Bacs Direct Debit or Direct Credit processing follows a three working day cycle. This means that payment or collection files that are submitted on Day One are typically debited and credited on Day Three according to the following Bacs timetable:
Day 1: Input
You can submit your file up to 30 calendar days in advance of the processing date however the Input day is the latest day a business user or bureau can submit a payment file to Bacs for a particular three day processing cycle. Bacs Payment files must be sent between 7am and 10.30pm on Input day which will be a working day.
Day 2: Processing
Bacs processes all of the payments within your payment file and sends details of the transactions to the destination banks which can then process each payment. At this point, the payment or collection may still be recalled.
Day 3: Debit and Credit
On Day Three, payments are simultaneously debited from the recipient’s account and credited to the beneficiary’s account.
Many organisations rely on Bacs payments for making important payments and you can consult the Bacs processing calendar to understand exactly when payments will be made and credited. It shows clearly the Bacs processing and non-processing days, which is useful when taking into account bank holidays such as Easter, Christmas and the New Year.