SEPA Direct Debit (SDD Core and B2B) · Concepts

Roles that need it

Direct debit mandateA direct debit mandate is the debtor's authorisation for a creditor to collect payments from its account and for its bank to pay them. A SEPA mandate carries a unique mandate reference, the creditor identifier (a code that identifies each collecting creditor across SEPA), the signature date and whether it is one-off or recurrent. The creditor stores it.
R-transactionsR-transactions are SEPA payments that fail or are reversed after initiation: rejects before settlement, returns, refunds, refusals, reversals, requests for cancellation and, for credit transfers, recalls. Each carries an ISO reason code. Core direct debit returns must be made within five interbank business days of settlement, and refunds follow consumer refund rights.
pain.008 (customer direct debit initiation)pain.008 is the ISO 20022 message a creditor sends to its bank to collect one or more direct debits, carrying the mandate reference, creditor identifier, sequence type and collection date. Between banks the collection then travels as a pacs.003 message.
SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area)The Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) is the area in which people, companies and public bodies make and receive euro credit transfers, instant payments and direct debits under the same rules, whether domestic or cross-border. It covers the EU, the European Economic Area and several other European countries, and rests on European Payments Council schemes and the SEPA Regulation.

Updated 31 Oct 2026.