Bank sends wrong person $ and it immediately has to be returned or charged will be filed. If I Zelle the wrong person, I am straight SOL. Why the difference?

Question

Exactly what title says, why is there no way to recoup zelle definitely or wire transfer(maybe?) but if banks send money to wrong person there are severe penalties for not returning.

In: 650

Answer 1

As others have said, there are different payment rails each with differing rules. For wire transfers, once that money is gone, it’s gone. The originating institution can issue a recall, but that’s really just a request and the receiver has no obligation to give that back. For ACH, the originator has 5 days to reverse a transaction. Provided it’s for one of the allowed reasons, sending to wrong account is one of them, the receiver is obligated to give back the money. These are NACHA rules. Zelle isn’t a new payment rail, but really just an ACH transfer. You should be as the originator allowed to reverse the transaction if you sent to the wrong party.

Edit: I just read Zelle’s TOS and looks like they state that you are SOL if you send to the wrong person. That is a choice they are making. The originating institution 100% has the right per NACHA guidelines to reverse that transaction if sent to the wrong account.