Frequenty Asked Questions

DebiCheck is a new specific type of Early Debit Order in South Africa. The consumer accepts a mandate electronically and on a once-off basis (at the start of a contract.) Its purpose is for the consumer to confirm and approve the details of the debit order with their bank before it can be processed. The debtors bank then stores the approved mandate information and checks it against the monthly collection every month to ensure it matches the information the consumer confirmed initially.

The DebiCheck project was initiated by the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) and the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA) as a way to help protect all South Africans (consumer and businesses) against fraudulent and incorrect debit order abuse. During the last couple of years there has been a significant increase in debit order abuse. There has been an influx in the number of debit orders being processed to consumers’ bank accounts without their consent as well as consumers increasingly disputing approved and valid debit order to manage their monthly cashflow. DebiCheck aims to address both of these issues by enforcing electronic mandate authentication for all DebiCheck debit orders.

An early window collection / EDO (Early Debit Order) precedes a standard EFT collection and has first chance to collect funds from the debtor’s bank account. It’s processed early in the morning immediately after Banks have processed Salary Credit runs. It also includes tracking as an option where the collection instruction monitors the debtors bank account for the sufficient outstanding amount to fulfilment the debit order collection. For example: A debtor’s salary is dated for the 30th of the month and marked as a salary payment. As per industry rules the debtor’s salary is deposited into his bank account at approximately 00h05 – 00h10 on the 30th. An early debit order (EDO) dated for the 30th would be issued on the debtor’s bank account for collection at approximately 00h20 (immediately after the salary credit run). The standard EFT collection for the 30th would only be issued to the debtor’s bank account for collection between 20h00 - 22h00 on the 30th thus making early debit orders (EDO) the preferred collection option.

In order to initiate a DebiCheck electronic mandate, the debtors cell phone number must be registered to his bank account. The debtors correct ID number is a prerequisite for running a DebiCheck collection.

Telecommunication / cellphone costs will depend on several factors, for example whether the debtor use the USSD option or their banking app to confirm the DebiCheck debit order. It will also depend on the debtor’s mobile network costs.

Contract: a contract is the legal agreement that is signed between the debtor and creditor. It sets out the rights and obligations for each party regarding the service that is provided or the goods that is being bought.

Debit order mandate: a debit order mandate is the permission granted by the debtor, to a creditor, to collect money (allow a debit order) from the debtor’s bank account because of an underlying contract for a product or service rendered. Paper and voice mandates will still exist, but they will not be classified as a DebiCheck electronic mandate.

DebiCheck Mandate: a DebiCheck mandate requires the debtor’s acceptance/ authentication / approval before a debit order can be processed on the debtor’s bank account.

An electronic mandate confirms the important details of the collection such as the amount and collection date. The electronic mandate must be raised by the creditor and authenticated (approved) by the debtor before any DebiCheck collections can successfully be processed. This allows a debtor to manage the debit orders they approved as well as protect the creditor from invalid disputes.

The electronic mandate, once approved by the debtor, will be stored with the debtors banking institute. This authentication/ confirmation can be done via various methods. The debtors bank will advise the debtor which methods are available to use in his bank. Some methods are:
• Cellphone Banking (USSD)
• Internet Banking
• Banking App
• ATM
• Banking Call Centre
• Branch

Fixed: a fixed mandate is used when the instalment amount is known and does not change at all. This mandate allows for a maximum instalment amount to cater for late payments and arrear interest calculations.

Variable: a variable mandate is used where amounts due for collections can be amended by the creditor in relation to variables that are known and approved by the debtor. Example: Annual increases and interest rate linked loans

Usage based: a usage-based mandate is used where the collection amount is variable and may not be known upfront. A maximum amount is approved by the debtor and the instalment must be within this threshold.

Note that different instalment types can be submitted using any mandate method as described below.

Realtime: A real time transaction type 1 (TT1)
This mandate request is submitted to the debtor real-time and sent via Push USSD. The debtor has 120 seconds to approve or reject the mandate request. If the 120 second timeframe is not met the creditor will receive a ‘No Response’ or ‘Timed Out’.

Delayed Realtime: A delayed real-time transaction type 1 (TT1)
This mandate request is lodged to the debtor’s bank. The debtor will receive a SMS from his bank to inform him that there is a mandate that needs his response. The debtor has until 20h00 on the same day to approve or reject the mandate request.

Batch: A Batch Transaction Type 2 (TT2)
This mandate request is sent in batch form to the various debtors banking institutes. The mandate will be made available to the various debtors for approval no later than 8h00 the next morning (Day 1) following the initial request. The various debtors then have until 19h00 the following day (Day 2) to approve or reject his batch mandate. Responses to the batch mandate will be returned to the creditor throughout the two-day period in intervals. If the deadline is not met the creditor will receive a ‘No Response’ or ‘Timed Out’.

