§ 4-27. Right to get back money taken by a payee (direct debit)
Machine-translated from Norwegian. The Norwegian text is the one that applies. Read the original in Norwegian.Norsk English العربية Polski Українська
In brief
- The payer (betaler) can get back the amount and lost interest if he did not approve the exact amount, and it was higher than he could expect.
- Otherwise, an approved payment initiated by the payee (betalingsmottaker) can be reclaimed within eight weeks, and the bank has ten days to pay.
- The account agreement (kontoavtale) can rule out a refund when consent was given directly to the bank and advance information was given at least four weeks before the due date.
The text of the law (unofficial translation)
§ 4-27. The payer's right to a refund for direct debits
- the payer did not approve the exact amount of the payment transaction, cf. § 4-2, and
- the amount exceeded the amount the payer could reasonably have expected based on his previous spending pattern, the terms of the account agreement and the other circumstances.
Changes in the exchange rate cannot be relied on under letter b if the rate was calculated on the basis of an agreed reference exchange rate, cf. § 3-15.
What does this mean?
This section applies to payments that the payee initiates or that go through the payee, for example a direct debit (direktebelastning) where the payee takes the amount from the account. Under the first paragraph, the payer's bank must refund the full amount and the lost interest if two conditions are met. First, the payer must not have approved the exact amount. A payment is approved only when the payer has consented to it being carried out. Second, the amount must have been higher than the payer could reasonably expect based on previous use, the account agreement and the other circumstances. The payer must be able to show this himself.
Exchange rate fluctuations do not give a right to a refund under this rule when the exchange rate is based on an agreed reference exchange rate. That is a rate the bank itself makes available, or one that comes from a publicly available source.
The second paragraph gives a broader right. Unless the account agreement has a limitation as mentioned in the third paragraph, the payer can also reclaim payments he actually approved, when the payee initiated them. The claim must be made to the payer's bank no later than eight weeks after the debit date. The bank then has ten days to refund the full amount and the lost interest.
The third paragraph lets the parties agree that this right lapses in certain cases. This applies when consent was given directly to the payer's bank and, where relevant, when information about the upcoming payment was given or made available at least four weeks before the due date.
This section differs from § 4-30, which concerns losses from transactions that were not approved. Here the payment is often approved to begin with, but the amount or the debit comes as a surprise. Liability for carrying out payments that the payee initiates is governed by § 4-29, while § 4-28 concerns payments the payer initiates himself. Section 3-31 is titled "Information on security and liability etc. when using payment services (betalingstjenester)", and § 4-47 concerns geographical scope.
- § 4-2Consent to payment: when is a payment considered approved?
- § 3-15Reference interest rate and reference exchange rate
- § 4-30Who pays the loss when the card or account has been misused
- § 4-29The bank's liability when the payee initiates the payment
- § 4-28The bank's liability when the payer has initiated a payment himself