The Recipient's Bank Rejected My International Transfer

Why a receiving bank rejects a correctly-entered payment

The most common causes are on the recipient's end, not yours: the account has been closed since you last used those details, the name on the account doesn't match closely enough to the name you entered, the account is dormant or restricted, or the receiving bank's own compliance checks flag the incoming payment for a reason unrelated to your transfer. None of these are things the sending provider can always detect before sending the money — many corridors don't support a real-time account-validity check the way domestic payment rails do.

What happens to the money when this occurs

When a receiving bank won't accept a transfer, it doesn't disappear — it's returned to the sending provider, who then needs to reconcile the returned funds with your original transfer before refunding or re-processing you. This can take noticeably longer than the original transfer did, because the funds effectively make a full round trip through whatever network carried them there in the first place.

This is where SWIFT returns differ from local-network returns

How and how much of your money comes back can depend on the payment route the transfer used. Wise's own guidance on a related scenario (getting recipient bank details wrong) states plainly: "if you're paying by Swift and your recipient's bank returns the money to us, you can only get a refund" — not a straight resend using corrected details without setting the transfer up again. A transfer sent through a provider's own local payment network (rather than SWIFT) is more likely to be resendable directly once corrected details are confirmed, though this varies by provider and corridor.

Correspondent banks can take a cut on the way back, too

If the original payment travelled through the SWIFT correspondent-banking network (see our separate guide to intermediary bank fees on SWIFT transfers), a returned payment can pass back through the same chain of banks — and each of those banks may deduct its own handling fee on the way, meaning the amount that comes back to you is sometimes less than what was originally sent. This isn't unique to any one provider; it's a property of how SWIFT-routed payments work in both directions.

What you can do while it's being resolved

1. Confirm with your recipient, directly and separately from your transfer provider, whether their account is genuinely open, in the name you used, and able to receive international payments.

2. Ask your provider's support team for the specific reason code the receiving bank gave for the rejection, if one was provided — this tells you whether it's a fixable detail (name, account number) or something the recipient needs to resolve with their own bank first.

3. Don't resend the same payment with the same details while the first one is still being returned — wait for confirmation the funds are back with your provider, then correct whatever caused the rejection before trying again.

How long a return typically takes

There's no single published timeframe that applies across every provider and corridor for how long a rejected payment takes to work its way back — it depends on the payment network used, the countries involved, and how quickly the receiving bank processes the return on its end. Providers generally recommend checking your transfer's live tracking status rather than assuming a fixed number of business days, and contacting support if the status hasn't changed after the estimate you were originally given has passed.

Why would a recipient's bank reject a payment if I entered everything correctly?

The most common reasons sit on the recipient's end: a closed or dormant account, a name that doesn't match the account records closely enough, or the receiving bank's own compliance checks — none of which the sending provider can always detect before the transfer is sent.

Do I get my full amount back if the payment is rejected?

Not always. If the payment travelled via SWIFT, correspondent banks along the route can deduct their own fees on the way back, meaning the returned amount can be less than what you originally sent.

Can I just resend the payment with corrected details straight away?

It depends on the payment route. A SWIFT-routed payment that's rejected and returned typically has to be refunded and set up again as a new transfer, rather than simply redirected. A payment sent via a provider's own local network can sometimes be resent more directly — check with your specific provider.

How do I find out exactly why the payment was rejected?

Ask your provider's support team for the rejection reason code from the receiving bank, if one was passed along. This tells you whether it's something fixable on your side (like a typo) or an issue the recipient needs to sort out with their own bank.

Is this the same as sending money to the wrong account by mistake?

No — that's a sender-side error (see our separate guide on sending money to the wrong bank account). This is a rejection by the recipient's own bank on a payment that may have been entered correctly.