A customer swears the Überweisung went out on Friday. It's Tuesday and nothing has landed. Or someone sent an Echtzeitüberweisung, which is meant to arrive in seconds, and your account still shows nothing. Or the sender sends you a screenshot of their banking app saying 'Payee name does not match' and asks what your 'real' name is.
In most cases the money is not lost. A SEPA transfer that hasn't arrived is almost always waiting on a business day, was returned to the sender, or was stopped before it left because of the name check, a wrong IBAN or a bank security check. The first job is to work out which of those it is, and the sender's banking app usually knows.
As the receiver, your bank cannot trace a payment it has not received. N26 says this plainly: it can't investigate incoming transfers, only the sending bank can, and it suggests contacting the sending bank if a transfer is still missing after 4 business days. So start with three questions for the sender.
- Was it sent as a standard transfer or as an instant transfer (Echtzeitüberweisung, SEPA Instant)? The timings are completely different.
- What does the payment show in their app now: pending, completed, returned or cancelled?
- Did they see a warning when they sent it, such as 'Payee name does not match' or 'Unable to check payee name', or did their bank ask them to confirm the payment?
Cause 1: a standard transfer is still within its time limit
A standard SEPA Credit Transfer is not instant. The Bundesbank says that since January 2012 euro transfers within Europe may take only one banking business day, extended to a maximum of two banking business days for paper-based orders, and that the same applies whether the money stays in Germany or goes to another SEPA country. The key word is business day. Weekends don't count, and a payment made after the bank's cut-off time is treated as received the next business day.
Banks quote their own practical figures. Bank of Ireland says standard transfers can take between one and two business days to reach the payee's bank, with a cut-off of 2.30pm in the Republic of Ireland, Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays; later payments are processed the next working day. N26 says incoming regular SEPA transfers arrive within a maximum of 2 working days, or up to 3 if sent just before a weekend or holiday.
Euro settlement between banks also pauses on TARGET closing days. The ECB lists them for 2026 as 1 January, 3 April (Good Friday), 6 April (Easter Monday), 1 May, 25 December and 26 December. Irish bank holidays and German regional public holidays can add further non-working days at individual banks. A transfer sent on Thursday evening before Easter can therefore legitimately arrive the following Tuesday.
- Count business days from the day after the cut-off, not from the moment the sender pressed 'Send'.
- If the time is up and nothing has arrived, the sender should ask their bank for a trace, quoting the date, amount and the IBAN they used.
Cause 2: the instant transfer failed and went back
An Echtzeitüberweisung either arrives in seconds or it doesn't happen. The EU Instant Payments Regulation gives the payee's bank 10 seconds from receipt of the payment order to make the money available and confirm it. If the sender's bank gets no confirmation in that time, it must restore the sender's account to how it would have been had the transaction not taken place. N26 describes exactly that: if the beneficiary's bank doesn't confirm within 10 seconds, the transfer is cancelled and the money returned.
Euro-area banks have had to receive instant payments since 9 January 2025 and send them since 9 October 2025, according to the ECB, and the European Payments Council says the service runs 24 hours a day on all calendar days, apart from short planned maintenance that banks must announce in advance. So 'instant isn't available on weekends' is no longer a valid excuse in the euro area.
- Ask the sender to check whether the payment shows as returned or cancelled. If so, they can simply send it again.
- If it keeps failing, they can send a standard transfer instead and wait the normal business days.
- Check the sender's own limit. The regulation lets every customer set their own maximum for instant transfers, per day or per transaction, and change it at any time. A low limit they set months ago, or one their bank set, can stop a large payment.
Cause 3: the name check stopped the sender
Since 9 October 2025, euro-area banks must offer Verification of Payee (in German, Empfängerüberprüfung) on every credit transfer, standard and instant. Many banks, including Sparkasse and Bank of Ireland, switched it on from 5 October 2025. Before the sender confirms, their bank asks your bank whether the name they typed matches the account holder for that IBAN, and shows the result.
