Can money transferred by mistake through the bank be recovered?

I accidentally transferred 20 million VND to the wrong bank, even though the account number and recipient name were correct. Will I lose that money? (Anh Quoc, Ho Chi Minh City)

On September 13th, I transferred nearly 20 million VND from Agribank to another bank account. When the recipient reported not receiving the money, I realized I had transferred it to the wrong bank (instead of China Trust Bank, I transferred it to China Construction Bank HCM). I want to ask if transferring to the correct account number and name but with the wrong bank name will result in the loss of the money? If so, how long will it take to get it back?

Reply:

In most cases of incorrect bank transfers, customers do not lose the transferred amount but have to wait a long time for verification, which can be as quick as one day but usually takes 7-10 days. In addition, incorrect transfers still incur fees as usual.

Incorrect account number or wrong beneficiary name

In this case, whether transferring money at the counter or via Internet Banking, the transaction will fail because the system defaults to requiring both pieces of information to match. If transferring within the same system, simply entering the account number will display the recipient's name for the sender to verify the information.

However, when transferring funds between banks using the standard method, you may not be immediately prompted for the beneficiary's name after entering the account number. Therefore, if you enter the wrong beneficiary name, the destination bank will send an internal message to the sending bank, which will then proceed to transfer the funds to your account. However, this process, due to the need for verification, can take several days. In some cases, it may take 7-10 days or more.

In principle, account numbers are unique across the entire banking system, so most banks will also verify the beneficiary's name to verify the transaction.

There is now a fast interbank money transfer method available 24/7 via card number (instead of account number) that can minimize errors caused by entering the wrong recipient name. As soon as the card number is entered, the system returns the cardholder's name, eliminating the need to enter the bank name or branch name.

Correct account number and recipient name, but incorrect bank/branch.

On September 13th, a customer in Ho Chi Minh City transferred nearly 20 million VND from Agribank to several accounts at other banks. After a few days, the account holder reported not having received the money. The customer then checked again and discovered that they had transferred the money to the correct account number and recipient name, but had mistakenly transferred it from China Trust Bank instead of China Trust Bank.China Construction BankIn this type of case, the payment centers at the banks all confirm that customers will not lose money, but will have to wait for the relevant parties to investigate and process the refund.

Another fairly common mistake is mistaking the bank branch name. To transfer 4 million VND from Hanoi to her son, a student in Nam Dinh, Ms. Nhiem (Hanoi) spent almost a week and paid transfer fees twice. Four days after her first transfer at the counter, the bank employee informed her that the money had been returned because she had mistakenly written the branch name as Hung Vuong (Phu Tho) instead of Nam Dinh. In this case, although no money was lost, the time was wasted, and the bank still charged the usual fees.

In fact, when transferring money via Internet Banking, according to the deputy general director of a joint-stock bank, if transferring to a regular account number, the account number and sender's name must be correct, but the branch name does not have to be accurate. Therefore, if you don't remember the exact branch name, you can still enter it to the Head Office because, in reality, the payment system at each bank doesn't divide into individual branches but only into payment centers in the two regions.

The account number, beneficiary, and bank are correct, but there's a problem with the account.

Some customers have encountered this situation when transferring money to a friend without realizing that the recipient's account has been frozen. If the recipient's account has been permanently frozen (closed), the money will be returned to the sender after a few days.

However, if the recipient's account is only frozen (for some reason), the money will remain held at the recipient's bank, and the beneficiary will have to go through the procedures with the bank to unfreeze the account and receive the money.

According to VNE