SEPA Direct Debit

A direct debit is a transfer from the payer’s account initiated by the payee via the payee’s payment service provider (PSP). Direct debits are often used for recurring payments (such as utility bills). They require prior authorisation (a “mandate” from) the payer. Direct debits are also used for one-off payments, in which case the payer authorises an individual payment.
SEPA direct debits (SDDs) can be domestic transactions or cross-border transactions, i.e. transactions in which the direct debit request is transmitted from one SEPA country and received in another SEPA country.

Useful links:

European Payments Council (EPC)

In the SDD scheme, the unique identification of creditors (payees) is an essential requirement. This identification is provided by what is known as the Creditor Identifier (CID). In Slovakia, the CIDs of SDD creditors are issued by Národná banka Slovenska. Prospective SDD creditors must request their PSP to apply directly (electronically) to NBS for the issuance of their CID (Decree No 6/2013 of Národná banka Slovenska on direct debit creditor identifiers and the register of direct debit creditor identifiers) Once issued with a CID, the creditor can use it to initiate direct debit payments.

Natural and legal persons must have a Creditor Identifier before they can be a creditor (payee) in an SDD transaction, i.e. receive funds from a payer on the basis of a prior approval and have the transaction settled via direct debit.

As required by SEPA SDD rulebooks, CIDs consist of the following: the ISO code of the respective country; the check digits; the Creditor Business Code, and the national identifier of the creditor (up to 28 digits).
In Slovakia, 11 digits are used for the national identifier, with the first digit fixed as “7” and the remaining digits changing according to the order in which the number is issued, from “70000000001” to “70000000002” and so on.