's a really simple solution here.
However, I pushed Revolut to answer if SEPA DD is supported and they confirmed that it was, I just need to have funds in my Euro account. Here's the thing... I didn't have a Euro account. I had a similar conversation with Starling Bank who also gave the same response.
Solution:-
This is the trivial part, for SEPA Direct Debits to work, banks like Revolut and Starling need you to have funds in a Euro account, NOT just to have a GBP account as I had set up.
All you have to do is go to your accounts and ADD a Euro account and pop some funds in there. Simple!
Revolut:-
In the second screenshot, I have already added a Euro account so it is not listed anymore but the final shot shows today's payment now pending and all is looking good!
Should this fail tomorrow, i'll come back and update but i'm happy at this point that it's looking promising and given that Starling Bank gave me exactly the same response when pushed on SEPA DD payments, i'm feeling confident. I hope this nugget helps others trying to set this up.
