Why is my payment under review?

What it means when a payment is held for compliance review, how long reviews typically take, which documents resolve them, and what Echlon can and cannot tell you.

Overview

Echlon moves money across borders through regulated banking and payment partners. Those partners — and Echlon itself — are required by law to screen transactions. When a payment triggers a check, it's paused until the review is complete.

A review is a standard check in the finance industry - it does not mean your money is lost or you did something wrong. Most reviews close on their own or after you send one or two documents.

It means a person or system needs to confirm something before the payment continues.

Why this happens

Here's the most common reasons a payment is held and what you can do:

Unusual amounts or patterns. A payment that's much larger than your usual activity, a sudden change in destination country, or rapid back-to-back transfers can trigger a closer look.
Source-of-funds questions. For larger or unusual payments, regulations require confirming where the money came from — for example, client invoices, sales revenue, or a contract.
Banking partner checks. The bank or payment network on the receiving side can hold a transfer for its own review, independently of Echlon. Echlon cannot skip or override a partner's review.
Sanctions and watchlist screening. Every payment is screened against international sanctions lists. A name similarity with a listed person or company — even a coincidental one — pauses the payment until it's manually cleared.

How long does a review take?

Many reviews — especially name-screening matches — clear automatically or within a short time without anything needed from you.
Reviews that need documents from you typically resolve soon after you send complete, legible documents.
Reviews held by an external banking partner depend on that partner's process and can take longer.

How you'll be notified

The payment will show a review status in your Echlon dashboard.
If we need anything from you, we'll contact you by email and in-app notification with exactly what to send.

Watch for impersonators. Echlon will never ask for your password, MFA codes, or account recovery details to "release" a payment. Document requests only come through official channels. See Recognizing scams & phishing.

Which documents resolve a hold

If we ask for documents, the fastest path is to send items that clearly connect the money to a legitimate business purpose:

Invoices matching the payment amount and counterparty
Contracts or service agreements with the sender or recipient
Bank statements showing the origin of the funds
Shipping or delivery documents, if the payment is for goods

What makes a document work on the first try:

The name on the document matches your verified business or the counterparty on the payment.
Amounts and dates are consistent with the payment.
The file is complete and legible — full pages, not cropped screenshots.

What Echlon legally cannot tell you

In some cases, financial regulations prohibit us from sharing the specific reason a payment is being reviewed, or from confirming whether a regulatory report was filed. This isn't Echlon being unhelpful — disclosing certain review details is itself a legal violation in many jurisdictions.

What we can always tell you: the payment's current status, whether we need anything from you, and what happens next.

Common questions

Is my money gone?

No. A held payment is paused, not lost. It either completes after review or is returned to its origin.

Can I cancel a payment that's under review?

Once a payment is confirmed it is generally final and cannot be cancelled, including while under review. If a payment cannot be delivered, funds are automatically returned to your Checking balance. If you believe a payment was sent in error, contact support at [email protected]

Will sending more documents speed things up?

Only if they're the documents we asked for. Sending unrelated files can slow the review down. Send exactly what's requested, completely and legibly.

Does a review affect my account standing?

Routine reviews are a normal part of cross-border payments and don't, by themselves, restrict your account.

Troubleshooting

You sent documents but the status hasn't changed: reply on the same email thread or ticket — don't open a new one, which can reset the queue position.
The recipient says they're being asked questions by their bank: that's a receiving-side review. Have them respond to their bank directly; if they fail to respond, the funds are sent back to its origin.
The payment was returned: the funds come back to your Checking balance. You can resend once any document request is resolved.

When to contact support

The review has exceeded the timeline communicated to you and you've had no update.
You're unsure whether a document request is genuinely from Echlon.
You believe a payment was sent in error.

Still need help?

If this article didn't resolve your issue, see our support channels, message us on WhatsApp at +1 (787) 468-5842, or open a support ticket — we typically respond within 24 hours.