Can You Freeze a Bank Account if a Mistaken Payment is Made?

Article 11.1 of Decree 52/2024/ND-CP on non-cash payments (effective from July 1, 2024) stipulates that settlement accounts may be partially or fully frozen under the following circumstances:

– By prior agreement between the account holder and the payment service provider, or at the account holder’s request;

– Upon the decision or written request of an authorized body as per legal regulations;

– When the payment service provider detects an error or mistake in crediting the wrong customer’s settlement account, or upon the request of the payment service provider transferring the money to rectify a mistake or error compared to the payer’s payment order after crediting the recipient’s settlement account. The frozen amount must not exceed the mistaken or erroneous sum;

– When there is a request for freezing from one of the joint settlement account holders, except when there is a prior written agreement between the payment service provider and the joint settlement account holders.

Thus, based on the above regulations, people who transfer money by mistake do not have the right to request the paying bank to freeze the recipient’s account.

Can you get your money back if you transfer it to the wrong person?

If you accidentally transfer money to the wrong person, you should immediately contact your bank to verify the mistaken transaction.

The bank will then review and inspect the transaction. If it is confirmed that the transaction information is due to a bank error or discrepancy from the payment order, the bank will request to freeze the amount transferred to the recipient’s account.

If the transaction information matches the customer’s payment order, the bank does not have the authority to freeze or refund the mistakenly transferred money. Additionally, the bank is not permitted to disclose the recipient’s information to the sender, as per regulations.

However, the bank may assist by contacting the recipient and requesting their voluntary refund. If, after a while, the bank cannot reach the recipient or suspects intentional non-compliance, the sender should report the incident to the police for further assistance.