The claim
Under Regulation E (12 CFR § 1005.10(c)), a consumer may stop payment of a preauthorized electronic fund transfer from the consumer's account by notifying the financial institution orally or in writing at least three business days before the scheduled date of the transfer. The regulation defines a business day as any day on which the offices of the consumer's financial institution are open to the public for carrying on substantially all business functions.
When the notice is oral, the institution may require written confirmation of the stop-payment order within 14 days. An institution that requires it must say so, and give the address where the confirmation must be sent, when the consumer gives the oral notification. An oral stop-payment order ceases to be binding after 14 days if the consumer doesn't provide the required written confirmation.
The receipt
(1) Notice. A consumer may stop payment of a preauthorized electronic fund transfer from the consumer's account by notifying the financial institution orally or in writing at least three business days before the scheduled date of the transfer. (2) Written confirmation. The financial institution may require the consumer to give written confirmation of a stop-payment order within 14 days of an oral notification. An institution that requires written confirmation shall inform the consumer of the requirement and provide the address where confirmation must be sent when the consumer gives the oral notification. An oral stop-payment order ceases to be binding after 14 days if the consumer fails to provide the required written confirmation.
The financial institution must honor an oral stop-payment order made at least three business days before a scheduled debit. If the debit item is resubmitted, the institution must continue to honor the stop-payment order (for example, by suspending all subsequent payments to the payee-originator until the consumer notifies the institution that payments should resume).
Once a financial institution has been notified that the consumer's authorization is no longer valid, it must block all future payments for the particular debit transmitted by the designated payee-originator. But see comment 10(c)-3. The institution may not wait for the payee-originator to terminate the automatic debits. The institution may confirm that the consumer has informed the payee-originator of the revocation (for example, by requiring a copy of the consumer's revocation as written confirmation to be provided within 14 days of an oral notification). If the institution does not receive the required written confirmation within the 14-day period, it may honor subsequent debits to the account.
Who it covers
The right applies to a preauthorized electronic fund transfer from a consumer's account, which Regulation E defines as an electronic fund transfer authorized in advance to recur at substantially regular intervals.
A consumer is a natural person. An account is a checking, savings, or other consumer asset account (other than an occasional or incidental credit balance in a credit plan) held directly or indirectly by a financial institution and established primarily for personal, family, or household purposes; the term includes prepaid accounts.
The CFPB's official interpretation says that if a debit covered by a stop-payment order is resubmitted, the institution must continue to honor the order.
Under the same interpretation, once the institution has been notified that the consumer's authorization is no longer valid, it must block all future payments for that debit from the payee-originator, and it may not wait for the payee-originator to end the automatic debits. The institution may confirm that the consumer has told the payee-originator about the revocation, for example by requiring a copy of the revocation as written confirmation within 14 days of an oral notification; if that confirmation doesn't arrive within the 14-day period, the institution may honor later debits.
An institution that can't itself block a preauthorized debit from posting (the interpretation gives a debit made through a debit card network as an example) may instead use a third party to block the transfer, as long as the consumer's account is not debited for the payment.
The institution's initial disclosures for electronic fund transfer services must include, as applicable, a summary of the consumer's right to stop payment of a preauthorized electronic fund transfer and the procedure for placing a stop-payment order.
Exceptions
A transfer originated by check, draft, or similar paper instrument is not an electronic fund transfer under Regulation E.
Also left out are transfers the account-holding institution initiates under an agreement with the consumer, without a specific request from the consumer, between the consumer's accounts at that institution, to a family member's account at the same institution, or between the consumer's account and an account of the institution itself.
Preauthorized transfers to or from an account are excluded if the account-holding institution's assets were $100 million or less on the preceding December 31; those transfers remain subject to § 1005.10(e) on compulsory use. If its assets later exceed $100 million, that exemption ends one year from the end of the calendar year in which they did.
An account held by a financial institution under a bona fide trust agreement is not an "account" under Regulation E.
Among the other exclusions, each with its own conditions, are certain wire transfers, securities and commodities transfers, and telephone-initiated transfers.
What to ask your bank
What is the procedure for placing a stop-payment order on a preauthorized transfer from this account, and where is it described in the account's electronic fund transfer disclosures?
If the order is given by phone, does the bank require written confirmation within 14 days, and to what address does it have to be sent?
Will the order stop only the next scheduled payment, or all future payments from this payee?
Does the bank charge a fee for a stop-payment order, and if it does, how much is it?
Source for the sections above: 12 CFR §§ 1005.2, 1005.3, 1005.7(b) and 1005.10(c), and Supplement I, comments 7(b)(5)-1 and 10(c) — Regulation E (eCFR).
Sources: 12 CFR § 1005.10 (Regulation E, on eCFR) · Supplement I to Part 1005, Official Interpretations (on eCFR) · Comment 10(c) (CFPB)
Sources last checked: October 20, 2026.
Consumer information — not financial or legal advice.