This transaction set is used to request the cancellation of a previously issued payment. A payer—typically a company’s accounts payable department or a payment processor—sends a Payment Cancellation Request to a receiving financial institution, bank, or payment handler to reverse or stop a payment that has already been initiated. The request is usually sent after a payment has been submitted but before it has cleared, or when a duplicate payment is discovered. The three key segments that carry the essential information are the PCR (Payment Cancellation Request), which identifies the payment to be cancelled; the DTM (Date/Time Reference), which provides dates relevant to the original payment or the cancellation request itself; and the AMT (Monetary Amount), which specifies the dollar amount of the payment being cancelled.

For example, Acme Manufacturing discovers it has accidentally issued a check for $50,000 to Supplier ABC when the invoice had already been paid by ACH transfer the previous week. Acme’s controller immediately sends a Payment Cancellation Request to First National Bank, referencing the original check number and payment date in the PCR segment, noting the current date in the DTM segment, and specifying the $50,000 cancellation amount in the AMT segment. First National Bank receives the 829 transaction, verifies that the check has not yet cleared, and stops payment on it, confirming the cancellation back to Acme.