The money left your account. It never arrived. Now what?
A transfer that fails, stalls, or reverses late all look the same from where you’re sitting — an app showing “pending” and a debit alert with no matching credit on the other end. The bank has to trace the record before anyone can tell you why.
Resist Sending It Again
Confirm the beneficiary actually didn’t receive the money before you try a second time. Two unresolved requests running at once is how a duplicate transfer happens — and now you’re chasing two problems instead of one.
What to Save Before You Complain
- Transaction or session reference
- Date and exact time
- Amount
- Sending and receiving institutions
- Beneficiary name
- Status shown in the app
- Debit alert or receipt
Keep this off social media. Full account numbers and reference codes posted publicly are exactly what a scammer is hoping to find.
Complain to the Sending Institution First
Use the bank’s own app, website, branch, or verified support line — not a number from a forwarded message. State plainly whether the beneficiary was credited, and ask for a complaint reference number before you hang up. A screenshot someone else sent you isn’t proof of anything; only the bank’s own transaction record counts.
Then Follow It Through
Keep every date, reply, and reference number in one place. The CBN’s process starts with the institution itself — if it doesn’t resolve things within the applicable window, escalation through the CBN Consumer Protection process is the next step, not before.
One Red Flag That Means Stop Immediately
No genuine resolution process will ever ask for your PIN, password, or one-time code. None. If someone claiming to help asks for remote access to your phone, or tells you to send money to a “recovery agent” first, that’s not resolution — that’s the actual scam.
Confirm the final status. Keep the reference number. Start with the bank that sent the payment, not the one that’s supposed to receive it. A clear written trail moves faster than a dozen phone calls ever will.
