--- title: How Can Debtor Banks Fix DebiCheck Duplicates description: Stop duplicate DebiCheck collections without manual reviews or core system overhauls. 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One critical issue is duplicate collections. It seems like an impossibly complicated issue to solve, either requiring manual processes or a complete reframing of core systems, but maybe the answer is much simpler. Duplicate collections are a blight on debtor banks. They take time away from your operations team, cost you fee revenue, and most importantly, erode your customers' trust in your ability to keep their money safe. Understanding why duplicates occur helps us identify possible solutions. ## Why duplicate collections are so hard to detect in DebiCheck Technical duplicates can be caused by system glitches, retries because of missing submission responses, or batch re-upload errors. While these may look like surface-level process gaps, they stem from a deeper integration challenge. DebiCheck uses the ISO 20022 messaging standard, which carries rich data fields like the Unique End-to-End Transaction Reference (UETR). Most legacy core systems cannot read this messaging language, particularly with [retrofitted DebiCheck solutions](https://blog.electrum.co.za/the-hidden-cost-of-retrofitted-debicheck-architecture). When translation fails or drops these specific fields, legacy core systems lose the ability to spot that a transaction has already passed through. The complexity of ISO 20022 messaging is made worse by the multiple identifiers required by DebiCheck. When a mandate is processed, it uses a Mandate Reference Transaction Identifier (MRTI), instead of a UETR. Consequently, to eliminate duplicates, a collections system needs to identify both MRTI and UETR fields. Another complication comes in batch files. When a batch file contains some duplicate transactions, existing systems cannot process the valid collections and isolate the repeats. Consequently, they are forced to reject the entire batch file. ## The over-engineering trap One solution is to manually review duplicates to ensure each double debit is intercepted and stopped beforehand. However, this cannot scale with thousands of transactions, and is incredibly resource-intensive. Another possible solution is to completely change your core infrastructure to meet modern standards. The problem is that it’s expensive, time-consuming, technically complex and leaves you open to significant risk. It’s also worth considering whether core banking systems should be responsible for detecting duplicates. A good payments engine should track and detect duplicates before any core systems are burdened with the risk of unnecessary processing. The following old wives' tale shows how easy it is to overcomplicate an engineering solution, and why tackling the immediate problem directly is often best. A toothpaste company faced a challenge on its production line. Occasionally, a box would be packaged without a tube of toothpaste inside. To fix it, executives spent millions developing a high-tech scale that weighed every box, triggered an alarm, halted the conveyor, and required a technician to reset the line. Months later, the system showed it caught zero empty boxes. Puzzled, the chief engineer visited the factory floor and found a desk fan sitting beside the conveyor belt. The line workers, tired of walking over to reset the machine every time an empty box passed, had bought a cheap fan to simply blow the empty boxes off the track before they reached the scale. In core banking, you don't need to rebuild the entire factory floor just to catch a data translation error, or have people manually review each collection. You simply need an upstream filter that intercepts duplicate instructions before they ever reach your core systems. ## A simple approach to DebiCheck duplicate collections Rather than building an expensive, slow, manual review system, [Electrum DebiCheck](https://www.electrumsoftware.com/schemes/debicheck) adds an intelligent, modular Collections Engine connected to your stack through a single integration. One of its functions is detecting duplicates before it sends information to the Mandate Management Engine for verification. Acting as that upstream filter, the P4 Collections Engine intercepts duplicates before they create friction on your ledger. ### Fixing duplicate collections in DebiCheck - Real-time UETR matching: The engine validates incoming messages against the UETR. Powered by cloud-native scaling, it can run every validation check for each transaction type with minimal latency. A separate management system would handle mandate duplicates, keeping each system focused on its own concerns and ensuring reliability for both. - Selective bulk file parsing: Rather than rejecting an entire batch because of a few duplicate transactions, the engine parses individual files within a bulk request, filters out duplicates, and lets valid transactions pass through. - Core message enrichment: If you want your legacy core system to handle duplicate checks, the solution enriches translated messages, giving your existing setup the exact fields it needs to verify transactions. ## How to fix duplicate collections in DebiCheck The simple solve to duplicate collections in DebiCheck is to partner with Electrum and [let us handle the complexities](https://blog.electrum.co.za/why-debicheck-complexity-is-worth-it) of ISO 20022 messaging so you can focus on delivering your customers more value. Electrum is using our more than 200 years of collective payments experience, and our close relationships with our partners and the broader industry to create solutions for the collections landscape. You can see how we’re approaching these challenges in our eBook, [Decoding Modern Collections](https://www.electrumsoftware.com/insights/decoding-modern-collections). ![Sam Ancer](https://blog.electrum.co.za/hubfs/SamAncer.jpeg) Sam Ancer Sam is a Content Writer at Electrum. He graduated from UWC with a Masters degree in Philosophy. He enjoys discovering the complexities and intricacies of payments and how they shape our world. When he is not reading and writing about next-generation cloud-native payments software, he spends time with his wife and daughter. [More posts by  Sam Ancer](https://blog.electrum.co.za/author/sam-ancer) # Electrum Newsletter Quarterly insights and news to help you keep up with the latest changes in the payments landscape [![Electrum](https://blog.electrum.co.za/hs-fs/hubfs/Electrum_October2023/Images/footer-logo.png?width=500&height=150&name=footer-logo.png "Electrum")](https://www.electrum.co.za/) ###### Company - [Trust](https://trust.electrumsoftware.com/) - [About us](https://www.electrum.co.za/about-us) - [Press Releases](https://www.electrum.co.za/press-releases) - [Jobs and Opportunities](https://www.electrum.co.za/careers) - [Interview Process](https://www.electrum.co.za/careers/interview-process) ###### Clearing House Payments - [PayShap](https://www.electrum.co.za/schemes/payshap) - [Real-Time Clearing](https://www.electrum.co.za/schemes/real-time-clearing) - [EFT Debit & Credit](https://www.electrum.co.za/schemes/electronic-funds-transfer) - [Account Verification Services](https://www.electrum.co.za/schemes/account-verification-services) ###### Value-Added Services - 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