Starting this Thursday, all banks in the European Union that already offer ordinary transfers in euros are obliged to make calls available to their clients immediate transfersby virtue of the European regulation 2024/886.
These operations allow you to send money in seconds365 days a year, including weekends and holidays, and will be available through the usual channels: the bank office, online banking, mobile application, ATM, self-service terminals or even by telephone.
Furthermore, the cost of these operations must be equal to or less than that of an ordinary transfer. Since most banks do not charge fees for traditional online transfers, they should not charge fees for immediate ones either.
The client, for his part, may set amount limits per operation or per daymodify them at any time and have a verification system to verify that the recipient is really who they say they are.
It is worth remembering that, as with ordinary transfers, once an immediate transfer is sent cannot be canceled unless the person receiving it agree to return the money.
In practice, these types of transfers are already used through solutions such as Bizumalthough until now its availability depended on the policy of each entity. The regulation aims to standardize the service and guarantee equitable access throughout the European Union.
However, the Organization of Consumers and Users (OCU) has warned that some entities are excessively limiting the amounts of these operations. Although regulations allow immediate transfers of up to 100,000 euros per transaction, some banks establish a maximum of between 700 or 1,000 euros.
The daily limits They are not significantly higher either, which, according to the OCU, forces payments to be divided into installments or resorting to ordinary transfers, which can take up to two days.
