How to Solve Facebook billing issues amidst the new RBI e-mandate

Almost all of us are accustomed to recurring payments/subscriptions in some form or the other. The option of auto payment has simplified our lives with a quick no-intervention way to pay for bills, entertainment, services, etc.

However, the new e-mandate has taken India by storm. The recurring payments in India are now regulated, causing a lot of commotion amongst stakeholders and consumers.

While everyone is talking about e-mandate and its effects, let’s take a closer look at the policy and how it would impact businesses, marketers, and agencies.

What is the e-mandate? 

The e-mandate policy by RBI and NPCI is a set of rules and guidelines put in place to secure automated payment options. It provides a secure infrastructure for businesses to collect recurring payments in India.

Is e-mandate necessary? 

e-mandate was put in place to:

• Reduce cyber-crimes
• Curb social engineering frauds
• Increase the security of transactions
• Empower customers to control payments
• Overcome issues of unknown charges

How does it work?

According to the e-mandate, issuing banks have to notify customers of any automated recurring transactions 24 hours prior.

If the amount is below Rs 5,000, the authentication will be done only once. Post that every month the user will be notified via a message of the recurring payment and will have the option to cancel the same. In this case, no authentication will be required every month.

For all transactions above Rs 5,000, the authentication will have to be done multiple times. Every month the transaction will have to be verified by the customer and it will go through only if it is approved.

This is where the issue comes into play – daily workflows will be affected as the majority of banks and payment ecosystems are yet to adopt e-mandate regulations.

For many businesses, the subscription option is a preferred worry-free way to get uninterrupted service. The e-mandate policy will certainly affect companies that rely on automated transactions.

Impact of e-mandate on businesses

Even though the e-mandate will make the whole process secure, it will take time for stakeholders as well as customers to get used to this new way of transaction.

Imagine having to do authentication for every monthly payment while paying bills, service charges, web hosting platforms, SaaS subscriptions, etc.

While many businesses are yet to experience the burn of this change, advertisers and business owners across India have started to feel the heat. FB accounts got blocked and monthly promotions were impacted due to suspended campaigns.

Our clients faced similar challenges and here’s how we solved the issue related to FB ads.

Facebook Ads blocked due to e-mandate

Facebook Ads took a major hit when the e-mandate policy was put in place. The help center page already has 34.5 k views. However, the information isn’t very helpful – read more about it here.

With the festive season right around the corner, it is crucial to resolve this issue to enjoy the benefits of paid promotion and attract more people to the offers.

Businesses are still facing issues with ad bill payments.

If you are someone who faced a similar issue then keep reading.

Image credits: Synclarity 

How to solve the Facebook billing issue due to e-mandate?

I am unable to pay the Facebook ads bill and the Ads account is blocked. What can we do?

This was the question that one of our clients in the D2C sector came to us with.

The client had a monthly payment cycle in place for the FB Ads account with a set limit. However, with the new e-mandate policy in place, all the payments through credit cards failed. The payment failed multiple times which led to the account getting blocked.

Is the credit card invalid? Is the credit card limit over? Well, these are the questions that we had too.

After trying the payment with other options like a debit card (payment failed), other credit cards (payment failed) we realized that the issue was deeper than it appeared.

We contacted the FB support team and the concierge team to resolve the issue.

That’s when we found out the right way to do this.

What can you do?

To understand the issue with your account, here is a list of checks you can do:

1. Check the payment setting page for the due amount which is unsettled – if this amount is more than Rs. 5000, it will have to be settled with manual payments
2. Make sure your account is not blocked – FB will block your Ads account if payment has failed multiple times
3. Card payments for amounts over Rs. 5000 are still not working ( this might change with the changing regulations )

If Ads account is blocked:

1. In case of a blocked account, contact the FB support team
2. Head over to the help page scroll towards the bottom – find the support option
3. When you click on the support option you can select the business page that is blocked
4. In the drop-down options select, the issue as payment failed or relevant problem
5. You can write about the problem in the text box and hit send
6. You then also have an option to talk to the FB support team
7. A new window will open up in FB Messenger where you can chat with the support person, you will be assigned case id
8. Don’t forget to mention that your account is blocked and you need to pay the bills, but due to e-mandate you are unable to do so
9. The FB team will guide you and start a manual payment option so that you can pay the unsettled amount

Image credits: Synclarity (screenshots from FB interface)

If Campaigns are paused due to unsettled amount :

1. If your account is not blocked, check for other payment options like manual payment or UPI
2. With UPI you will have to add the amount in prepaid funds in batches. Batches of amount Rs. 4900 also work
3. Ex: If you have to pay Rs. 15020, you will have to add the amount in batches of Rs. 4900 each. Add the money in 3 batches which would amount to Rs. 14700. The remaining amount of Rs. 320 you can add as batch 4. ( Here batches are nothing but multiple payments done in small amounts )
4. Once done your amount will settle in a 1-2 days

For any issues further, you can contact the Facebook support team.

Image credits: Synclarity (screenshots from FB interface)

What next?

Once the payment is done your account will work as usual. The card payment option is not allowed with Facebook right now. The bill payment for future ads will have to be done through a prepaid method. You can add funds in advance to ensure that your ads run smoothly.

While the e-mandate has caused issues, soon the operations will be back to normal.

Till then – Stay updated on the e-mandate news and keep running ads!

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