Changing booking software without losing direct debits
Why the SEPA mandate does not depend on the app, what to export before you switch and how to pick the day so nobody is charged twice.
Wodmark team Updated 8 Nov 2026 8 min read
The fear of switching
Many boxes stay with software they are not happy with for one reason: direct debits. They have dozens of athletes paying through the bank every month and fear that changing app means asking everyone to sign again, losing payments or charging twice. It almost never does.
The mandate does not belong to the app
A SEPA mandate is an agreement between the athlete, who is the debtor, and your box, which is the creditor. The software that prepares the batches is not part of that agreement. As long as each mandate keeps its unique reference and signature date, and you keep collecting with your creditor identifier, you can switch software without asking for new signatures.
What to export before switching
Before cancelling the old platform, download everything you can. The essentials:
| Data | What for |
|---|---|
| Athletes: name, e-mail, phone | Creating their accounts and inviting them to the app |
| IBAN, reference and date of each mandate | Collecting through the bank with no new signatures |
| Plans and renewal dates | So nobody pays twice or ends up without a plan |
| Outstanding debts | Not losing what you are already owed |
| Marks and results | What your athletes value most |
If your platform has no export button, you are entitled to ask for the data: your box is the controller and the platform is its processor, which must return or delete it at the end of the service as you choose (Article 28(3)(g) of the General Data Protection Regulation).
Importing into Wodmark
In Import, inside the dashboard, you upload the athletes CSV your current platform exports. Columns are recognised by name, in Spanish or English, and before anything is created you see a preview of what will come in and the problems we found: an IBAN that does not check out, a mandate with no reference or date, a row with no e-mail. If you import the same file again, what was there is updated; nothing is duplicated.
Today the importer brings athletes with their direct debit details. Plans and the schedule are set up in the dashboard, and if you have a lot of data we help you move it.
Choosing the day
- Two weeks before: import in test mode, check what is missing and prepare the schedule and plans.
- One week before: final import and a notice to your athletes that bookings move to the new app. Their accounts are already created with their e-mail.
- The day of the switch: right after a batch. That way no month is charged twice or left uncollected. Bookings for the following weeks open only in the new app.
- First batch: check it before uploading it to the bank.
- Afterwards: keep the old platform accessible for a month in case something is missing, then ask them to delete your data.
Done this way, your athletes notice one thing: that they have a new app. Their debit arrives on the same day with the same description.