Asking your bank to refund a direct debit or cancel a standing order (Germany)
Published byDocMuse
This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
A letter to your German bank or Sparkasse to refund a direct debit, stop a debit that has been announced, refuse a payee's future debits, or cancel a standing order. A SEPA core direct debit can be reclaimed within eight weeks of the debit with no reason given (§ 675x of the German Civil Code, BGB), and a debit taken without a valid mandate up to 13 months later (§§ 675u, 676b BGB). A standing order or an announced debit can be revoked until the end of the business day before it is carried out (§ 675p BGB). With the payee, mandate reference, amount and date. In German.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Customer
- Customer's address
- Bank
- Address of the bank that holds the account
- City
- Date
- IBAN of the current account
- Customer number at the bank
- Instruction to the bank (refund or stop a direct debit, cancel a standing order)
- Payee
- Direct debit mandate reference
- Amount
- Date of the transaction
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- How long can I have a direct debit refunded by my bank in Germany?
- A SEPA core direct debit you had given a mandate for is refunded on request within eight weeks of the debit, with no reason needed (§ 675x(2) and (4) of the German Civil Code, BGB). If there was no mandate, or it had been revoked, the debit is unauthorised: the bank must refund it without delay, at the latest by the end of the business day after you report it (§ 675u BGB), and you have up to 13 months from the debit to do so (§ 676b BGB). For the SEPA business-to-business debit a refund is excluded.
- Until when can a standing order or an announced direct debit be stopped in Germany?
- A standing order can be revoked until the end of the business day before the agreed execution date (§ 675p(3) of the German Civil Code, BGB), and a direct debit until the end of the business day before its due date (§ 675p(2) BGB). What counts is when the bank receives your instruction. If it arrives too late, a direct debit can still be refunded within eight weeks; a transfer already made under a standing order has to be reclaimed from the recipient.
- Does returning a direct debit in Germany cancel what I owe?
- No. The return only reverses the debit to your account. If you owe the payee the money, the claim remains and the payee can still pursue it. So return a debit when the amount is wrong, the debit was not agreed or you want to pay another way, and tell the payee how you will pay. The mandate itself is revoked with the payee, using our letter revoking a SEPA direct debit mandate.
- How do I give a German bank the instruction quickly and with proof?
- No form is required, and many banks also let you return a debit or delete a standing order in online banking. The letter is your proof, which matters most for an unauthorised debit and when time is short. Hand it in at a branch and have the date of receipt confirmed on a copy, or send it through the online-banking mailbox. What counts is when the bank receives it, not when you send it (§ 130 of the German Civil Code, BGB).
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
DocMuse sells documents, not legal advice. Acceptance always depends on the recipient's rules and your local law.
Related documents
- Notice closing a current account (Germany)
A letter to a German bank or savings bank (Sparkasse) closing your current account (Girokonto), whether you are leaving altogether or switching to a new bank. It gives the IBAN, the account holder and date of birth, the closing date you want and the account for the remaining balance, ends the linked cards, overdraft and online banking, and asks for written confirmation. Under § 675h of the German Civil Code (BGB) you may close the account at any time without notice, unless a notice period of at most one month was agreed, and closing is free. A choice covers switching through the statutory switching service (§§ 20 ff. ZKG). In German.
- Revoking a SEPA direct debit mandate (Germany)
A letter to the payee — a gym, insurer, club, mail-order shop or debt collector in Germany — revoking your SEPA direct debit mandate (formerly Einzugsermächtigung). It gives the mandate reference, the creditor identifier and your IBAN, forbids further debits from receipt, and says how payment continues: you will pay by transfer, the contract has ended, or you will pay from another account. Revoking the mandate ends neither the contract nor what you owe. If a debit still arrives, your bank refunds a SEPA core direct debit within eight weeks, no reason needed (§ 675x of the German Civil Code, BGB). In German.
- Instalment payment agreement between individuals (Germany)
An agreement under German law in which a private creditor lets a debtor pay off an outstanding sum in monthly instalments — a private loan, a deposit or damage, for instance. It confirms the debt and sets the number, amount and due dates of the instalments, no interest while payments are on time, the whole balance falling due after two missed instalments, and default interest under § 288 of the German Civil Code (BGB). For private creditors only: where a business grants a consumer instalments, consumer-credit law may apply (§ 506 BGB). In German, to be signed by both.
- Refund of an unauthorised payment or card chargeback — letter to your bank (Germany)
Your letter to your own bank in Germany when your account or card was charged without your consent — after card fraud or phishing, say. You dispute the transactions and demand the refund, which the bank must make by the end of the next business day at the latest (§ 675u of the German Civil Code, BGB). Report without delay and at most 13 months after the debit (§ 676b BGB). If you paid by card yourself but received nothing, the letter instead asks for a chargeback under the card scheme's rules. With the blocking date and the police report. In German.
- Application to a bank ombudsman or conciliation body (Germany)
An application for conciliation when your German bank or Sparkasse has not resolved your complaint — to the Ombudsman of the private banks, the conciliation body of the savings banks' association (DSGV) or a regional one, the BVR's complaints office for cooperative banks, or the conciliation body at the Deutsche Bundesbank. It names the bank, the contract, your complaint and its outcome, sets out the dispute and the sum claimed, and makes the usual declarations. With the private banks' Ombudsman the procedure is free for consumers, and the decision binds the bank up to €10,000. In German.
- Final demand for payment before a court payment order (Germany)
The last reminder to a debtor who has not paid, before you start the German court payment-order procedure (Mahnverfahren): the sum outstanding, the due date, default, default interest under § 288 of the German Civil Code (BGB) — five or nine points above the base rate, with the €40 flat fee only from business debtors — a final deadline, your account and notice of the payment order. Laid out as a German business letter (DIN 5008), in German, for private and business creditors. No set form; the answers below explain proof of receipt and the application that follows.