frequent questions
glossary
What is a basic bank account?
Access to the credit intermediary activity
List of authorised credit intermediaries
How to protect yourself from online fraud?
Know your rights when making payments in Europe.
Do you know what the gross domestic product is? What about inflation? (only in Portuguese)
Key tips to protect yourself when choosing online or mobile banking services.
Os débitos diretos permitem ao cliente devedor (ordenante) efetuar pagamentos periódicos através de débito na sua conta de pagamento (por exemplo, conta à ordem), mediante autorização previamente entregue ao cliente credor (beneficiário, em regra um comerciante, fornecedor de bens ou prestador de serviços)..
Through direct debits, debtors can make payments that result from durable contracts or are periodic in nature – for example, water, electricity, telephone, gas, insurance, house rent or instalments arising from the acquisition of goods on credit. Direct debits can also be used to make occasional payments.
Payment service providers (in most cases, banks) are not obliged to provide direct debit services to the payment account holder (payer/debtor and payee/creditor).
Direct debits are implemented in a harmonised manner at European level through the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payments scheme.
This scheme allows any customer (individual persons, companies and public administration bodies) located in the SEPA area to order and receive payments in euros by direct debit through a single account and according to the same rules.
The countries that make up the SEPA area are:
the 28 European Union Member States – Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom;
Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway (countries which, along with the aforementioned, constitute the European Economic Area);
Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, Switzerland and Vatican.
Debtors and creditors may only be charged the expenses invoiced by the respective payment service provider.
In most cases, the execution of direct debits is free for debtors.
In any case, there are legal restrictions on charges levied for cross-border direct debits within the European Economic Area, made in euros, Swedish kronor or Romanian lei.
These charges may not be higher than those charged by the payment service provider for equivalent national direct debits (of the same amount and in the same currency, with the same characteristics and of the same type), provided that creditor customers communicate the IBAN of the debtor’s payment account.
Thus, where charges for equivalent domestic operations are not provided for, the charging of charges associated with the implementation of cross-border direct debits is not allowed.
Site do Banco de Portugal - Débitos diretos
Site do Banco de Portugal - IBAN
Regulamento (UE) n.º 248/2014
Regulamento (UE) n.º 260/2012
Regulamento (CE) n.º 924/2009
Regime Jurídico dos Serviços de Pagamento e da Moeda Eletrónica
Decreto-Lei n.º 141/2013
Carta Circular n.º 66/2012/DSC
Débitos diretos - como efetuar
Débitos diretos - direitos e deveres
Materiais sobre débitos diretos