SEPA Reason Codes - review the various SEPA Reason codes that are possible and how to best deal with them
Direct Debit transactions can be unsuccessful for various reasons and when a payment fails, the original transaction’s status is updated.
The new status will generally be set to one of the following:
- REJECTED
- REFUSED
- RETURNED
- REFUNDED
(Collectively these statuses are often referred to as R-transactions).
To help you to identify why the payment failed, error codes are provided by your payer’s bank.
In this section we outline the various failed payments (R-transactions) and error codes that are possible, what they mean and what corrective action you should take based on the code.
Note: The following guidance is based on the EPC recommendations (see the EPC Web site for more details).
Certain error codes may be received both pre- and post-settlement.Some banks may determine before the settlement date that your payer will have insufficient funds to make a payment; in this case you will receive a pre-settlement AM04 REJECT; other banks may wait until the actual settlement date to debit funds. If the funds are not available on the settlement date this would again result in an AM04 but in this scenario the R-transaction would be a post-settlement AM04 RETURN. In the table below the R-Transaction Type column indicates when the error code may be treated as a REJECT, CANCEL (pre-settlement) or a RETURN or a REFUND (post-settlement).
SEPA Reason Codes
The following is a summary of all possible SEPA R-transaction codes:
| Code | Description | Type | Suggested Action |
|---|---|---|---|
| AC01 | Format of the account number specified is not correct | REJECT RETURN | - Contact the Debtor in order to confirm the correctness of the Debtor’s IBAN - In case of mandate amendment: check the data provided by the Debtor - Verify the database used for the BBAN conversion into IBAN. |
| AC04 | Account number specified has been closed. In some countries, MS03 may be used in this scenario (due to data protection regulations). | REJECT RETURN | Contact the Debtor for the new account |
| AC06 | Account specified is blocked, prohibiting posting of transactions against it | REJECT RETURN | Contact the Debtor for alternative account/ solution to pay |
| AC13 | Invalid debtor account type | REJECT RETURN | - Contact the Debtor for clarification and to agree on another means of payment - Conclude the SDD Core mandate with Debtor |
| AG01 | Transaction forbidden on this type of account (formerly No Agreement) | REJECT RETURN | Contact the Debtor in order to get information about the payment account to be used |
| AG02 | Bank Operation code specified in the message is not valid for receiver | REJECT RETURN | - Contact your merchant bank to confirm what has caused this issue - Correct the wrong information |
| AM04 | Amount of funds available to cover specified message amount is insufficient | REJECT RETURN | Contact the Debtor to ensure that there are funds on his account OR (Optionally) Re-present the payment |
| AM05 | Duplication | REJECT RETURN REVERSAL | Check if the collection is really duplicated |
| BE05 | Party who initiated the message is not recognised by the end customer | REJECT RETURN | Creditor to contact the Creditor Bank |
| CNOR | Creditor Bank is not registered under this BIC in the CSM | REJECT | Creditor to contact the Creditor Bank |
| CUST | Cancellation of Credit Transfer payment, requested by the originator | CANCEL | |
| CUTA | Cancellation requested because an investigation request has been received and no remediation is possible. | CANCEL | |
| DNOR | Debtor Bank is not registered under this BIC in the CSM | REJECT | - Ask the Creditor Bank to check the reachability of the Debtor Bank - Contact Debtor to agree on another means of payment |
| DUPL | Payment is a duplicate of another payment. | CANCEL | |
| ED05 | Settlement failed | REJECT | Contact the debtor |
| FF01 | File format incomplete or invalid | REJECT | Contact Nuapay Support |
| MD01 | No mandate. CORE SDD: no valid mandate; B2B SDD: no valid mandate or unable to determine if the debtor has lodged a mandate; or unathorised transaction (for refunds of SDD CORE collections). - | REJECT RETURN REFUND | - Analyse the characteristics of the SEPA Direct Debit transaction - Contact the Debtor in the case of a refund |
| MD02 | Mandate related information data required by the scheme is missing | REJECT | Contact Nuapay Support |
| MD06 | Return of funds requested by end customer | REFUND | Contact the debtor |
| MD07 | End customer is deceased. In some countries, MS03 may be used in this scenario (due to data protection regulations). | REJECT RETURN | Close the agreement with deceased Debtor. See Cancel Mandate |
| MS02 | Reason has not been specified by end customer | REJECT RETURN REVERSAL REFUSAL | Contact the Debtor |
| MS03 | Reason has not been specified by agent. Banks should only use this code where national legislation (e.g. data protection laws) does not allow for the use of AC04, AM04, MD07, RR01, RR02, RR03, and RR04. | REJECT RETURN REVERSAL | Contact the Debtor |
| RC01 | Bank Identifier code specified in the message has an incorrect format | REJECT RETURN | Contact your bank |
| RR01 | Specification of the debtor’s account or unique identification needed for reasons of regulatory requirements is insufficient or missing | REJECT RETURN | Contact your bank |
| RR02 | Specification of the Debtor’s name and/or address needed for regulatory requirements is insufficient or missing. In some countries, MS03 may be used in this scenario (due to data protection regulations). | REJECT RETURN | Contact Nuapay Support |
| RR03 | Specification of the creditor’s name and/or address needed for regulatory requirements is insufficient or missing. In some countries, MS03 may be used in this scenario (due to data protection regulations). | REJECT RETURN | Contact Nuapay Support |
| RR04 | Regulatory Reason - used where RR01, RR02 or RR03 are not applicable. In some countries, MS03 may be used in this scenario (due to data protection regulations) | REJECT RETURN | Contact your bank |
| SL01 | Due to specific service offered by the Debtor Agent | REJECT RETURN | Contact your payer |
| UPAY | Payment is not justified. | CANCEL |
