Payment Recall
A payment recall is a request by the sending institution to recover or stop a transfer after it has been released. A recall is not guaranteed because the funds may already have been credited, withdrawn or made subject to the beneficiary bank’s procedures.
A recall is a request, sent by the payer's bank through the payment network, asking the receiving institutions to stop a transfer or send the funds back. Payers usually request one after discovering an error, such as a wrong account number or a duplicate payment, or after realizing they have been the victim of payment diversion fraud or business email compromise.
Whether a recall succeeds depends on timing and on the receiving side. If the funds have not yet been credited, the beneficiary bank may be able to return them. Once they are in the beneficiary's account, the bank generally needs the account holder's consent or a legal basis to debit it, and in a fraud case the money may already have been moved on. The returned amount can also be reduced by fees and exchange differences.
Speed matters most. In a suspected fraud, the payer should contact its bank immediately, ask for a recall and request that the beneficiary bank be alerted, and report the incident to the relevant authorities. Keeping the UETR and payment details at hand makes the request faster to raise. Prevention, through independent verification of bank details, remains far more reliable than recovery.
In practice
A recall is never guaranteed. Funds already credited, withdrawn or moved on may not be recoverable through the banking system, and the amount returned can be lower than the amount sent.
Example
An importer sends $95,000 to new bank details received by email and learns two hours later that the supplier never changed its account. The importer's bank raises a recall the same day; the beneficiary bank freezes what remains in the account, but only part of the funds can be returned.
Commonly confused with
| Term | How it differs |
|---|---|
| Returned Payment | A recall is initiated by the payer asking for funds back. A returned payment is sent back by a bank because the transfer could not be completed. |
See also
- Returned PaymentA returned payment is a transfer sent back toward the payer because it could not be completed or accepted. The returned amount may be reduced by fees or foreign-exchange differences incurred during the original and return journeys.
- Payment InvestigationA payment investigation is a formal inquiry into a delayed, missing, rejected, misapplied or incorrectly processed transfer. Banks may exchange messages to verify routing, beneficiary details, compliance holds, fees or the disposition of funds.
- Payment TraceA payment trace is a request to identify the current location and status of a transfer. It commonly uses the payment message, UETR, value date, beneficiary details and intermediary information to follow the transaction.
- Payment Diversion FraudPayment diversion fraud redirects a legitimate payment to an account controlled by a fraudster. It commonly involves altered invoices, compromised communications or false instructions announcing a change in beneficiary bank details.