EPC survey on existing direct debit schemes confirms: SEPA direct debit (SDD) model preferred by almost 75% of direct debit users today

04 October 2011

The European Payment Council conducted a survey to identify mandate checking obligations of existing national direct debit schemes in SEPA.

The findings demonstrate that more than 73 per cent of all direct debit payments in the EU are executed on the accounts of consumers who, today, do not request such mandate checks. The average number of direct debit payments per consumer/year is 68 in countries with a direct debit model not supporting these checks. In countries with more complex direct debit scheme models, this average is around 23. The findings are in line with the experience of bank customers; namely, that millions of direct debits are securely and correctly collected in Europe every day - without checks required to be performed by law.

The EPC would like to invite the EU legislator to take into account proven preferences of the majority of direct debit users. As such, the forthcoming SEPA Regulation should refrain from making mandatory mandate checks which are optional in the SDD Core Scheme. Instead, mandate checking  options should be agreed between payment service providers (PSPs) and their customers.

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