Spanish households have a well-established habit of paying telecom, insurance, and utility bills via automatic account debit, so acceptance of SDD as a recurring payment method is high. Where cards and Bizum handle one-off payments, SDD serves as the underlying rail for subscriptions, memberships, and recurring charges, and the fact that it has no payment failures from expired cards is a real advantage for subscription businesses.

It is a priority option for businesses whose revenue is anchored in recurring billing, such as SaaS and content subscriptions, subscription-box commerce, or membership-fee services. However, because the scheme's rules let consumers demand a no-questions-asked refund within 8 weeks of the debit date, caution is warranted for large one-off sales, and this risk is detailed further in the settlement and refunds section below.

Once a customer submits their IBAN and completes debit consent (a mandate), the merchant withdraws funds from the account on the billing cycle. Unlike a card-authorization flow, managing debit failures and return codes is the operational core, and Hecto Financial collects the withdrawn euros (EUR), converts them, and then settles them to the merchant in Korea.

By integrating through Hecto Financial, a Korean merchant can review acceptance of SDD, the eurozone-wide common scheme. A recurring billing model has more items to confirm than one-off payments—such as mandate management and refund risk policy—so please confirm eligibility and terms (settlement cycle, fees, currency options) with our sales team before contracting.

• Country of business registration

  Confirm contract eligibility based on domestic (Korean) business status

• Sales channels

  The integration method and priorities differ depending on your online sales channel mix—own store, open marketplace, mobile app, etc.

• Product categories handled

  Advance confirmation is needed on whether your business falls under a restricted category per SEPA Direct Debit's merchant policy

• EU regulatory compliance

  Confirmation is needed on compliance with EU payment regulations such as PSD2 and SEPA (see official sources below)

SDD proceeds are collected in euros (EUR), then converted and settled domestically in whichever currency—USD, KRW, or JPY—was set under the contract. A crucial point to note is that under SEPA scheme rules, a consumer may demand a no-questions-asked refund within 8 weeks of the debit date, and can dispute an unauthorized debit for up to 13 months. In other words, a completed debit is not final revenue, so you should confirm receivables-risk management and reserve policy that accounts for potential refunds even after settlement is received, before contracting. Note also that this is a right unique to the scheme, separate from the EU's 14-day right of withdrawal.

• Bank of Spain (Banco de España)Official information on Spain's payment systems and related regulations. Where this page's content differs from actual regulations, the official source takes precedence.