Also known as: funds transfer · fund transfer · fund transfers · wire transfer
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A series of transactions beginning with the originator's payment order and intended to make payment to the beneficiary. The transfer is completed upon acceptance of a payment order by the beneficiary's bank.
Flora Ford fell behind on her mortgage payments to Fairfield Bank. Two days before the scheduled foreclosure sale she arranged for an electronic funds transfer covering the missed installments. The bank received the funds in time and the foreclosure proceedings stopped.
Fabian Flynn instructed Wachovia Bank to wire funds to an account he believed belonged to a business associate. The bank executed the order using the account number supplied even though the name did not match. Flynn later discovered the mismatch and sued the bank for negligence.
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A funds transfer is completed when the beneficiary's bank accepts a payment order for the benefit of the beneficiary named in the originator's order.
Article 4A does not apply to any part of a funds transfer governed by the Electronic Fund Transfer Act except for certain remittance transfers that are not electronic fund transfers under that statute.
If the beneficiary's bank does not know the name and number refer to different persons it may rely on the number as the proper identification and need not verify whether they match.
A receiving bank that issues an order for more than the sender's order may still collect the correct amount from the sender if the conditions of acceptance are met and may recover any excess from the beneficiary under mistake and restitution principles.
…the event of a delay in transmission would not do everything in its power to minimize the consequences of the delay. Electronic funds transfers are not so unusual as to automatically place a bank on notice of extraordinary consequences if such a transfer goes awry. Swiss Bank did not have enough information to infer that if it lost…