You sent money home and something went wrong: the transfer never arrived, less money arrived than the receipt said, someone else picked it up, or a caller pretending to be a relative talked you into sending it. This page sets out what US federal rules make the company do, the deadlines that apply, and where to report it. It covers transfers sent from the United States; it does not cover the Guatemalan side.
In short: Under the federal remittance rule (Regulation E, subpart B), you can cancel within 30 minutes of paying if the money has not been picked up or deposited, for a full refund within three business days. If the provider makes an error (wrong amount, late or no delivery, delivery to the wrong account, fraudulent pick-up by someone other than your recipient), you have 180 days after the “Date Available” on your receipt to report it; the provider has 90 days to investigate and must fix it after you choose a refund or redelivery, unless the error happened because you gave incorrect or insufficient information, in which case it refunds you (less some fees, not its own). Being tricked by a scammer into sending money to the person you named is not on the rule’s list of errors: the FTC says to call the company at once, ask for a reversal, and report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Complaints about a transfer company go to the CFPB. General information, not legal advice.
Which rule applies to you
| Your situation | Rule | Deadline | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| You just paid and want to stop it | Cancellation, 12 CFR 1005.34 | Request received no later than 30 minutes after you pay, and the money not yet picked up or deposited | Call or write to the provider with your name, address or phone, and the transfer |
| You scheduled it in advance | Cancellation, 12 CFR 1005.36(c) | Request received at least three business days before the scheduled date | Same |
| Wrong amount, late or no delivery, wrong account, someone else picked it up | Error resolution, 12 CFR 1005.33 | Notice received no later than 180 days after the disclosed Date Available | Report the error to the provider; it has 90 days to investigate. You choose refund or redelivery, unless the error happened because you gave incorrect or insufficient information (then a refund, below) |
| A scammer tricked you into sending it | Not on the rule’s list of errors | None in the rule; the FTC says act immediately | Call the company, ask for a reversal, report to the FTC |
| Someone used your bank account or card without permission to pay for it | Other rules: 12 CFR 1005.6 and 1005.11 for your account, or Regulation Z for a credit account | Set by those rules (not covered on this page) | Notify your bank or card issuer |
Who the rule covers
The remittance rule (12 CFR 1005.30) applies when a sender, defined as a consumer in a State who asks for the transfer primarily for personal, family or household purposes, sends money electronically to a person abroad through a remittance transfer provider, whether or not you hold an account with that provider. Two limits in the definitions:
- Small transfers: a transfer amount of $15 or less is not a remittance transfer under the rule.
- Small providers: a company that provided 500 or fewer remittance transfers in the previous calendar year and provides 500 or fewer in the current one is deemed not to be providing remittance transfers in the normal course of its business, which the rule’s definition of a provider requires.
The provider has to tell you your rights. Your receipt must include a statement of your rights to resolve errors and cancel, the provider’s name, phone number and website, and a statement that you can contact the State agency that licenses or charters the provider and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with questions or complaints, with their names, phone numbers and websites (12 CFR 1005.31(b)(2)). Keep the receipt: it carries the Date Available that starts your 180 days.
The first 30 minutes: cancel for a full refund
The provider must comply with a cancellation request, oral or written, that it receives no later than 30 minutes after you make payment, if both of these are true (12 CFR 1005.34(a)):
- the request lets the provider identify your name and address or telephone number and the particular transfer; and
- the money has not been picked up by the recipient or deposited into the recipient’s account.
It must then refund, at no additional cost to you, the total amount you provided, including any fees and, to the extent not prohibited by law, taxes, within three business days of your request (12 CFR 1005.34(b)).
For a transfer you scheduled at least three business days in advance, a different cancellation rule applies instead: the request must reach the provider at least three business days before the scheduled date, and must identify you and the transfer the same way (12 CFR 1005.36(c)).
If a scammer is pressing you, this is the window that matters: the refund right in the rule depends on the time limit and on the money still being uncollected.
