> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.equalsmoney.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# About payment references

> Learn about how different payment schemes handle payment references.

## How it works

When you [send a payment](/pages/payments/create-single-currency-payments), you can supply a reference for yourself (`payments.internalReference`) and a reference for the recipient (`payments.externalReference`).

For `payments.external.reference`, we allow a maximum of 256 characters. However, it's important to note that each payment scheme has their own reference limits and this can be as low as 18 characters. If a payment reference exceeds the limit set by the payment scheme, it will be truncated.

## Limits per payment scheme

The following table describes the maximum length allowed for the reference field, per payment scheme.

| Payment scheme                                          | Maximum length     |
| ------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------ |
| SWIFT                                                   | \<= 35 characters  |
| Faster Payments                                         | \<= 18 characters  |
| SEPA                                                    | \<= 25 characters  |
| Internal transfers (from one Equals account to another) | \<= 255 characters |