Glossary of Direct Debit Terms
Glossary of Direct Debit Terms
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z,
A
ADDACS
The service allowing banks / building societies to advise Direct Debit service users via Bacs of any amendments to or cancellations of Direct Debit Instructions. The message is sent either electronically or on paper.
Advance notice
The notice period (normally 10 working days plus postal time) given to the payer in respect of the date of debiting and the amount to be debited, in accordance with section 3.
Amalgamation of collections
Multiple or combined payments relating to more than one contract collected under a single DDI.
ARUDD
The service allowing banks / building societies to return to the service user any Direct Debit payment instructions they could not apply. The debit is returned to the service user’s account and Bacs generates a report for the service user detailing the Direct Debit that is being returned unpaid and the reason for the return.
AUDDIS
The service enabling Direct Debit Instructions to be transferred electronically from service users to the paying banks and building societies via Bacs.
AUDDIS (DDI)
For the purpose of AUDDIS the AUDDIS DDI is either the Instruction itself or any subsequent written communication from the customer to the service user amending the terms of the original AUDDIS DDI.
B
Bacs cycle
See ‘Processing cycle’ and ‘Three-day cycle’.
Bacstel-IP
A service providing a highly secure access channel into Bacs. It uses Internet technologies and public key infrastructure (PKI) security to allow access to Bacs payment services including payment file processing, report accessing etc. Bacstel-IP carries out some online validation of submissions.
C
Consequential loss
A loss incurred by a payer which is a consequence of the direct lost suffered as a result of erroneous Direct Debit transaction.
Core reference
A minimum of six alpha-numeric upper case characters that is allocated by a service user to identify a Direct Debit Instruction. This reference is quoted in all subsequent Direct Debit collections to allow the paying bank to match the payment instruction to the original DDI. Use of ‘DDIC’ in the first four characters of the reference is reserved for bank use only and must not be used by service users.
Counter claim
A claim raised by the service user against the paying bank following settlement of an indemnity claim which the service user believes to be unjustified.
D
DDI (Direct Debit Instruction)
Sent by the service user to the payer’s bank / building society as the authority to pay Direct Debits from the payer’s account. These can be sent electronically through Bacs.
DDIC
Direct Debit Indemnity Claim (see indemnity claim)
DDMS
Direct Debit Managemnt System - a software solution provided by Fundtech FSC
Direct Debit
The collection of an agreed amount from a bank / building society account by a service user, on request. The amounts and dates may vary from payment to payment. The payment request is sent via Bacs.
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Direct Debit Guarantee
The Guarantee offered by the paying banks to Payers in respect of the Direct Debit Scheme specifying the rights / safeguards of Payers.
Dormancy period
The time after which a bank / building society will drop details of a DDI from a payer’s account if no collections have been made in that time. The period is normally 13 months and is recorded against a Direct Debit service user Number (SUN) on the Direct Debit Originators database.
Due date
The date on which a Direct Debit payment is due to be taken. The payment can actually be taken up to and including 3 working days after the due date – see payment date.
E
Expiry
When a DDI has expired. See also Notice of Expiry and Dormancy Period.
F
Field 10 of the STD18 data record
The ‘reference’ (max 18 characters) applied to the DDI by the service user when it is lodged with the paying bank. This must also appear in the Direct Debit payment record.
Field 11 of the STD18 data record
The payer’s account name (max 18 characters). This must be the name of the person who is paying the Direct Debit and has signed the DDI.
Field 9 of the STD18 data record
The ‘short name’ of the service user (max 18 characters) which appears in the Direct Debit payment record and may appear on the payer’s bank statement.
Fixed amount or date DDI
A DDI where the amount to be collected is fixed with respect to amount and / or date. These are no longer allowed by the Scheme.
I
Indemnity
A document under the Direct Debit Scheme that contains a legally binding undertaking to make payment to a paying bank in response to an indemnity claim. An indemnity, in standard form, is an essential requirement of the Direct Debit Scheme.
