ADDACS – Automated Direct Debit Amendment and Cancellation Service – This service provides details of amended or cancelled Direct Debit Instructions (DDIs) and advises service users when customers change banks accounts. Bacs sends the communication electronically or on paper.
Advance notice – This is a communication service users must provide to payers before they collect a Direct Debit. It should specify the date and amount a service user wants to collect and should be sent 10 working days (plus postal time) in advance of the collection.
Agency bank – A bank or financial institution that is not a member of Bacs and needs a Bacs member to sponsor it before it can offer Bacs services, such as Direct Debit, to its customers.
APACS – Association for Payment Clearing Services – This was the organisation that provided people, facilities and expertise to the payments industry. It has now been replaced by the UK Payments Administration.
'A' services – These services automate Bacs messages and the return of payments. They include: ADDACS, AWACS, AUDDIS returns, ARUDD, ARUCS.
ARUCS – Automated Return of Unapplied Credits – This is a Bacs mechanism that paying banks use to return unapplied credits to service users. ARUCS reports detail credits that Bacs has rejected.
ARUDD – Automated Return of Unpaid Direct Debits – This service advises service users of unpaid Direct Debit payments in an Advice of Unpaid Direct Debit (AUDD) report.
AUDDIS – The Automated Direct Debit Instruction Service – This is Bacs' system for electronically lodging Direct Debit Instructions (DDIs). For more information click here.
AUDDIS migration – This is the process service users go through when they transfer non-AUDDIS Direct Debit Instructions (DDIs) to AUDDIS.
AUDDIS DDI – The AUDDIS Direct Debit Instruction (DDI) is information customers provide to set up Direct Debits. It also refers to subsequent written communications from customers to service users that amend details of original AUDDIS DDIs.
AWACS – Advice of Wrong Account for Automated Credits Service - This is the automated system banks use to notify service users that they have used incorrect account details for a Bacs Credit. It also provides service users with correct account details for future payments.
BAB – Bacs-Approved Bureau – This is a commercial bureau that Bacs has approved.
Bacs – A not-for-profit industry body that governs several payments schemes in the UK, such as Direct Debit and Direct Credit. It is made up of 15 member banks and oversees more than five billion payments a year.
Bacs cycle – The Bacs cycle takes three working days and covers the time it takes for a payment to be submitted, processed and credited to a Direct Debit service user.
Bacstel-IP – A secure telecommunications channel that allows service users to connect to Bacs. The channel is Internet-based and uses public key infrastructure (PKI) security.
BASS – Bacs-Approved Software Service — Bacs awards this status to software vendors that pass its rigorous testing.
BIC – Bank Identifier Code – This is a code that identifies a particular bank. BICs are approved by the International Organisation for Standardisation. BICs contain either eight or 11 characters, which include references that identify a bank, country, location and branch.
Bureau – An organisation that sends payments to Bacs on behalf of other organisations that want to use Bacs' services.
C & CCC – Cheque and Credit Clearing Company – This is a non-profit industry body that manages the cheque clearing system in the UK. It also manages clearing for bankers’ drafts, building society cheques, postal orders, warrants, government payable orders and travellers cheques.
CHAPS - Clearing House Automated Payments System – This is a company that offers same-day funds transfers or payments.
Clearing – A method of exchange between financial institutions.
Core reference – A unique reference on the Direct Debit Instruction (DDI). It is made up of at least six alpha numeric, upper-case characters.
Counter claim – A claim raised by a service user against a paying bank. This occurs when a service user has settled an indemnity claim it believes to be incorrect.
Credit – A transaction that adds money to an account.
DBMS – database-management system – a system that manages databases.
DDI – Direct Debit Instruction – An authority signed by a customer that allows a service user to collect Direct Debit payments from his/her account.
Debit – A transaction that takes money from an account.
Direct Credit – An electronic credit transfer processed by Bacs and paid directly to a bank or building society account.