When the provider made an error: 180 days to report it
What counts as an error
12 CFR 1005.33(a)(1) lists five kinds of error, each with its own exceptions:
| Error | Not an error when |
|---|---|
| You were charged the wrong amount | The disclosure stated an estimate of the amount you pay, as the rule allows, and the difference comes from the actual exchange rate, fees and taxes |
| A computational or bookkeeping error by the provider | (no exception in the rule) |
| Your recipient did not receive the amount of currency stated on your receipt | The disclosure stated an allowed estimate and the difference comes from the actual rate, fees and taxes; or extraordinary circumstances outside the provider’s control that could not reasonably be anticipated; or fees or taxes collected by someone other than the provider that the rule does not require it to disclose, when the provider gave the required notice about them |
| The money was not available by the date on your receipt | Extraordinary circumstances outside the provider’s control that could not reasonably be anticipated; delays from a necessary investigation required by fraud screening, the Bank Secrecy Act, OFAC or similar requirements; the transfer being made with fraudulent intent by you or anyone acting in concert with you; or an incorrect account number or recipient institution identifier that you gave, if the provider meets all five conditions below |
| You asked for documentation, information or clarification about the transfer, including to find out whether an error happened | (no exception in the rule) |
The CFPB’s official interpretation of the rule (read in an Internet Archive copy dated 10 September 2026) gives four examples of the fourth error, as long as none of the exceptions applies: late or non-delivery; delivery of funds to the wrong account; the fraudulent pick-up of a transfer in the foreign country by a person other than your designated recipient; and the recipient agent or institution keeping the money instead of making it available.
The rule says these are not errors (12 CFR 1005.33(a)(2)): a status inquiry (unless the money missed the Date Available); a request for information for tax or recordkeeping; a change your recipient asked for; and a change in the amount or type of currency received when the provider relied on information you gave it.
How to report it
The notice can be oral or written. The provider must follow the error rules for a notice that (12 CFR 1005.33(b)):
- it receives no later than 180 days after the disclosed Date Available. If the notice is based on documents or clarification you had requested, it is timely up to the later of those 180 days or 60 days after the provider sent what you asked for;
- lets it identify your name and telephone number or address, the recipient’s name (and, if you know them, the recipient’s phone or address), and the transfer. The CFPB’s interpretation says the pick-up confirmation number or code can be enough if it lets the provider identify all three; and
- says why you believe there is an error, including to the extent possible its type, date and amount.
The CFPB’s interpretation also says a notice given to the provider’s agent (the shop where you sent it, for example) counts as received by the provider when the agent receives it, and that these procedures apply only to a notice from the sender, not from the recipient in Guatemala.
What the provider must do
- Investigate promptly and decide within 90 days of receiving your notice, then report the results to you, including the remedies available, within three business days after finishing (12 CFR 1005.33(c)(1)).
- If it finds no error, or a different error from the one you described, the report must include a written explanation that addresses your complaint and tells you that you can ask for the documents it relied on; it must send copies promptly if you ask (12 CFR 1005.33(d)).
- If it finds an error, it must correct it as you choose, within one business day of, or as soon as reasonably practicable after, receiving your instructions (12 CFR 1005.33(c)(2)), unless the error happened because you gave incorrect or insufficient information, which has its own remedy (last row below):
| Error | Your remedy |
|---|---|
| Wrong amount charged, computational error, or the recipient got less than the receipt said | A refund of the amount not properly sent or the amount needed to resolve the error, or making that amount available to the recipient at no extra cost to you or the recipient |
| Money not available by the Date Available | Refund or redelivery as above, plus a refund of the fees and, to the extent not prohibited by law, taxes on the transfer |
| Money not available because you gave incorrect or insufficient information (for example a wrong address for the recipient) | A refund within three business days of the report, or, if you ask and the provider agrees before refunding, the money applied to a new transfer. The provider may deduct fees actually imposed and taxes actually collected on the failed attempt, but not its own fee |
A wrong account number you typed
If you gave a wrong account number or bank identifier and the money landed in someone else’s account, the provider is not treated as having made an error only if all five of these are true (12 CFR 1005.33(h)): it can show you gave the incorrect number or identifier; where you gave a wrong bank identifier, it used reasonably available means to check that the identifier matched the bank name you gave; it warned you before you paid that you could lose the transfer amount if you gave an incorrect number or identifier; the incorrect number or identifier caused the deposit into an account that is not your recipient’s; and it promptly used reasonable efforts to recover the money. The CFPB’s interpretation adds that this exception does not cover a mistake by the provider or a third party, or other wrong information such as an incorrect name of the bank. For a deposit to a named Guatemalan bank account, see sending money to a Banrural account from the USA.
