Pursuant to Section 1 para. 22 of the German Payment Services Supervision Act (ZAG), a credit transfer is a payment transaction that is initiated by the payer, charged to the payer’s payment account and credited to the payee’s payment account.
In contrast to direct debits, credit transfers are push payments.
If the payment amount is not transferred from an account but paid in cash (so-called cash payment in favour of third parties), this is not considered a credit transfer.