Transfer failures

In an ideal world, every transfer initiated in Moov’s platform would complete seamlessly as expected. However, there are instances in which transfers fail. This guide explains different transfer failure scenarios and how Moov handles them.

Transfer failures

A transfer’s status changes from pending to failed if the funds don’t reach their intended destination. A transfer could fail for a few reasons:

The source bank account does not have sufficient funds for the amount of the transfer
The transfer recipient closed their bank account so it no longer exists as a possible destination

A transfer’s status can change from pending to failed within 2 business days of when it was initiated.

Failure reasons

When a transfer fails, we communicate the reason for the transfer failure through the failureReason field in API response for a GET transfer. See a list of possible failure reasons below:

Status	Description
`source-payment-error`	A failure occurred at the source. The failure code is provided in the rail details under the source object.
`destination-payment-error`	A failure occurred at the destination. The failure code is provided in the rail details under the destination object.
`wallet-insufficient-funds`	Transfer failed due to insufficient funds in the source wallet.
`rejected-high-risk`	Transfer was flagged with potential fraud and rejected by Moov.
`processing-error`	Moov encountered an unexpected error processing the transfer.

Transfer reversals

A transfer’s status changes from completed to reversed if the funds made it to the destination, but need to be returned. A reversal scenario can occur when:

A fraudulent, unauthorized, or unrecognized charge was made
Someone used the wrong bank details to pay for goods or services

In the case of a reversal, Moov routes the funds back to the party that made an unintentional payment or was accidentally/fraudulently charged. To accomplish this, we deduct from the Moov wallet of the account that received the funds. The recipient of a transfer that’s being reversed is responsible for funding the wallet to cover the negative balance.

A transfer’s status can change from completed to reversed within 60 calendar days of when it was initiated.

Setting up webhooks for transfer status updates

Every transfer status change is an event in Moov, so you can set up webhooks to stay updated on whether or not a transfer has failed. Read our guide on webhooks to learn more.

Transfer failures