When a scammer tricked you
The rule’s list of errors is about what the provider did or failed to do. It does not list the case where you sent money, as instructed, to the person you named and that person turned out to be a scammer. That is why the cancellation window above matters so much.
For this case the FTC says: «Wiring money with services like MoneyGram, Ria, and Western Union is like sending cash — once you send it, you usually can’t get it back.» Its steps if you already sent it:
- Contact the transfer company right away. Tell them it was a fraudulent transfer and ask them to reverse it and give you your money back. The FTC lists these numbers: MoneyGram 1-800-926-9400; Ria (non-Walmart transfers) 1-877-443-1399; Ria (Walmart2Walmart and Walmart2World transfers) 1-855-355-2144; Western Union 1-800-448-1492.
- If you sent it through your bank, contact the bank, report the fraudulent transfer, and ask whether it can reverse it.
- If you paid by card or payment app, the FTC’s separate page says to report it to the card issuer, bank or app immediately and ask for a refund; federal law protects you from unauthorized use of your credit or debit card.
- Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
The CFPB’s complaint page lists further steps for a suspected scam: report it to your local police or sheriff’s office; contact your state attorney general (the National Association of Attorneys General lists them); and, if the victim is an older person or a person with a disability, contact local adult protective services, which you can find through the Eldercare Locator at (800) 677-1116.
Scams the FTC describes that reach families sending money home
The FTC’s money-wiring page lists, among others: family emergency calls, where someone posing as a relative or friend says they need money wired right away (the FTC notes scammers can now use AI voice cloning to sound real); prize scams that ask you to pay fees to collect; romance scams; fake-check scams where you are told to wire part of a deposit back; and fake rental listings. Its advice includes never wiring money to anyone you haven’t met in person, or to anyone who pressures you to pay immediately or says a wire transfer is the only way to pay.
The FTC also warned in December 2024 about scammers impersonating attorneys and law firms on social media, offering immigration services and guaranteeing a work permit, green card or citizenship. For where the government points people for real immigration help, see asylum for Guatemalans in the US.
An older case: the Western Union settlement
The FTC’s refunds page for Western Union, dated September 2023 and still online when we read it on 25 September 2026, says Western Union agreed to pay $586 million and that people who used Western Union to send money to a scammer between January 1, 2004 and January 19, 2017 and had not already filed a claim could still ask for a refund through the claims administrator, Gilardi & Co. LLC (info@WesternUnionRemissionPhase2.com, 855-786-1048). We did not confirm that claims are still being accepted in 2026; ask the administrator.
Filing a complaint with the CFPB
The CFPB accepts complaints about money transfers, virtual currency and money services, among other products. From its complaint page (Internet Archive copy dated 17 September 2026; the live site blocked our script):
- Online takes 7 to 10 minutes; by phone 25 to 30 minutes at (855) 411-2372 (TTY/TDD (855) 729-2372), 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday except federal holidays.
- The CFPB sends the complaint to the company; if another agency would be better placed to help, it sends it there and tells you.
- The CFPB says companies generally respond in 15 days, and in some cases say the response is in progress and give a final response in 60 days. You then have 60 days to give feedback on the response.
- The CFPB says you generally cannot submit a second complaint about the same problem, so include the key facts, dates, amounts and your communications with the company, and attach documents (limit 50 pages).
