---
updatedAt: 2026-01-05T13:33:40.000Z
agentTools:
  projectIndex: https://docs.mollie.com/llms.txt
---

# Mandates API

The Mandates API allows you to create and track *mandates* for recurring payments. A mandate essentially symbolizes the authorization a customer gave you to recurrently charge their card or bank account.

Implementing the Mandates API is not strictly required to process recurring payments. In basic implementations it suffices to [create a customer](create-customer) , do a first payment with the customer, and then charge recurring payments on the customer. A mandate is created automatically for the *first payment*, and that mandate is automatically used for any consecutive recurring payments.

For a step-by-step guide on charging your customers recurrently, refer to [Recurring payments](https://docs.mollie.com/docs/recurring-payments).