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When a bank transfer goes wrong

Your bank stopped your transfer and wants to know what the money is for

You tried to send money to your mother, or your brother, or your aunt back home. The app stopped it. Or the bank rang and asked who this person is and what the money is for. It feels like being treated as a suspect for helping your own family.

In most cases you are not under suspicion. The bank is checking that nobody has tricked you. Answer its questions briefly and truthfully, and the money usually moves the same day.

Why the bank stopped it

Your bank now has to help pay for the scams it lets through. The rule started on 7 October 2024. If someone tricks you into paying a scammer, your bank and the scammer's bank usually have to pay you back, up to £85,000. The rule covers payments from one UK account to another. So your bank has a strong reason to stop any payment that looks like a scam.

A payment to family looks a lot like one. Scammers pretend to be a son with a new phone number, or a relative in trouble. The payments that get stopped most match that story:

  • a new payee, or the first payment to someone
  • an amount much bigger than you usually send
  • the words "loan", "investment" or "emergency"
  • a payment abroad

Lending your mother £10,000 ticks three of those. The bank cannot see that she is your mother. It only sees the pattern.

For a payment to another UK account, the bank can hold it for up to four business days if it has reasonable grounds to suspect fraud. It must tell you why, as soon as possible. A transfer abroad can be stopped too, under the bank's own terms.

What to say so the money moves

The questions are nearly always the same. Who is this person? How do you know them? What is the money for? Did anyone ask you to send it, or tell you what to say?

  1. Say who she is: "She is my mother. She lives in Lagos."
  2. Say what is normal: "I send her money most months. This is more than usual."
  3. Say what the money is for: "A loan for her rent deposit. She will pay it back over a year."
  4. Say no one else is involved: "Nobody asked me to send this. I decided it myself."

Vague or angry answers keep the hold on. "It is private" may be true, but the person on the phone has a checklist. If they cannot tick it, they cannot release the payment.

Catch

If anyone tells you what to say to the bank, or tells you to hide what the money is for, stop. That is the clearest scam sign there is. A real family member does not need you to lie to your bank.

What you do not have to share

You do not have to prove how your mother will spend the money. No rule makes you show her rent receipts or her shopping list. The bank needs to be sure a scammer is not behind the payment. It is not checking her spending.

But the limit works both ways. You can refuse to answer, and the bank can then refuse to send. When a bank refuses a payment, the law says it must tell you, give the reason if it can, and tell you how to fix any mistake of fact. Sometimes the law stops it from giving a reason at all, for example when it suspects money laundering.

So give enough for the checklist, and keep the rest of the family's business to yourself.

If the bank still says no

  • The payment is held and nobody has called you. Ring the fraud line on the back of your card. Ask what they need to release it.
  • The bank has refused it. Ask for the refusal and the reason in writing. Then make a formal complaint.
  • Your whole account is frozen. That is a different problem. Use the letter for a frozen account.

The bank has 15 business days to answer a complaint about a payment, or up to 35 in unusual cases if it writes to tell you why. If the answer does not help, take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service within six months. It is free.

Know what to expect. The Ombudsman usually backs a bank that followed its own terms on suspected fraud. It looks harder at how the bank treated you: whether it explained, kept you waiting, or got things wrong. That can mean some money for the trouble. It rarely forces the payment through.

If the money must move today, send it another way: a different bank account, or a transfer app. The app may ask the same questions. Wise shows a scam warning and asks what the transfer is for on some payments, and may ask for documents on a large one. If an app's checks hold your money for days, use the letter for a stuck verification.

If you send abroad, know this too. The refund rules cover payments from one UK account to another. If a scammer tricks you into an international transfer, the bank does not have to pay you back. So the questions on money sent abroad are no gentler. Answer them the same way: who she is, what it is for, and that you decided it yourself.

Corrections

None so far. If we get something wrong, the fix is dated here.

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