How can you get back money transferred by mistake?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

Notify your bank in writing straight away and ask it to arrange the return of the money with the bank that received it. A completed transfer cannot be cancelled and the bank cannot take the money out of the destination account without the account holder's consent or a court order. But whoever received the money is obliged to return it and, if they do not, you can claim it from them in court. In addition, since 9 October 2025, for euro transfers within the European Union your bank must check, before you give the instruction, that the payee's name matches the account. If it did not do so and the money went to someone else as a result, it is the bank that has to refund you. What your bank has to do If the transfer was made using the account number you gave, the IBAN, then in law it was correctly made and, in principle, the bank is not liable for your mistake. Even so, Spain's payment services law (the “ley de servicios de pago”) requires the bank to help you: It must make reasonable efforts to recover the money. The bank that received it is obliged to cooperate. If it does not succeed, it must give you the information it has so that you can bring a claim in court. Ask for it in writing. It may charge you for these steps, if your contract says so. Since 9 October 2025, an EU regulation has also required banks in the euro area to check, free of charge, whether the payee's name that you enter matches the holder of the IBAN. If the name does not match, or only partly matches, the bank must warn you. If you go ahead despite the warning, the mistake is yours. But if the bank did not carry out the check and the money went to someone else as a result, it must refund the amount without delay. If you did not see any warning, ask your bank in writing whether it carried out the check. If it does not reply or does not refund the money, you can complain to the bank's customer service department and then to the “Banco de España”, Spain's central bank. The obligation to return the money Anyone who receives money they had no right to collect and that was handed over to them by mistake must return it. This is what the Spanish Civil Code (“Código civil”) calls recovery of payments not due (“cobro de lo indebido”). It also applies in Catalonia, because the “Código Civil de Cataluña”, the Catalan Civil Code, does not regulate it. Normally all you need is the transfer receipt and proof that you owed that person nothing. The law presumes there was a mistake when something that was never owed is paid, although the person who received it can show that it was a gift or that they had some other reason to receive it. If you know who received it, bear the following in mind: Ask them in writing to return it, for example by “burofax” (a certified letter with proof of content). From that moment they can no longer claim that they did not know the money was not theirs and, if they do not return it, they also owe interest at the statutory rate. Having spent it without knowing it was not theirs does not, in general, release them from returning it. If they do not return it, you can claim it from them in court. Before bringing a claim you must generally try to reach an agreement, as the law has required since April 2025. In Catalonia you have ten years to claim. Under the Spanish Civil Code, which applies in most of the rest of Spain, five. A Bizum payment sent to the wrong contact cannot be cancelled either, but whoever receives it also has to return it. Can keeping the money be a crime? Anyone who knows the money is not theirs and refuses to return it, or spends it after finding out, may commit the offence of misappropriation (“apropiación indebida”). Someone who spent it without knowing commits no offence, although they still have to pay it back. That is why the written demand is useful, as it records that they already know. In any case, the normal way to recover the money is the civil claim explained above.