§ 4-7. Stopping a payment: deadlines for cancelling payment orders

The basic rule is that you, as the payer, cannot withdraw a payment order after your bank has received it. There are several exceptions to this in the rest of the section. The time of receipt is determined under § 4-5.

If the payment was initiated by or through the payee, for example through an agreed deduction, you cannot cancel after the payee has received consent to carry it out. Direct debits are nevertheless an exception: they can be cancelled up to and including the business day before the agreed debit date. If a payment initiation service provider has received consent to initiate the payment, you cannot cancel after that. If the order is not to be carried out straight away, you can cancel by the end of the business day before the debit date. Example: a payer has a direct debit that falls due on a specific day.

Once the deadlines have passed, the order can only be cancelled if you and the bank have agreed on it. For payments initiated by or through the payee or a payment initiation service provider, the consent of the payee is also required. The bank can only charge a fee for cancellation if this has been agreed in the account agreement.

This section must be read together with the neighbouring rules. § 4-5 says when the order is considered received, and § 4-3 allows the payer to authorise the payee to make a series of direct debits. § 4-4 sets requirements for standing payment orders. Under § 4-6, the bank cannot refuse to carry out an authorised order when the conditions in the account agreement are met. § 4-11 sets transfer deadlines for the bank. § 4-2 on consent refers to this section.