When a request from the debtor’s bank to approve a mandate is not actioned by a debtor and the request expires the creditor can register an RMS Mandate (Registered Mandate Service) against the client’s bank account with the same details as agreed in the underlying contract. When an RMS Mandate is registered, the customer will not be required to authenticate the mandate; but will be notified via SMS that the debit order mandate has been registered against their account.

The debtor will still be able to:
- view the mandate as it will be added to the debtor’s profile,
- dispute the RMS Mandate,
- suspend (place a Stop Payment) against the Mandate.

A creditor cannot collect against a suspended mandate. The customer’s approval is required to re-activate a suspended mandate.

The debtor will only need to confirm the electronic mandate at the start of a contract. However, every time the key debit order information changes, then the electronic mandate needs to be re-authenticated by the debtor.

Re-authentication is dependent on key changes in certain mandate information. These changes deem necessary when there is a direct impact on the collection process.
Main information that needs re-authentication is:
• Debtor’s banking details
• Instalment amounts
• Collection dates

Note that the creditor should cancel the old mandate.

No, it does not apply across all banks. The creditor will need to register a new mandate for the debtor for his new bank account and the debtor will have to re-authenticate the new mandate. The creditor will also have to cancel the old mandate with the debtor’s previous bank account.

The contract between the creditor and the debtor will specify the length of the agreement thus the electronic mandate will not end / expire. The electronic mandate will also not expire if the creditor does not make use of it on DebiCheck collections. It will remain active until the creditor initiates a mandate cancelation; this allows for arrear collection instructions after the original contract period has ended.
The creditor is expected to issue a mandate cancelation once the contract time period ended and has been paid up to date to avoid future DebiCheck collections be resubmitted in error. The debtor will receive a SMS notification that the mandate has been cancelled.

An approved mandate or a mandate that is still pending a response from the debtor can’t be re-submitted with the same contract reference. The Debtors bank will reject the mandate as it will be deemed a duplicate.

The creditor can only resubmit the same contract reference and mandate details if the electronic mandate has expired or was rejected previously by the debtor.

No, the mandate can only be cancelled by the creditor, but can be suspended by the debtor’s bank in two different cases:
• The debtor has placed a stop payment instruction on the debit order.
• The DebiCheck collection against the debtor’s bank account is unsuccessful for four consecutive cycles.

• Initial Collection – First collection, which can be different to the recurring collection amount.
• Recurring Collection – the regular collection that recurs on a regular basis (weekly, monthly, yearly etc.)
• Represented Collection – representment of a collection (interest or arrears).
• Last / Final Collection – the last collection before the mandate is terminated.
• Once-off Collection – a single, non-recurring collection.

If the creditor has a valid contract with the debtor and an alternate mandate in any legally acceptable format (signed mandate, voice recording), then yes, the creditor can still collect the amount due from the debtor’s bank account by submitting an EFT debit order.

The creditor can still submit a DebiCheck collection but the DebiCheck collection must prescribe to the existing mandate criteria and not the amended mandate criteria. Until the debtor approves the mandate amendment the existing mandates terms apply.

When setting up your Jarvis profile you will be asked if you would like to activate the date adjustment feature. If you have allowed this option, then yes, a collection date can be moved. Note that if you move a collection date to any other date than what the debtor specified then your collection becomes disputable.
Reasons why a collection date needs to be moved is to make provisions for when the collection date falls on a Sunday or public holiday and the debtor’s salary gets paid in the day before. Another example is for December collections when the debtor gets paid earlier.

Yes, when a mandate is suspended then any collection instruction currently in tracking will be blocked prior to being presented on the debtor bank account for collection.

A stop payment is where the debtor stops all future collections for a specific debit order and a dispute is a reversal of the successful collection that has already collected the funds.

A DebiCheck collection can be disputed under certain conditions but it will be more difficult for a debtor to dispute a DebiCheck collection due to the upfront authorisation electronic mandate approval.
A dispute will be allowed if the creditor collects outside the prescribed mandate terms for example collects a different amount or on a different date than what was accepted in the electronic mandate.

If a debtor raises a stop payment instruction on a debit order collection with an approved electronic mandate, the mandate will automatically be suspended.
The debtors bank will advise the creditor that the mandate has been suspended.
The creditor will have to interact with the debtor directly to determine why a stop payment was requested.
Before any further DebiCheck Collections can be processed the creditor will have to submit a mandate amendment request to unsuspend the mandate. The debtor will have to re-approve the electronic mandate before any DebiCheck collection will be processed.