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What happens to a euro payment that is not accepted

A Reject, a Return, a Recall, or a Request for Recall by the Originator. Four categories, four deadlines, and one rule underneath: a sent payment cannot simply be pulled back.

Reviewed by the Tradergy editorial team · September 2026
In short

A euro credit transfer that is not accepted falls into one of four categories named by the 2025 Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) Credit Transfer Scheme Rulebook: a Reject before settlement, a Return within three Banking Business Days after settlement, a Recall started only by the provider that entered the transfer into the scheme, or a Request for Recall by the Originator, answered within 15 Banking Business Days. None is a guaranteed refund.

Four things can happen to a euro credit transfer the receiving side does not accept, and the scheme rulebook names each: a Reject, a Return, a Recall, or a Request for Recall by the Originator. Each has its own deadline, and none is a refund the sender can insist on. For the route itself, see how international money transfers work.

Key Takeaways

  • The 2025 SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme Rulebook, issued by the European Payments Council on 5 October 2025, names four categories and four deadlines.
  • Inside the scheme, asking for a settled payment back is usually a Request for Recall, and the rulebook obliges the provider raising it to say the money coming back depends on the beneficiary's consent. Fraud is one of the three reasons that produce a Recall instead.
  • Article 80(1) of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 says a payment order cannot be revoked once the payer's provider has received it. The directive binds providers in the Union, so on this corridor it reaches the euro-area leg.
  • Article 2(4) of that directive removes Article 89, the refund duty, where only one provider is in the Union.
  • Verification of Payee does not run on this transfer: Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 applies only where both providers are in the Union.

What are the four categories, and who starts each one?

The European Payments Council owns the SEPA Credit Transfer scheme, and its 2025 rulebook (EPC125-05, version 1.1, issued 5 October 2025) sets out four ways a transfer leaves normal execution. In its language the party that starts the transfer inside the scheme is the Originator PSP and the receiver's the Beneficiary PSP, PSP meaning payment service provider.

Category Who starts it What the 2025 rulebook times, and how long
Reject - not accepted before inter-PSP settlement Originator PSP, or between providers Must be transmitted the same day where possible, at the latest the next Banking Business Day
Return - diverted after settlement, for a valid reason such as a wrong account number or a closed account Beneficiary PSP Must be transmitted within three Banking Business Days after the Settlement Date
Recall - the sending provider asks for the transaction to be cancelled Only the Originator PSP Time to RAISE it, not to resolve it: 10 Banking Business Days for a duplicate or a technical problem, 13 months for a fraudulently originated instruction. The Beneficiary PSP then has 15 Banking Business Days to answer, and may refuse
Request for Recall by the Originator - the customer asks for the money back for any other reason Originator PSP, after the Originator asks Time to ANSWER, not to pay: the Beneficiary PSP must respond within 15 Banking Business Days, and a response may be a refusal

The three Recall reasons are a closed list: duplicate sending, a technical problem producing an erroneous transaction, and a fraudulent instruction. Only one Recall and one Request for Recall may ever be sent. A Beneficiary PSP has 15 Banking Business Days to respond and is in breach of the rulebook if it does not; where the beneficiary has not replied, the reason sent back must be "No response from the Beneficiary". A Return cannot reverse a completed payment either: once the account has been credited, a new SEPA Credit Transfer applies instead. The rulebook also lets the Beneficiary PSP decide to charge a fee to the Originator PSP.

Why can a sent payment not be pulled back?

Article 80(1) of Directive (EU) 2015/2366, the second Payment Services Directive, states that the payment service user shall not revoke a payment order once the payer's provider has received it. The directive binds providers in the Union, so on this corridor that rule governs the euro-area leg. After the time limits, Article 80(5) allows revocation only where the user and the providers agree, and the payee's agreement is needed too.

Under section 4.3.2.4 the Originator PSP is obliged to inform the Originator that a Request for Recall does not guarantee the funds will be received back, and that turning the money back depends on the consent of the beneficiary.

Who that duty falls on matters here. These are scheme obligations, and they bind the institutions that participate in the scheme, whose area does not include Australia. A transfer from Australia enters the scheme through an institution inside it, and that institution is the Originator PSP for these purposes rather than the bank the sender walked into. What the sender's own bank owes them is a matter for their contract and for Australian law.