Indemnity claim
A claim made by the paying bank in respect of an incorrect Direct Debit being applied to an account.
Input day (day 1)
See ‘Bacs cycle’.
Instruction
See DDI (Direct Debit Instruction).
Inter bank transfer of Direct Debit Instructions
A service to assist customers when moving their bank / building society accounts by electronically transferring Direct Debit and Standing Order information between banks / building societies.
L
Lodgement (Lodged)
The process of the paying bank accepting the DDI.
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M
AUDDIS Migration
The process by which a service user transfers non-AUDDIS DDIs to the automated AUDDIS system.
Modulus checking
An arithmetic process to determine if there is a valid link between a sorting code and an account number range, i.e. whether a particular account number could exist at a specified sorting code.
N
Nominated account
A bank / building society account from which a service user can originate payment Instructions.
Notice of expiry
Shall be deemed to have been given if the service user identifies the final payment under the expiring DDI by use of transaction code 19. See also Expiry.
O
OIN (Originator’s Identification Number)
See Service User Number (SUN)
‘On or immediately after’
On or within 3 bank working days of the specified payment date given in the advance notice.
Originator
See service user
P
Payer
The person that by authorising a DDI allows a service user to collect Direct Debits from their account.
Paying bank
The bank / building society at which a Direct Debit Instruction is lodged for a payer and that raises messages to advise of amendments or cancellations in relation to the Direct Debit Instruction.
Payment date
The date on which a Direct Debit payment is made. This can be done up to or including three working days after the due date.
Processing cycle
The minimum time taken for a payment instruction to be submitted to Bacs for processing and the time it reaches the destination account. The processing cycle has four stages: arrival, input, processing and entry. See also ‘Three-day cycle’.
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R
Re-presentation
A Direct Debit that was returned to the service user as unpaid being resubmitted for collection.
Direct Debit Reference
See ‘Core Reference’.
Refund request
A claim made by a paying bank for a refund from the service user that is not covered by the valid indemnity claim criteria. This would occur following an error on the part of the paying bank (the paying bank fails to action a Direct Debit cancellation and makes the payment). Settlement of the refund request is at the discretion of the service user.
S
Service user
A Direct Debit service user who originates payment instructions, whose bank / building society account details make up the originating account information in a payment instruction, and who is responsible for those payment instructions. A service user may also be referred to as the payee.
Service user number (SUN)
A 6-digit number allocated to a service user to uniquely identify it to Bacs.
Single payment
A single payment can be defined as a Direct Debit, which will only be collected once.
Bacs Sponsor
Any financial institution that can authorise service users to use Bacs. May also be referred to as sponsoring bank.
Standing Order
A credit payment instruction as detailed in the Standing Order Mandate.
T
Third party debt order
(formerly known as Garnishee order)
An order of an English, Welsh or Northern Irish court addressed to a bank to pay money from a debtors account to a judgement creditor in satisfaction of a judgement debt.
Three-day cycle
The service offered by Bacs where the minimum time taken for the processing cycle is three processing days. Input, processing and entry occur on consecutive processing days. See also ‘Processing cycle’.
ToDDaSO
Transfer of Direct Debit and Standing Orders (see Inter Bank Transfer of Direct Debits and Standing Orders).
Trading name
A name under which a company conducts its business. This name may differ from the service user’s registered name.
AUDDIS Transaction code
A two-character code used in each payment instruction, specifying the type of payment instruction (e.g. debit, credit, DDI).
U
Unpaid Direct Debit
A Direct Debit that is returned to the service user as the funds could not be collected from the destination account, e.g. insufficient funds, or no DDI set up on the account.
Unpaid Direct Debit reason codes
A series of codes used to denote the reason for returning a Direct Debit unpaid.
W
Working days
For the purposes of the Scheme, working days is defined as English bank working days excluding Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.
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