QCOSTARICA – Sinpe Móvil has become one of the most used systems for transferring money in Costa Rica, but you have to be very careful when entering the data, otherwise you may make a mistake and send the money to another person.
If you do, do you know how get it back?
The first option is to write (send a text message) to the person to whom the money was wrongly sent and ask for a refund.
There may be good faith and the recipient has the option to reject the payment or return the money.
However, if this is not the case and the recipient of the phone number to which the money was sent rather blocks or ignores you (does not answer), you should as soon as possible go to your bank or call them to request to cancel the transfer transaction.
However, this can be tricky as the Sinpe Móvil is an almost instantaneous transfer and it can be hard to stop once it’s done.
There is a fund claim service that is developed as a protection measure for users of SINPE (Sistema Nacional de Pagos Electrónicos) services, since they have the possibility of presenting claims when unauthorized debits are applied to their IBAN accounts, or when the respective processed credits are not made or if they were credited (posted) late.
The claim must be made, in the first instance, with your financial institution. If the financial entity does not serve you, the claim must be filed with the Departamento Sistema Nacional de Pagos Electrónicos de la División Sistemas de Pago del Banco Central de Costa Rica. (Department of the National System of Electronic Payments of the Payment Systems Division of the Central Bank of Costa Rica).
If you received a deposit into your account by mistake, do not spend the money. Although it is not your fault, surely the owner will be looking for it. Contact your bank and check where the deposit came from. If you use what is not yours, you could be responsible for some legal action.
The sender has up to 30 calendar days, counted from the date on which the transfer was processed, to request the claim from their financial institution.
Once this period has expired, the claim will be considered untimely.
Misates do happen. However, banks, through their application (app), allows the sender to check the details of the transfer to make sure that the money is being sent to the right person and for the right amount.
