Not upheld: service failure - delayed recovery of misdirected international payment complaint against Wise Payments Limited

Decision detail

Summary

Mr B complained that Wise Payments Limited took too long to trace and refund two international payments he made with incorrect beneficiary details, and that Wise should have identified the error before sending the payments. The payments totalling £570 were rejected by the intermediary bank and took over 10 weeks to be returned to Mr B's account, resulting in a £20.43 loss due to currency conversion fees. The ombudsman found that customers are responsible for providing accurate beneficiary information and that Wise took appropriate recovery steps including amendment requests and recalls once notified of the error. The ombudsman determined that delays were due to intermediary banks' responses and that Wise could not reasonably be expected to verify account details, therefore the complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman determined that the onus is on the customer to provide accurate beneficiary information and that it is not reasonable to expect Wise to verify whether account numbers or currency details are correct. Wise's customer agreement clearly sets out this responsibility. Once Mr B notified Wise of the error, Wise took appropriate steps including amendment requests and recalls. The delay in recovery was due to reliance on intermediary banks' responses, which Wise could not control or provide definite timescales for. The complaint handling element was found to be outside the ombudsman's jurisdiction as it is not a regulated activity under DISP rules.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website