Payments glossary
DebiCheck
DebiCheck is South Africa's authenticated debit order system, mandated by the SARB. The customer electronically confirms a debit order mandate - its amount, frequency and account - with their bank before any money is collected, making debit orders far harder to dispute or create fraudulently.
Why the SARB mandated DebiCheck
Ordinary debit orders ran on trust: the bank processing a collection had never seen the mandate behind it. That opened the door to abuse in both directions - rogue operators debiting accounts without permission, and customers reversing legitimate collections they had genuinely agreed to. DebiCheck attacks the root cause by putting the mandate itself on record with the customer's bank, electronically confirmed by the customer, before the first collection is ever processed.
How DebiCheck collections work
The merchant, through its sponsoring bank, registers the mandate: the customer's account, the collection amount or an agreed maximum, and the frequency. The customer's bank presents it for confirmation via banking app, USSD or ATM. Once approved, the bank stores the mandate and checks every subsequent collection against it - a collection outside the agreed terms is rejected rather than processed. Variable amounts are handled by setting a maximum within which collections may adjust.
DebiCheck and recurring billing
DebiCheck is built for bank-account collections - insurance premiums, loan repayments, gym memberships and similar contractual debits. LekkaPay does not currently offer DebiCheck; recurring billing on LekkaPay runs on tokenised card payments instead.
Frequently asked questions
How does a customer approve a DebiCheck mandate?
Their own bank presents the mandate the merchant registered - amount, frequency, account - through a channel such as the banking app, USSD or an ATM prompt. The customer confirms it once, electronically, and the bank keeps the approved mandate on record before any collection runs.
Can a DebiCheck debit order still be disputed?
Yes, but on different terms. A collection that matches an authenticated mandate cannot simply be reversed on the customer's say-so, as ordinary debit orders often were. Genuine problems - a wrong amount, a cancelled contract - still follow the normal dispute routes through the customer's bank.
How is DebiCheck different from a normal debit order?
A normal debit order rests on a paper or voice mandate the customer's bank has never seen, so the bank cannot tell a valid collection from a rogue one. DebiCheck registers the mandate with the bank up front, confirmed by the customer, and every collection is validated against it.
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