- Filing for a relative: you must identify yourself and your relationship, and companies may require signed, written authorization from the customer.
- Before you file, the page asks whether you have tried reaching out to the company. The CFPB publishes complaints without information that directly identifies you in its public Consumer Complaint Database.
Your receipt also names the state agency that licenses the provider, which you can contact with complaints about the transfer (12 CFR 1005.31(b)(2)).
Related
- Best ways to send money from the USA to Guatemala
- Bank deposit vs cash pickup in Guatemala
- Live remittance comparator
- Sending money to a Banrural account from the USA
Sources: 12 CFR 1005.30, 1005.33 and 1005.34 (eCFR, read 24 September 2026); 12 CFR 1005.31 and 1005.36 (eCFR, read 25 September 2026); CFPB official interpretation of 12 CFR 1005.33 (Supplement I), CFPB website copy archived by the Internet Archive on 10 September 2026; CFPB Submit a complaint page, Internet Archive copy of 17 September 2026 (page last modified July 15, 2026); FTC consumer pages What To Know Before You Wire Money (December 2023), What To Do if You Were Scammed (June 2026) and Scams Against Immigrants, and the FTC Western Union refunds page (September 2023), all read 25 September 2026. General information, not legal advice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I cancel a money transfer to Guatemala?
Under the federal remittance rule (12 CFR 1005.34), the provider must honour a cancellation request, oral or written, that it receives no later than 30 minutes after you pay, if the request lets it identify your name and address or phone number and the transfer, and the money has not yet been picked up or deposited into the recipient’s account. It must then refund the total you paid, including fees and, to the extent not prohibited by law, taxes, within three business days. For a transfer you scheduled at least three business days ahead, the request must instead reach the provider at least three business days before the scheduled date (12 CFR 1005.36(c)).
How long do I have to report a problem with a remittance?
The provider must follow the error-resolution rules for a notice of error it receives no later than 180 days after the date the funds were disclosed as available (the ‘Date Available’ on your receipt). If your notice is based on documents or clarification you asked the provider for, it is also timely up to 60 days after the provider sent them, if that is later. A notice given to the provider’s agent counts as received by the provider.
My family never got the money. Do I get a refund?
Failure to make the funds available by the date on your receipt is an error under 12 CFR 1005.33, unless it was caused by extraordinary circumstances outside the provider’s control, a necessary fraud-screening or legal investigation, fraudulent intent by you or someone acting with you, or an incorrect account number or bank identifier you gave (when the provider meets five conditions). If the provider finds an error, you choose between a refund or redelivery at no extra cost, and it must also refund the fees imposed for the transfer (whether by the provider or a third party, per the CFPB’s interpretation) and, where not prohibited by law, the taxes, unless the error happened because you gave incorrect or insufficient information. In that case there is no choice of remedy: the provider refunds within three business days of its report (or applies the money to a new transfer if you ask and it agrees), and may deduct fees actually imposed and taxes actually collected on the failed transfer, but not its own fee. The CFPB’s official interpretation lists the fraudulent pick-up of a transfer by a person other than your designated recipient and delivery to the wrong account among these errors.
A scammer tricked me into sending money. Can I get it back?
The rule’s list of errors is about what the provider did or failed to do; it does not list sending money, as instructed, to a person who turned out to be a scammer. The FTC’s advice is to contact the transfer company right away, tell them it was a fraudulent transfer and ask them to reverse it and refund you, and to report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The FTC also says that once you wire money you usually can’t get it back.
Where do I complain about a money transfer company?
The CFPB accepts complaints about money transfers, virtual currency and money services, online or by phone at (855) 411-2372 (TTY/TDD (855) 729-2372), 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET, Monday through Friday except federal holidays. It sends the complaint to the company; the CFPB says companies generally respond in 15 days and in some cases give a final response in 60 days. Your receipt must also name the state agency that licenses the provider and the CFPB’s contact details.
