DebiCheck is an initiative developed by the Payments Association of South Africa (PASA), on instruction from the South African Reserve Bank, to help combat the rising levels of debit order fraud nationwide. It is otherwise known as ‘authenticated collections’ and is a new type of debit order that aims to put the consumer back in control. It does this by requesting that a consumer first ‘authenticate’ or confirm electronically each new collection mandate with their bank at the start of a contract, before any future collections can be done on the customer's account.

Why DebiCheck?

There are several reasons why DebiCheck is now the preferred debit order type for both consumers and businesses of all sizes.

Increased flexibility and convenience: Due to its digital authentication facility, DebiCheck offers greater flexibility than the alternative Authenticated Early Debit Order (AEDO) mandate, where users are required to authenticate at a physical terminal.

Decreased dispute rates and customer abuse: for businesses, the built-in authentication process at initiation makes it harder for customers to raise a dispute, saving business owners the time they would have had to spend dealing with debit order complaints and debit order reversals.

Protection against identity theft and fraud: the fact that consumers have to authenticate on their devices or in person makes it harder for hackers to steal identity and/or banking details to establish fraudulent debit orders or to make changes to existing debit orders. In this sense DebiCheck becomes a de facto two-factor authentication (2FA) method and provides an extra layer of protection to both business and consumer (just think of the recent Experian data breach).

Earliest collection window: since its implementation on 1 November 2019, DebiCheck mandates take priority in the early collections window, pushing Non-Authenticated Early Debit Orders (NAEDOs) down the pecking order and EFTs to the back of the queue. In real terms this means that DebiCheck mandates are always collected first, enabling businesses to spend less time chasing and more time collecting payments!

Continued tracking: in the event that funds are not available when mandates are processed each month, DebiCheck allows for ongoing tracking of up to 10 days so that you don’t have to manually chase each failed collection attempt.

How Can I Migrate to DebiCheck?

Moving your existing AEDO and NAEDO mandates to DebiCheck need not be a complicated process. BankTech has a practical collections solution that allows businesses of all sizes to migrate their existing mandates securely to DebiCheck within a week. Get in touch with the team to arrange a free demo.