Okla. Stat. tit. 12A, § 4A-209
(1) When the bank (i) pays the beneficiary as stated in subsection (a) or (b) of Section 30 of this act, or (ii) notifies the beneficiary of receipt of the order or that the account of the beneficiary has been credited with respect to the order unless the notice indicates that the bank is rejecting the
order or that funds with respect to the order may not be withdrawn or used until receipt of payment from the sender of the order;
(c) Acceptance of a payment order cannot occur before the order is received by
the receiving bank. Acceptance does not occur under paragraph (2) or (3) of subsection (b) of this section if the beneficiary of the payment order does not have an account with the receiving bank, the account has been closed, or the receiving bank is not permitted by law to receive credits for the beneficiary's account.
(d) A payment order issued to the originator's bank cannot be accepted until the payment date if the bank is the beneficiary's bank, or the execution date if the bank is not the beneficiary's bank. If the originator's bank executes the originator's payment order before the execution date or pays the beneficiary of the originator's payment order before the payment date and the payment order is subsequently canceled pursuant to subsection (b) of Section 19 of this act, the bank may recover from the beneficiary any payment received to the extent allowed by the law governing mistake and restitution.
Oklahoma Code Comment
Section 4A-209(b)(1) contemplates that a beneficiary bank may "accept" a payment order before receiving final settlement from the sender. One of the ways acceptance may occur is if the beneficiary receives oral notification of the transfer. In this situation, the beneficiary bank has, in essence, accepted the debt obligation of the sending bank. The beneficiary's bank, in turn, becomes indebted to the beneficiary by accepting the sending bank's debt obligation, unless the credit provided the beneficiary is provisional. If the credit is provisional and is drawn upon, and is then revoked, then the beneficiary's bank has technically extended credit to the beneficiary until settlement occurs.
Okla. Stat., Tit. 15, § 140 (Supp.1989) provides that neither a borrower nor a lender may enforce an oral commitment to extend credit for an amount over $15,000.00. This provision would not apply to a transaction under 4A-209(b)(1) with respect to the credit extended to the sending bank; under Article 4A, the extension of credit is statutory, not oral. While acceptance of the order by the beneficiary's bank by the oral notification to the beneficiary triggers the extension of credit, the obligation itself is created by statute, not contract, and therefore does not fall within Title 15, § 140.
If a provisional credit is drawn upon, and then revoked, Section 140 will not apply because there is no commitment. Note that if the beneficiary draws against a provisional credit, which is then reversed, the extension of credit to the beneficiary might prevent the institution from making additional loans to the beneficiary, but may not cause personal liability on the part of officers and directors, depending upon the facts, for exceeding the financial institution's individual lending limit. There are other situations which may also cause lending limit problems. The potential for loss suggests that financial institutions should exercise the same degree of caution in establishing provisional credits for funds transfers as they exercise in granting provisional credit for uncollected funds under Article 4.
With respect to Official Comment 6, under Oklahoma law since the bank has paid the holder of Account #1246 by mistake, the bank has a right to recover the payment if the credit is withdrawn. See Associates Discount Corporation v. Clements, 321 P.2d 673 (Okla. 1958).
Addressing Official Comment 9, if beneficiary received the money in good faith in payment of a debt owed to beneficiary by originator, Oklahoma law would allow beneficiary to keep all or part of the money received. See Knapp v. First Nat. Bank & Trust Co. of Oklahoma City, 154 F.2d 395 (10th Cir. 1946).
Laws 1990, SB 641, c. 110, § 17, eff. July 1, 1991.