What can we do if we make a mistake while making a transfer?
14/12/2021
Payment methods other than cash, such as transfers, are becoming increasingly popular, whether to pay rent, make a purchase or even pay a friend what we owe them for dinner. We often make these payments using our devices (computer, tablet, mobile phone, etc.) via a website or the bank’s app.
In the current digital age, these remote transactions are performed in the blink of an eye. Sometimes we quickly enter the beneficiary’s account number (IBAN) digit by digit; others, we reuse previous transfers and even record frequently used account numbers in a list.
When these are the accounts of friends, relatives or companies we deal with on a regular basis, these tools can be very helpful. However, saving the account of a person or company we once made a one-off transfer to could cause us some trouble.
The same is true for Bizum, but the account number is linked to a mobile phone number, and we usually select the recipient from our contact list.
These immediate transactions have major advantages, but we must not lose sight of the fact that transfers are irrevocable payment orders. This means that once we order the bank to send money, the order cannot be cancelled and the amounts credited to the beneficiary account cannot be recovered by our bank without the beneficiary’s consent or the required court order.
Thus, if we make a mistake when entering the destination account number of the transfer, our bank will have to make arrangements with the beneficiary bank to try to recover the transferred funds. But whether or not they are ultimately successful will depend on what the beneficiary who received the money decides. Once the beneficiary has given consent, the banks will able to reverse the transaction and the money will be returned to our account. If the beneficiary refuses to return the money and keeps it, we can always go to court over a possible misappropriation of the funds, with the aim of recovering our money.
That is why, when making a transfer and before validating it with the corresponding security code, it is advisable to carefully check (once, twice or as many times as needed) the beneficiary account number we have entered and make sure that it belongs to the person we wish to send the money to.
