When sufficient funds remain in the account, the foreign FI releases them as a returned payment. Local laws may first require the FI to contact the executor of the beneficiary's estate, the joint account holders, or the beneficiary's surviving family members. For information about Mexican banking law that affects IDD reclamations, see GN 02408.930B – Process for incorrect payments to Mexico.

After the FI releases the incorrect payment(s) to the Federal Benefits Unit (FBU), the FBU then issues a receipt to the remitter and routes the money to the trust funds through its procedures for returned overpayments.

When there are insufficient funds, the bank may ask the executor or a family member to redeposit the money for the FI to return.

If the account is closed or does not contain the requested money, the bank may notify the estate of the reclamation request, or may provide the requester with the address of the executor or a family member. In some countries the laws do not allow the bank to provide this information.

If the bank returns the money through the contractor bank for that country, the contractor bank returns it to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York account and notifies FRBNY of the return.

Sometimes the bank returns the money directly to SSA or FRBNY, as a cashier’s check.

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  GN 02408.940 - Refund to SSA While International Direct Deposit (IDD) Reclamation Is Pending at a Foreign Bank

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  GN 02408.945 - Partial Recovery or no Recovery of International Direct Deposit (IDD) Payments

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  GN 02408.950 - Master Beneficiary Record (MBR) Reflects an Entitled Survivor on the Deceased Beneficiary’s MBR Record

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  GN 02408.600 - General Overview to EFT Reclamations through GN 02408.800 – Abandon Reclamation - EFT