§ Banking

R-transaction

also called SEPA R-transaction · payment return · returned payment

A returned or rejected euro payment under SEPA rules, carrying a reason code such as wrong account, closed account or customer dispute.

SEPA transfervalue dateR-transaction
Solid lines are terms people actually mix up with R-transaction. The rest sit in the same subject, timing and failed transfers. SEPA transfer · value date

Right, in plain English

An R-transaction is a euro payment under SEPA rules that gets returned or rejected, and it comes tagged with a reason code such as wrong account, closed account or a customer dispute. It is the failure of a SEPA transfer, not the transfer itself; the two get muddled because they live in the same system. Salary or rent can quietly reverse days after it looked done, leaving only a code in your statement to explain why.

Your salary lands, then vanishes a few days later with a cryptic code on the statement, because your account details had a small error and the payment was bounced back as an R-transaction. Until you decode that reason code, you keep giving your employer the same broken details and the money keeps returning.

Why it matters

Salary, rent and invoice payments can reverse days later with only a code in the statement. Until you decode the reason, you may keep resending into the same broken details.

Not to be confused with

The difference is the whole point, so here is each one in a line.

Timing and failed transfers · 2 terms

These are about when money actually lands and what happens when a transfer fails.
A value date is the date funds are treated as available or start earning interest, which can differ from when you hit send, a cut-off time is the daily deadline after which a payment counts as the next business day, and an R-transaction is a returned or rejected euro payment carrying a reason code such as wrong or closed account.

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