SEPA Transfer Slips

Let's talk for a moment about SEPA transfer slips!  Such a fun and interesting subject! 

This here is a SEPA transfer slip.  The reason they are used here in Germany is that most places don't take checks.  Or credit cards.  So you can usually choose to pay cash, which is fine for certain things like going out to dinner, grabbing some groceries from Edeka, or even buying a lawnmower at the OBI.  Those things are all doable.  But what about when you have a 1200 Euro heating oil payment that you have to make?  Or what if the payment has to be made to someone in say, Berlin or Frankfurt, where you can't hand deliver money?  Naturally, they don't take checks or credit card.  So what do you do?

Well, even though we have lived here for 15 months, we did not know what these slips were. 

For about 6 months, I have been getting bills in the mail from DB Bahn (the train company).  They would include one of these cards and I would fill it out and send it back.  A few weeks later, I would get another bill.  I also have all of my IBAN and other information stored in my profile on the DB Bahn website so I could NOT for the life of me figure out WHY they kept trying to bill me for the very same thing!  Eventually, they even sent me to collections!  I'm absolutely freaking out because I always pay my bills on time.  Finally, when we tried to do the very same thing with the heating oil bill, our landlord Dietmar came back to me and said, "The man at the oil company received your mail but he doesn't know what to do with it!"  What do you  MEAN he doesn't know what to do with it?  I filled out the SEPA form HE SENT ME and mailed it back to him!  I assumed that he would just use my bank information to withdraw the money and that would be the end of it.

Naturally, I assumed wrong.

See, what you REALLY have to do when you get a bill like this in the mail (or if you want to make a payment to anyone really) is take the little SEPA card that they send you TO YOUR BANK, for the bank to fill out.  It's a sort of verification system, with your bank telling the company requesting payment that they're on board with the payment.  Otherwise of course, this company could overcharge me, or just take out money from my account at will without my consent.  I mean, it all makes sense but NOBODY told us this! 

Then of course, you have to make sure the oil company (or anyone else you are making very large payments to) have completed the VAT form, and you need to submit for repayment for all of it. 

I got things squared away with DB Bahn too.  (And for the record on THAT subject, if you email them with questions, they will completely ignore you!  So you'd better get it all right!)

If you're planning on moving to Germany, make sure you understand how all of this works!