RJCT - is one of 3 major status codes of a SWIFT payment. It is a short from Rejected - by some reason one of the banks in the chain has decided that this payment cannot be executed and must be returned back to the sender. In this article we will cover key questions about RJCT status code.
Why Is My SWIFT Transfer Rejected?
There are different reasons why international wire transfers been rejected. The most common:
- Wrong account number or beneficiary's name. In some cases wrong address also could lead to rejection.
- Insufficient details in reason of the payment. Banks rely on payment details to make an initial screening of transaction.
- Country-specific requirements for SWIFT payment were not met. Some countries, like UAE, require reason code to put in SWIFT payment details.
- Routing failure: wrong correspondent bank details provided by sender or sender's bank's correspondent was not able to build a path automatically.
- Internal policy of the bank: high-risk geography, questionable sender's bank, high risk of sanctions violation.
Normally, bank returns a short reason of rejection which sender can check with his/her bank. However most of the time not much details provided, for example: “policy”, or, even worse, it doesn't actually match the true reason why it happened.
Will Payment Change a Status After RJCT?
If you track your payment with a basic SWIFT-tracker, like TrackMySwift, unfortunately you won't see any changes after payment has been rejected. It won't change status back to ACSP. Payment should automatically return back to sender's account. If that doesn't happen in 3-4 weeks, sender can ask his/her bank to make a re-call of the payment or run a payment investigation.
Please be patient, on average it takes 1 month to receive back a rejected SWIFT payment since initial wire.
Which Bank Has Rejected a Payment?
If sender's bank is a SWIFT GPI participant, sender can ask his/her bank to provide detailed SWIFT GPI tracking of the payment. It contains information about the whole chain and which particular bank has rejected the payment.
If you track your payment via TrackMySwift it is a bit more challenging. Most of the time you have three suspects:
- sender's correspondent bank
- receiver's correspondent bank
- receiver's bank.
In case tracker shows you details from any particular bank (it will let you know which one) you can understand if it successfully passed it or not.
In case tracker doesn't show any details, your only option is to communicate with the banks: sender can ask his/her bank, receiver can ask his/her bank.
How to Resend Your Payment Correctly?
Check beneficiary's details and make sure you put correct account number, name and address. It should 100% match details which beneficiary's bank does have on file.
Put details of your payment. GOODS or INV # is not enough in a modern world of compliance. Bank must be sure it is a legitimate payment. Help them. Examples of proper payment details:
- SPARE PARTS FOR AUTO. INV #, 2023-10-11, CNTRCT #
- PYMNT FOR APARTMENT. FOR PRSNL USE. CNTRCT #
Change beneficiary's correspondent bank. Often banks have more than one correspondent bank for a selected currency. Find the list of correspondent banks and adjust the route. Normally, large providers like Chase or Citi preferred. Avoid Bank of America whenever it possible.
Change the currency. Usually when you change the currency (from EUR to USD, for example) you change the whole payment chain. Ideally you need the shortest path from a sender to a beneficiary. You can use SOWSOF Route Planner in order to find one.
Convert your international payment into a local one. Fintech projects, like Wise, can be topped up in one currency and send in another one using local settlement. For example, if you reside in Europe, you can top it up with EUR, convert to USD and send an ACH payment to USA bank. No SWIFT involved, no correspondent banks.
Stay informed on cross-border payments! Follow me on Twitter for the latest news and trends.