Whose rules bind whom on this payment?

The EU machinery binds the bank at the far end, not the sender's provider in Australia. Article 2(4) of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 covers a payment where only one of the two providers is located in the Union, which is this payment, and applies it only "in respect of those parts of the payment transaction which are carried out in the Union". On that footing it applies Titles III and IV with a list of exclusions, and the one that decides this page is Article 89. Six other articles go with it; the full list is in the consolidated text cited below. Article 89 is the one carrying the duty to refund without undue delay and to trace a payment free of charge. Here it is excluded.

The Australian side does not fill the space. The ePayments Code, administered by ASIC and effective 2 June 2022, is voluntary, and it runs its mistaken internet payment process between two Australian authorised deposit-taking institutions that subscribe to it, on an error in a BSB number or identifier. A euro area bank is neither. The sender's rights come from Australian law and their own contract.

Two EU rules still reach the recipient's side. Article 87 sets value dating for a credited account, so a delay should not cost interest, and Article 10(1), as replaced by Article 3(1) of Regulation (EU) 2024/886, requires funds not delivered by the end of the business day after receipt to be safeguarded away from other creditors, a duty binding payment institutions and electronic money institutions rather than banks.

A third Payment Services Directive and a Payment Services Regulation have been negotiated but not adopted, so Directive (EU) 2015/2366 remains the operative law.

What if the account number was wrong, or the name did not match?

Article 88 is not on the excluded list, so it does reach this payment, but only as far as Article 2(4) itself reaches: "in respect of those parts of the payment transaction which are carried out in the Union". Where the account number was wrong, the duty that bites is therefore the one on the euro-area side, which must cooperate in recovering the funds and pass on the information needed to collect them. The obligations Article 88 puts on a payer's own provider fall on providers inside the Union, and the sender's provider here is not one. Which strings are those identifiers is covered in who maintains the codes on a transfer.

The name check is a separate rule and does not reach this payment. Article 5c of Regulation (EU) No 260/2012, inserted by Regulation (EU) 2024/886, makes the payer's provider compare the payee's name against the account identifier and warn the payer where the two do not correspond, from 9 October 2025 in euro area member states. It blocks nothing: Article 5c(5) requires the service not to prevent the payer authorising the transfer. And Article 1(1) applies the regulation only where both providers are in the Union, so nothing checks the name on a transfer sent from Australia. The euro area bank meets the mismatch on arrival, which produces a Return.

Where to look next

Sources

General information about sending money to the euro area, not a recommendation of any provider and not a suggestion to send money. Tradergy is not a money-transfer service, keeps no account and collects no personal data. Reviewed by the Tradergy editorial team, September 2026.

Common questions

What is the difference between a Return and a Recall?

A Return is started by the receiving provider after settlement, within three Banking Business Days under the 2025 SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme Rulebook. A Recall is started by the provider that entered the transfer into the scheme, and only for duplicate sending, a technical problem or fraud.

Can a provider in Australia force a euro area bank to send money back?

No. Article 80(1) of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 says a payment order cannot be revoked once the payer's provider has received it, and within the scheme the rulebook obliges the provider that raises a Request for Recall to say it depends on the beneficiary's consent. Both are rules of the European system; a sender in Australia deals with their own bank under Australian law.

Do the EU payment rules give an Australian sender a right to a refund?

Not directly. Article 2(4) of Directive (EU) 2015/2366 covers a payment with only one provider in the Union and excludes Article 89, the refund duty. The sender's rights come from Australian law and their own contract.

How long does the receiving provider have to answer a recall request?

15 Banking Business Days, under the 2025 SEPA Credit Transfer Scheme Rulebook, which puts a provider that has not responded in that period in breach of it. Where the beneficiary has not replied, the response must read "No response from the Beneficiary".

Does the European name check apply to a transfer sent from Australia?

No. Verification of Payee comes from Article 5c of Regulation (EU) No 260/2012, inserted by Regulation (EU) 2024/886, and Article 1(1) applies it only where both providers are in the Union.