Bank of Ireland's app shows four results: 'Name and account details match', 'Payee name does not match exactly' (the correct name is shown), 'Payee name does not match' and 'Unable to check payee name'. The check doesn't stop anyone paying, but the regulation requires banks to warn that paying anyway might send the money to an account not held by the intended payee, and Bank of Ireland says that if you pay after a warning it will not be responsible for your loss. Many careful senders simply cancel, which is why a payment you were promised never shows up.
- Receiver: give senders the exact account holder name as your bank holds it, not a nickname, shop name or abbreviation. N26 says business account holders can only receive transfers in their own full name.
- Joint accounts: Bank of Ireland says the check passes if the name matches at least one account holder.
- Sender: if you saved a payee before October 2025 and it now fails, Bank of Ireland suggests deleting it and adding it again with the correct name.
- Never accept a 'close match' or 'no match' because a message told you to. Bank of Ireland lists that pressure as a sign of fraud. Confirm on a phone number you already trust.
Cause 4: a wrong IBAN
If the IBAN doesn't exist, the payment is rejected and comes back. Sparkasse says money sent to an unassigned IBAN is usually credited back automatically within about three working days. N26 lists an incorrect IBAN among the reasons a SEPA transfer fails.
The worse case is a typo that happens to be someone else's valid account. Sparkasse says that if you entered a wrong IBAN or the wrong recipient, you are generally liable yourself. German law, § 675y BGB, still requires the sender's bank to make reasonable efforts to get the money back, requires the recipient's bank to share the information needed for that, and, if recovery fails, requires the sender's bank to give the sender on written request the information they need to claim it themselves. The bank may charge for this if the account terms say so.
Cause 5: a fraud or compliance check is holding it
Banks can delay a payment while they check it. N26 says transactions flagged as suspicious may need documentation of where the money came from, and that this 'can result in the credit being delayed or not taking place'. Bank of Ireland limits a newly added payee to €1,000 or £1,000 a day during the first 48 hours. A large first payment to a new seller is exactly what these checks catch.
If the sender's app shows the payment as held, or their bank has asked them to confirm it, only the sender can release it, usually by answering the bank's message or calling them. N26 also lists a missed confirmation push message as a reason transfers fail.
Sent it in error? How a recall works
Act within minutes, not days. Sparkasse says a recall (Rückruf) can only be started while the payment is still being processed, that recalls are charged regardless of the result, and that Echtzeitüberweisungen cannot be recalled at all. Once the money has been credited, the recipient's side has to cooperate. For a duplicate payment, Sparkasse suggests asking the payee directly for a return transfer, which is often the fastest route.
- Call your bank or use its online recall option immediately, with the date, amount and IBAN.
- If the money reached a stranger, ask your bank in writing for the information it holds so you can pursue the claim yourself.
- If you think you were tricked into paying, tell your bank straight away that you think it is fraud; don't wait for a recall to fail first.
Prevent it next time
Most missing transfers come from a few avoidable gaps: a name that doesn't match, a payment sent at the wrong moment, or bank details nobody double-checked.
- Put your exact account holder name next to your IBAN on invoices, so the name check returns a match.
- Ask customers to use Echtzeitüberweisung or SEPA Instant if it matters that the money arrives today, and to check their own instant limit before a large payment.
- Avoid relying on a standard transfer sent after the cut-off on a Friday or before a bank holiday.
- Tell customers to confirm any change of bank details with you by phone. Changed account details are one of the fraud signs Bank of Ireland lists.
If you'd rather not wait on transfers
If you sell to customers and chasing Überweisungen is eating your week, a free OneSol page lets you list your products, and on Pro ($9/month) customers can pay by card through your own Stripe, PayPal or Square account, with the money going straight to you. OneSol doesn't take SEPA transfers itself, so this is an option alongside your IBAN, not a replacement for it.