Why is my UETR not found?

A UETR may return 'not found' for five reasons: the payment hasn't been sent yet, the UETR is mistyped, the payment is older than the bank tracker's retention window, the payment was recalled or cancelled, or the SWIFT network hasn't propagated the first status event yet.

Details

First, verify the UETR is exactly 36 characters in 5 groups (8-4-4-4-12) of hexadecimal characters and dashes. The third group always begins with the digit 4 (UUID v4 format). A common mistake is copying the bank's internal reference (TRN) instead of the UETR.

Second, ask the sender to confirm the payment was actually released, not just instructed. Until the originating bank pushes the message into SWIFT, no tracker (including the bank's own portal) will find it.

Third, many bank-side public trackers only retain payment records for 7-30 days from the last status update. Deutsche Bank's corporates.db.com tracker, for example, drops records about 7 days after the last event. Ohmyfin retains tracking history longer than most bank portals.

Fourth, if the payment was recalled (camt.056), placed on sanctions hold, or moved to a confidential investigation queue, public trackers often hide it. The status still exists — just not on the public lookup endpoint.

Fifth, give it 5-15 minutes after the sender released the payment. The first GPI status event needs to propagate through the SWIFT network before any tracker can see it.

Key facts

• Verify the UETR is 36 chars, hex, format 8-4-4-4-12
• Confirm with sender the payment was actually released
• Many bank trackers expire records after 7-30 days
• Recalled / sanctions-held payments are hidden by policy
• Allow 5-15 minutes for the first status event to propagate

Frequently asked questions

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