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.

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