Important warning for those paying via IBAN! If you don't do this, you could end up in debt...

Recently, businesses have begun requesting payments via IBAN instead of credit or debit cards, citing the increase in credit card commission rates.

With the widespread use of internet banking and virtual commerce, experts have issued important warnings regarding payments made via IBAN, which have become a preferred method for citizens.

"IF WE DO NOT WRITE A DESCRIPTION, IT MAY BECOME A PROBLEM FOR US IN THE FUTURE"

Stating that citizens who are directed to a bank account via IBAN should use expressions such as the service received or debt payment in the description section, Banking and Finance Law Mediator Attorney Emin Saygın said, “There is a recent trend of sending money to IBANs. With the development of mobile banking, people have stopped touching cash. Instead of cash, sending money to an IBAN account is becoming more common. Along with the conveniences of sending money to an IBAN account, various problems also arise. The biggest of these is that we must provide a description when we send money to an IBAN. If we do not write a description in the IBAN description section, it may become a problem for us in the future. Normally, according to Article 1002 of the Code of Obligations, money sent without any description is seen as a debt payment to the other party. If you do not provide a description, it is accepted that you owe the other party money and you sent this to pay that debt. To prevent this, we absolutely must write a description. We need to write which payment we are making in the description section.”

BE SURE TO SPECIFY THIS IN RENT PAYMENTS

Emphasizing that a valid and descriptive note should be written in the receipt section, Saygın said, “You need to write what the payment is for in the receipt section. You made a purchase and you are sending money for it. You need to write a description regarding that. Or you sent someone a loan; you must again write 'loan payment' or 'loan to be repaid' in the description section. If you do not do these, the other party could say, 'No, you owed me money, this is for that payment.' We sometimes provide a description, but it is incomplete. We must also provide valid and descriptive explanations for rent, dues, or periodic payments we make. If we pay rent regularly, we need to specify which month it belongs to. For example, we need to specify it as 'February rent' or 'March rent',” he said.

Noting that the Ministry of Treasury and Finance is also working on businesses that choose to receive payments via IBAN for shopping, Saygın said, “When we do not do these, beyond legal sanctions, it is unclear what the sent money is for. We may have to pay it again. There could be such a sanction. However, the Ministry of Treasury and Finance has recently been working on this. Money transfers to IBAN accounts have increased significantly in the market. One of the reasons for this is that business owners want the money via IBAN to avoid paying higher commissions, as there is a commission for withdrawing money from bank credit cards. This leads to various problems. One of them is that the IBAN you sent money to might be involved in illegal activities. We cannot know this. Or, if a problem arises with that product after you send the money, we cannot provide evidence as we wish because we do not have any documents or descriptions regarding it. If we are buying any product or service, we must document and receive a receipt for it. If there is no description in a document we send to an IBAN and it is not clear what we sent it for, an irregularity will also arise in terms of the Tax Procedure Law,” he stated.

News Source: İHA