No take-backs: an RTP payment can only be asked to be returned
Trigger: Bank Alfa realises an RTP payment was a mistake and wants it back, but RTP payments are final and irrevocable.
What operations sees first: The sender cannot reverse the payment; the only route is a Request for Return the receiver may refuse.
WHERE IS THE MONEY?
With Arjun; funds return only if he voluntarily sends them back as a new payment.
DID SETTLEMENT HAPPEN?
The original settlement is final and irrevocable and stands; nothing was reversed.
WHO ACTS NEXT?
Nordbank (receiver bank) Bank Alfa awaits the recipient decision and, if refused, resolves it directly with its customer.
PLAY THE EXCEPTION
Trigger: Bank Alfa realises the payment was a mistake and wants it back. But RTP payments are final and irrevocable: there is no recall right for the sender. The only route is a Request for Return of Funds — a request Nordbank and Arjun may or may not honour.
Riya instructs Bank Alfa to pay Arjun
Riya (sender) → Bank Alfa (sender bank)
Riya tells her bank to send USD 250.00 to Arjun right now, at night. RTP is push-only: money only moves because the sender chooses to send it — you cannot pull funds from someone else's account.
Step 1 of 12: Riya instructs Bank Alfa to pay Arjun
- 05SettlementRTP settles in the prefunded joint account at the Fed NYBank Alfa (sender bank) → Nordbank (receiver bank)
- 06PostingBank Alfa debits RiyaBank Alfa (sender bank)
- 07PostingNordbank credits Arjun immediatelyNordbank (receiver bank)
- 10 · EXCEPTION PATHProcessingNordbank and Arjun decide whether to returnNordbank (receiver bank)
- OUTCOME
- Funds
- With Arjun. The payment was final on receipt; funds return only if Arjun voluntarily sends them back as a new payment.
- Settlement
- The original settlement is final and irrevocable and stands; nothing was reversed in the prefunded joint account.
- Who acts next
- Nordbank (receiver bank) — Bank Alfa waits for the recipient's decision and, if refused, resolves it directly with Riya outside RTP — unlike rails that grant a recall right, RTP has none.
Full step-by-step text (works without JavaScript)
- 05SettlementRTP settles in the prefunded joint account at the Fed NYBank Alfa (sender bank) → Nordbank (receiver bank)
On the positive confirmation, RTP settles by adjusting the two banks' positions inside the prefunded joint master account that participants hold at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. This settlement is final and irrevocable.
- DR Bank Alfa position in the RTP prefunded joint account (Fed NY) — USD 250.00
- CR Nordbank position in the RTP prefunded joint account (Fed NY) — USD 250.00
- 06PostingBank Alfa debits RiyaBank Alfa (sender bank)
Bank Alfa books the debit on its own ledger against Riya's account. The interbank money already moved in the prefunded joint account; this posting reflects it on the customer's balance.
- DR Riya's account at Bank Alfa — USD 250.00
- 07PostingNordbank credits Arjun immediatelyNordbank (receiver bank)
Nordbank makes the USD 250.00 available to Arjun straight away, so he can spend it that same night. Because settlement was final and irrevocable, this payment cannot be recalled by Riya or Bank Alfa.
- CR Arjun's account at Nordbank — USD 250.00
- 10 · EXCEPTION PATHProcessingNordbank and Arjun decide whether to returnNordbank (receiver bank)
Nordbank asks Arjun. Because the payment is his and was final on receipt, returning it is his choice — if he has spent the money or declines, there is nothing the network can do to claw it back.
- OUTCOME
- Funds
- With Arjun. The payment was final on receipt; funds return only if Arjun voluntarily sends them back as a new payment.
- Settlement
- The original settlement is final and irrevocable and stands; nothing was reversed in the prefunded joint account.
- Who acts next
- Nordbank (receiver bank) — Bank Alfa waits for the recipient's decision and, if refused, resolves it directly with Riya outside RTP — unlike rails that grant a recall right, RTP has none.
THE TIMELINE
- 01Bank Alfa (sender bank)Learns the USD 250.00 payment to Arjun was an error and wants to recover it.
- 02Bank AlfaCannot recall it — RTP settlement is final and irrevocable — so it sends a Request for Return of Funds through RTP.
A Request for Return is a request for cooperation, not an instruction that unwinds a settled payment.
- 03Nordbank (receiver bank)Asks Arjun; because the money is his and was final on receipt, returning it is his choice.
- 04Bank AlfaLearns the outcome; if refused, the money stays with Arjun and Bank Alfa resolves it with Riya outside the rail.
Resolution: RTP grants no recall right. A return, if it happens, is a brand-new push payment back to the sender — not a reversal. The original settlement stands, final and irrevocable.
Sources for this scenario2
- Official requirement
RTP (Real-Time Payments) Network ↗ — The Clearing House · finality / request for return
RTP is push-only and prefunded; settlement is final and irrevocable, and payments cannot be recalled once submitted.
- Simplified educational illustration
Payments Signal editorial teaching models — Payments Signal
What this simplifies: Single-cycle teaching model; participant-specific handling and exact windows vary.
Used wherever diagrams, scenarios, figures, or example values are didactic constructions rather than sourced facts; every such use carries a simplifications disclosure. All people, companies, banks, and list entries in examples are fictional.