FOLLOW THE PAYMENT

Request to Pay

Example Supplies Ltd asks Maya Chen to pay an invoice through a Request to Pay service. The request is delivered to Maya's bank; if she accepts, her bank sends a normal SEPA Instant credit transfer. A request is not a direct debit — Maya must agree. (SYNTHETIC / TRAINING ONLY)

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Contributor Shubham Mathure19 July 2026

STEP 1 / 8MESSAGE

Example Supplies raises a payment request

Example Supplies Ltd (creditor) → Northstar Bank (creditor agent) · pain.013

Instead of pulling by direct debit, the creditor asks to be paid. It submits a pain.013 request for EUR 120.00 with an invoice reference and a due date through Northstar Bank, its bank.

01Message
Example Supplies raises a payment requestExample Supplies Ltd (creditor) → Northstar Bank (creditor agent) · pain.013
02Message
Northstar routes the request via the RtP serviceNorthstar Bank (creditor agent) → Request-to-Pay service · pain.013
03Message
The request is delivered to Maya's bankRequest-to-Pay service → Bank Alfa (debtor agent) · pain.013
04Processing
Maya accepts, defers, or declinesMaya Chen (debtor)
05Message
Bank Alfa returns Maya's acceptanceBank Alfa (debtor agent) → Northstar Bank (creditor agent) · pain.014
06Message
Bank Alfa sends a SEPA Instant transferBank Alfa (debtor agent) → Northstar Bank (creditor agent) · pacs.008
07Settlement
The transfer settles between the banksBank Alfa (debtor agent) → Northstar Bank (creditor agent)
08Posting
Northstar credits Example SuppliesNorthstar Bank (creditor agent)

MESSAGECLEARING OBLIGATIONSETTLEMENTPOSTING

Full step-by-step text (works without JavaScript)

01Message
Example Supplies raises a payment requestExample Supplies Ltd (creditor) → Northstar Bank (creditor agent) · pain.013
Instead of pulling by direct debit, the creditor asks to be paid. It submits a pain.013 request for EUR 120.00 with an invoice reference and a due date through Northstar Bank, its bank.
02Message
Northstar routes the request via the RtP serviceNorthstar Bank (creditor agent) → Request-to-Pay service · pain.013
The Request-to-Pay service is a messaging layer, not a money mover. It carries the request from the creditor's side towards the debtor's bank; no funds move at this stage.
03Message
The request is delivered to Maya's bankRequest-to-Pay service → Bank Alfa (debtor agent) · pain.013
The service delivers the request to Bank Alfa, which presents it to Maya in her banking app — showing who is asking, how much, and by when.
04Processing
Maya accepts, defers, or declinesMaya Chen (debtor)
Control sits with the debtor. Maya can pay now, ask for more time, pay a different amount by agreement, or decline outright. On the happy path she accepts the request in full.
05Message
Bank Alfa returns Maya's acceptanceBank Alfa (debtor agent) → Northstar Bank (creditor agent) · pain.014
A pain.014 response travels back to tell Example Supplies that Maya accepted and payment is coming. The response answers the request; it is not itself the money.
06Message
Bank Alfa sends a SEPA Instant transferBank Alfa (debtor agent) → Northstar Bank (creditor agent) · pacs.008
Acceptance triggers an ordinary payment. Bank Alfa debits Maya and submits a SEPA Instant credit transfer (a pacs.008) to Northstar Bank — the request has become a normal push payment.
- DR Maya Chen's current account at Bank Alfa — EUR 120.00
07Settlement
The transfer settles between the banksBank Alfa (debtor agent) → Northstar Bank (creditor agent)
The instant transfer settles across the banks' settlement accounts in central bank money within seconds. Only now has the EUR 120.00 truly moved from Bank Alfa to Northstar Bank.
- DR Bank Alfa settlement account — EUR 120.00
- CR Northstar Bank settlement account — EUR 120.00
08Posting
Northstar credits Example SuppliesNorthstar Bank (creditor agent)
Northstar Bank credits the creditor and can reconcile the payment to the original invoice reference from the request. The cycle closes: request raised, accepted, paid, settled, and matched.
- CR Example Supplies account at Northstar Bank — EUR 120.00

What this simplifies: A request is a message, not a pull; settlement is a normal SEPA Instant credit transfer. Real Request-to-Pay adds scheme-specific profiles, defer/expiry handling and status codes that were not re-verified here. UK Request to Pay and UPI-collect follow the same accept-then-push pattern. Amounts and message names are illustrative.

Sources for this flow2

Scheme-specific rule2025 version 1.1 (EPC125-05)
2025 SEPA Credit Transfer rulebook ↗ — European Payments Council · SEPA Instant settlement leg
Governs the SEPA Credit Transfer scheme: participant obligations, datasets, time cycles, and r-transaction rules for euro credit transfers. · Effective 2025-10-05 · Checked 2026-07-12
Version 1.1 replaced version 1.0 at publication on 5 October 2025 and is stated to remain in effect up to 21 November 2027. It moves the date from which the unstructured address format is no longer permitted to 15 November 2026.
Simplified educational illustration
Payments Signal editorial teaching models — Payments Signal
This site's own simplified teaching models. · Checked 2026-07-12
What this simplifies: One RtP service and a single SEPA Instant settlement cycle. Scheme-specific Request-to-Pay rulebook detail (SEPA Request-to-Pay / SRTP message profiles, timeouts and status codes) was not re-verified and is taught as a pattern; message names are illustrative and the amounts are illustrative.
Used wherever diagrams, scenarios, figures, or example values are didactic constructions rather than sourced facts; every such use carries a simplifications disclosure. All people, companies, banks, and list entries in examples are fictional.

Request to Pay

Example Supplies raises a payment request

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Example Supplies raises a payment request

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