Revoking a SEPA direct debit mandate (Germany)
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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 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.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Customer
- Customer's address
- Payee
- Payee's postal address
- City
- Date
- Direct debit mandate reference
- SEPA creditor identifier
- Customer number with the payee
- IBAN of the current account
- How payment continues after the revocation
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- Is a SEPA direct debit mandate in Germany revoked with the payee or with my bank?
- With both, to be safe. The payee holds the mandate and submits the debits; this letter forbids it to collect again. You can also withdraw your consent to future payments with your own bank, so that every later debit is unauthorised (§ 675j(2) of the German Civil Code, BGB). Our letter to the bank for direct debits and standing orders covers that.
- Does revoking a direct debit mandate in Germany also end my contract?
- No. The revocation only changes how you pay. The contract — a membership, an insurance policy, a subscription — has to be ended separately, and what you owe under it is still owed. That is why the letter makes you choose: you will pay by transfer, the contract has already ended, or you will pay from another account. Otherwise sums falling due stay unpaid and the payee can send reminders.
- What can I do if a German payee still debits my account after the revocation?
- Have your bank return the debit. A SEPA core direct debit is refunded within eight weeks of the debit, with no reason needed (§ 675x of the German Civil Code, BGB). If you have also withdrawn your consent with the bank, every later debit is unauthorised and you can claim a refund up to 13 months after the debit (§§ 675u and 676b BGB). For the SEPA business-to-business debit, used only between companies, the banks' conditions exclude a refund.
- How should the revocation reach a German payee?
- The law prescribes no form, and the company's terms may not demand more of you than text form (§ 309 no. 13 BGB), so an e-mail is enough. But the revocation takes effect only when it reaches the payee (§ 130 BGB), and before an announced debit every day counts. Keep proof: a confirmation of receipt, or a messenger who has read the letter and seen it go into the letterbox. The tracking record of an Einwurf-Einschreiben does not on its own prove receipt (Federal Labour Court, 2 AZR 68/24).
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.
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