SEPA Instant (Europe)
Q: I sent money via SEPA Instant. Why is there still a delay?
SEPA Instant is designed to be near-instantaneous typically completing within 10 seconds at any hour of the day, including weekends and public holidays. If your SEPA Instant transfer has not reflected on PandaMoney within 15–30 minutes, one of the following may have occurred:
Your bank may have routed the payment as a standard SEPA Credit Transfer instead of SEPA Instant. Not all banks support SEPA Instant for outgoing transfers by default, or your bank may impose daily limits beyond which it falls back to standard SEPA.
Your bank has placed the payment on a temporary internal review hold before releasing it into the network (see Section 2 on bank holds).
A brief technical delay occurred in the SEPA Instant scheme these are rare but do happen.
📌 Check your bank statement: if the debit reference does not include 'Instant' or similar wording, your bank likely sent it as a standard SEPA Credit Transfer instead.
SEPA Credit Transfer (Europe)
Q: I used a standard SEPA bank transfer. What are the cut-off times I should know about?
Standard SEPA Credit Transfers are processed only on TARGET2 business days this means Monday to Friday, excluding European public holidays. Banks typically operate one or more cut-off times per day, most commonly around 16:00 CET (Central European Time), though this varies by institution.
Practical scenarios to keep in mind:
Expected to arrive at PandaMoney on Tuesday (next business day).Transfer submitted Monday before your bank's cut-off:
Funds leave your bank on Tuesday, arriving at PandaMoney on Wednesday.Transfer submitted Monday after your bank's cut-off:
Funds will not be dispatched until Monday, arriving at PandaMoney on Tuesday.Transfer submitted on Friday after cut-off, or on a weekend:
Processing will begin on the next business day.Transfer submitted on a European public holiday:
⚠️ If you submit a transfer late on Friday, the earliest PandaMoney can receive it may be Tuesday of the following week. Please plan your transfers accordingly.
Q: My transfer was sent before the cut-off time but PandaMoney still has not received it after one business day. Is something wrong?
In most cases, the funds will still arrive however, a delay beyond one business day for a standard SEPA transfer is worth investigating. Please contact your bank first to confirm the payment has been dispatched and obtain a payment reference or UETR (Unique End-to-end Transaction Reference). Then contact PandaMoney support with this reference so we can trace the payment.
Faster Payments (United Kingdom)
Q: I am a UK customer and sent a Faster Payment. Why hasn't it arrived yet?
Faster Payments in the UK are generally processed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and arrive within a few seconds to a couple of hours. There is no formal cut-off time for most Faster Payments transactions. If your payment has not arrived at PandaMoney after 2 hours, it is likely that one of the following applies:
Your bank performed an internal risk or fraud check on the payment before releasing it (see Section 2 below).
The payment was sent outside the Faster Payments scheme and processed as a CHAPS or BACS payment instead these have very different timelines.
There was a brief technical disruption within the Faster Payments network.
📌 Check your bank app or online banking to confirm the payment method used. CHAPS same-day payments are typically only for large amounts and must be submitted before your bank's cut-off (usually around 14:00–16:00 UK time). BACS transfers take 3 business days.