Like accounting, direct clearing is a form of electronic payment processing. With direct clearing, all Girocard payments are transmitted directly to the merchant's bank and are usually visible on the merchant's account the day after closeout. The prerequisite for this is a DTA agreement, i.e. a data exchange agreement, with the bank so that it can debit the transactions from the payer and credit the merchant account. In direct clearing, fees are charged by the bank per transaction depending on the contract.
