R17

File Record Edit Criteria / Entry Initiated Under Questionable Circumstances

The entry contains data the RDFI cannot process, or carries an invalid account number the RDFI believes was initiated under questionable circumstances.

Initiator: RDFI
Category: Format
Retry: No

What to do next

Investigate before re-originating. The 'questionable circumstances' branch signals suspected fraud, not a clerical error — the RDFI must describe it in the addenda.

Awaiting expert review

R17 carries two quite different meanings (benign edit-criteria failure vs. suspected fraud) that sources conflate; BMO describes only the format branch. The 'format' category understates the fraud branch.