Direct Debit – A payment of an agreed amount that a service user collects from a customer's bank account. The amounts and dates may vary.
Direct Debit Guarantee – A guarantee that protects payers using Direct Debit. It specifies payers' rights and safeguards and includes an immediate money-back guarantee should a service user debit a payer's account erroneously.
Dormancy period – A period in which a service user does not present a Direct Debit against an account. Paying banks typically discontinue dormant Direct Debits after 13 months, although service users can negotiate this period.
Due date – The date a service user will collect a payment, as specified in an advance notice.
File – A set of records from a service user.
IBAN – International Bank Account Number – This number identifies a bank account located anywhere in the world. Organisations that want to collect and make SEPA payments need to submit bank account details in IBAN format.
Direct Debit indemnity — This is a document that contains a legally binding agreement for paying banks to refund payers immediately if their accounts have been debited incorrectly. Paying banks can then recover the amount from the service user. An indemnity is an essential requirement of the Direct Debit scheme.
Indemnity claim – A claim made by a paying bank against a service user that has incorrectly collected a Direct Debit.
ISCD – Industry Sorting Code Directory – This database contains details of Cheque and Credit Clearing, CHAPS and Bacs sort code information, as well as information held in Reed's Sorting Code Directory.
Item – A term used to describe a single Bacs transaction.
Item limit – A limit service users put on transactions. Any item that exceeds this limit is detailed on a service user's input report.
Limit value – A financial limit that service users agree with their sponsoring banks on individual accounts to restrict the value passing through that account for a fixed period.
Lodgement (lodged) – This is where a paying bank accepts a Direct Debit Instruction (DDI) that a service user has submitted.
Modulus checking – A process that checks sort codes and account numbers are in valid formats.
Payer – A person who has given authority for a service user to debit his/her account in a DDI.
Payer's branch – The branch that holds a payer's account.
Paying bank – A bank that maintains a payer's account.
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) – PKI is an infrastructure that supports the secure exchange of information. It allows a trusted organisation, such as a bank, to issue digital certificates that individuals and organisations use to prove their identity.
Reference – Service users allocate a reference number to each DDI and Direct Debit.
Re-presentation – When a service user resubmits a Direct Debit that has been returned unpaid.
SCT – SEPA Credit Transfer – SCT went live on 28th January 2008. It allows organisations to make payments to recipients in SEPA countries. It usually takes three days to process SCTs and there is no limit on the amount that can be transferred.
SDD – SEPA Direct Debit – The European Payments Council launched the SDD and SEPA B2B Direct Debit schemes on 2nd November 2009. SDD service users can collect payments in euros from customers in SEPA that have signed a SDD mandate.
Service user – An organisation that a member bank sponsors to use Bacs' services.
Service user number (SUN) – A unique six-digit number given to organisations authorised to use Direct Debit.
Sort code directory – A register of valid Bacs sort codes maintained by paying banks. Service users may use this information to check the branch sort code of paying banks.
Sorting code – A six-digit code that identifies the location of an account.
Sponsor/sponsoring bank – A member of Bacs that authorises organisations (including bureaux) to submit data for processing.
Standing order – An instruction customers give to their banks to pay a fixed amount on specified dates to a named individual or organisation.
ToDDaSO – Transfer of Direct Debit and Standing Orders – This process is part of the account-switching service and ensures that Direct Debits and standing orders from an account are applied to a new account.
Transaction codes – Codes that refer to types of transaction or the status of a transaction on Bacs reports. For example, the code 01 would be used for a first Direct Debit collection.
Unpaid Direct Debit – A Direct Debit that a paying bank returns to a service user uncollected, for a reason such as insufficient funds.
Unpaid Direct Debit reason codes – Codes that give a reason that a paying bank has returned a Direct Debit unpaid either in an ARUDD report or in manual advice.
VocaLink – VocaLink is the company that processes Direct Debit and Direct Credit payments, and maintains the UK's payment network.
