“Refer to Payer” – The ARUDD report

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ARUDD is an acronym that stands for Automated Return of Unpaid Direct Debits. An ARUDD report is triggered after you have submitted a collection file in an attempt to collect from your Payers. It is available to Service Users one day after Direct Debits are due to be collected.

On the day that the money is due to be taken from the Payer’s bank account, the paying bank will check a number of factors to ensure that the Direct Debit is correctly paid. If the checks fail, any payments that cannot be made will be returned and you will see those on your ARUDD report, provided to you on the following day.

”Refer to Payer” and other ARUDD reason codes

The report uses reason codes to indicate why the transaction could not be completed by the Payer’s bank or by Bacs. The most common of these is “Refer to Payer”.

 

Refer to Payer

The term “Refer to Payer” simply means that the bank is unable to provide an explicit reason for the failed Direct Debit collection. While it often means that there are insufficient funds in the account, there are also a number of other reasons why this can occur. Depending on the circumstances it is sometimes possible to represent an unpaid item, although there are specific rules for doing this.

 

Reasons for failure other than “Refer to Payer”

Other reasons a transaction might fail on an ARUDD file include “no account” or “no instruction”. These reason codes are much more likely to appear if you are not using AUDDIS instructions; migrating to AUDDIS is likely to result in fewer payment failures.

The detailed rationale behind each of the ARUDD report reason codes, and the appropriate actions to take in response to them, are covered in our Clear Direct Debit training courses.

The ARUDD report will detail all unpaid items. Common reason codes you may see include:

Box Icon Refer to payer

Refer to payer

Box Icon Instruction cancelled

Instruction cancelled

Box Icon Payer deceased

Payer deceased

Box Icon Account transferred

Account transferred

Box Icon Advance notice disputed

Advance notice disputed

Box Icon No account

No account

Box Icon No Instruction

No Instruction

Box Icon Amount differs

Amount differs

Box Icon Amount not yet due

Amount not yet due

Box Icon Account closed

Account closed

Accessing your ARUDD report and other Bacs reports

All Bacs reports are available electronically via the Bacs Payment Services website and some Bacstel-IP software packages. Email notifications can be sent to various users when the reports become available (if set up against the contact). It is recommended that you download these using your payments software, where possible. Alternatively, they are made available to the Service User for 37 days at a time.

If you want to download Bacs reports direct from the Payment Services website, simply follow these steps:

 

  1. Access website

    Upon receipt of an email notification, go to Bacs Payment Services Website

  2. Log in

    Log in to Payment Services Website (Log in using Chip & PIN or User ID & Password)

  3. Search

    Navigate to the Processing Reports Screen and search for the report

  4. Select

    Select the report to view it on-line

  5. Save or print

    Save or print the report, select the File menu and Print or Save

ARUDD report training

Dealing with ARUDD reports can be an important part of day-to-day business processes for organisations that collect payments by Direct Debit. If you want further assistance on how to deal with ARUDD files, “Refer to Payer” and other failure codes, Clear Direct Debit is a Bacs Accredited Training Provider and can offer bespoke training tailored to suit your unique business needs.

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