To pay my bills in France, can I set up a direct debit from my Luxembourg account?
With European direct debits, it is now possible to make direct debit orders from an account domiciled in Luxembourg to an account domiciled in another country of the SEPA* zone. For this, the creditor (e.g. an electricity supplier) will provide you with a European direct debit mandate, which you will return to it duly completed. Currently, not all creditors are ready to accept European direct debits.
Concrete example: you are a French, Belgian or German cross-border commuter. As a debtor, you pay bills from your Luxembourg telephone operator (i.e. the creditor) via a direct debit from your BGL BNP Paribas account. You also have an account in your country of residence to pay your gas bills via direct debit. With European direct debits, you can now pay your gas bills from your BGL BNP Paribas account.
European bank transfer system
The aim of setting up European bank transfers consists of standardising means of payment in order to carry out all transactions in EUR in the SEPA zone under the same execution rules and standards. The European bank transfer system will gradually replace the national bank-transfer systems, which will cease to exist on
01/02/2014.
*SEPA zone: 28 countries of the EU + Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Andorra, San Marino, Vatican and Monaco
