You should know, discrimination IBAN is an illegal practice in the SEPA area. Discover how to react in case of refusal of payment.
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Simply type in “discrimination IBAN” on a search engine to discover the magnitude of the problem for the customers of neo-banks. N26, Revolut, or Monese, all have published their help page these last few months, to absolve themselves of their responsibility to address the problem.
The discrimination to the IBAN, in essence, concerns all the situations of refusal of payment or transfer, by a trader, or an employer, whose excuse would our bank account. Since the rise of online banks international, that you open a current account which is not French, for example, more and more testimonies of customers have reported the problem, which is for 2016 registered as an illegal practice.
Discrimination to the IBAN, an illegal practice
The european law of 1 February 2016 (article 9 of the european directive n°260/2012) requires that merchants and employers who refuse an IBAN the country code of the country that would be foreign to the national territory, is a violation.
For the past four years, the members of the SEPA have agreed to a standardization of protocols, numbers of bank accounts, in order to facilitate national and international payments, and to limit the risk of errors in the communication and the processing of transactions.
Unfortunately, many of the customers of neo-banks to be denied their account number, while the latter begins with a country code different : Germany for N26, England, Revolut and Monese in particular.
What to do ? Solutions
The problem is a scourge for those banks, that don’t necessarily counteract preconceived ideas in public opinion : few people are aware of the legislative framework, and believe that their employer or merchant is within his rights to refuse.
A few days ago, Revolut has published a detailed article to explain the recommendations of the neo-bank to its clients. If N26 advised to make contact with the ” competent national authority “, the neo-british bank going into greater detail in the process. Read below to learn how to react in cases of discrimination IBAN :
- Write a formal letter, to explain to the retailer or your employer that the practice is illegal, in recalling the act. After having recalled the situation and your IBAN, you can note the following message : ” Please authorize my contact information in your systems to allow for withdrawals and transfers on my account. The discrimination IBAN is a violation of article 9 of the SEPA regulation and the refusal to comply shall be reported to [insert appropriate authority] “
- If the member still refuses your IBAN, it will then be necessary to contact the famous competent authority. In France, it may be the Bank of France, the DGCCRF, or the Authority of prudential control. Revolut offers a template letter here. It is important to take care to explain the situation in detail.
In his blog page, Revolut also proposes to respond to a questionnaire sent directly to the neo-bank, in the event of a problem. The form asks for the name of the company that would have refused the payment, his country, the nature of the transaction, and other details that might be important for the procedure.
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