Payments*
1. What is a credit transfer?
The credit transfer is executed on the grounds of a transfer order submitted by the originator where the bank debits his/her account and transfers the money to the beneficiary account.
2. What is A direct debit?
A transfer executed by the means of a direct debit can be performed at the condition that the payer has given in advance his/her consent for the execution of the transfer from his/her account at the request of the beneficiary. The payer gives his/her consent (mandate) to the bank where his/her account is kept and a copy of the consent (mandate) is given to the beneficiary of the transfer. In case the payer has indicated certain conditions in the direct debit mandate, the payer’s bank is responsible for keeping those conditions when it is processing the request for debiting the payer’s account.
3. What is a value date?
For the client ordering the transfer the value date is the date when the bank debits his/her account with the amount of the transfer or receives the necessary cash for the transfer including charges and commissions that are due.
For the client receiving the transfer the value date is the date when the bank of the beneficiary leaves the funds to his/her disposal.
4. What is settlement?
Settlement is the final transfer of funds to the current accounts of the participants in the payment process.
5. What is SEPA?
SEPA is an abbreviation of Single Euro Payment Area. SEPA aims at encouraging integration of the European market by facilitating cross border non-cash payments in euro between countries participating in SEPA by unifying payment means and conditions for payments between countries participating in SEPA. The aim is to make them cheap and secure similar to the existing local payments. Countries participating in SEPA are the EU member states together with Norway, Lichtenstein, Iceland and Switzerland. In SEPA banks’ clients should be able to perform transfers to the beneficiaries’ accounts on the territory of the Euro area by using one and the same bank account as well as the same payment instruments. The SEPA project is initiated by the European Commission (EC) and the European Central Bank (ECB) as it is realized by the European Payments Council (EPC), which is an organization uniting representatives of banks, associations and other organizations participating in the payment process in Europe. The Association of Banks in Bulgaria is an associate member of EPC.
6. What are SEPA payment instruments?
SEPA payment instruments are SEPA credit transfers /SCT/, SEPA direct debits /Core SDD and B2B SDD/ and instant SEPA credit transfers /SCT Inst./. The SCT has started as of 28th of January 2008, the SDD schemes have started as of November 2010 and SCT Inst. – as of 21st of November 2017. SCT Inst are credit transfers denominated in EUR and they are performed on the principle 24/7/365. All Bulgarian banks offer SEPA credit transfers to their clients as only one bank offers B2B SDD. SEPA instant credit transfers are not offered by any bank as of the beginning of 2018. Regarding the SEPA project a framework for issuing cards and card payments have been developed. The structure and the rules for SEPA payment instruments are in compliance with the requirements set in the EPC rulebooks.
