Payment problem — Short-paid or deducted
An OUR payment still arrived short
You are in the right place if an OUR payment still arrived short.
The question is what was deducted, whether the supplier still needs a top-up, and how to stop the same short payment happening again.
A short-arriving international wire creates supplier tension because both sides can be right: the sender sent the invoice amount, but the beneficiary received less after charges, routing, or conversion. For this case, gather OUR instruction, payment message, receiving bank fee, intermediary fields, and credited amount. Treasury needs the sent amount, landed amount, and charge path before deciding whether a top-up or route change is needed.
01What it usually meansThe missing amount is usually a bank charge, intermediary deduction, FX difference, or incorrect charging instruction. It is not enough to say the payment was sent; you need to know what landed. Here, an OUR payment still arrived short. In practice, the sender expected all charges to be covered, but the beneficiary still received less.
02Evidence neededCheck sent amount, received amount, currency, fee option OUR, SHA, or BEN, intermediary bank deductions, FX conversion, and bank charges. Confirm whether charges were OUR, SHA, or BEN, and whether the route allowed intermediary banks to deduct before the funds reached the supplier.
03What not to doDo not assume the supplier received the wrong amount because of one party only; reconcile rail fees, FX, and deductions first.
04Correct next actionCompare sent amount, landed amount, and charge path. Decide whether a supplier top-up is needed, whether the route should change on the next payment, and what landed-value instruction should be used before the supplier is put under pressure again. The immediate goal in this case is to separate sender-paid charges from receiving-side fees or unavoidable correspondent deductions.
05How Unicorn Currencies helpsUnicorn Currencies helps organise the payment proof, references, beneficiary details, supplier messages, and timeline so the next action is clear. Depending on the payment state, that may mean waiting inside the rail window, requesting a trace, preparing a proof pack, supporting escalation, coordinating an amendment, or preparing a recall request. Unicorn Currencies does not control SWIFT, correspondent banks, beneficiary banks, or partner banks, and cannot guarantee recall, recovery, release, or bank action.
An OUR payment still arrived short usually means charges, routing, correspondent-bank deductions, or conversion reduced the landed amount. Compare the instructed amount, received amount, charge option, route, currency, and payment proof before deciding whether a supplier top-up is needed or the next payment route should change.