Couple of questions here on the procedure and feasibility of having someone in the UK transfer funds from her account to mine.
She was trying to figure out whether it would be cheaper to get it converted into US funds and mailed over or just sending it directly. The conversion takes a percentage out, but the direct transfer was an £8 flat fee, so that sounded better.
First up, does anyone know if there’d be an additional fee on my end to receive it? Possibly a conversion situation on my end?
Secondly, she said she needed name on account (no problem), my account number (no problem), bank name and address (think that’s not too hard), and then an IBAND (what?).
Googled around and think the IBAND was IBAN… She was on the phone with her bank and could have misheard. Went to a branch of my bank tonight and asked about the IBAN thing, and the only thing they knew was ABA number, which is just the thing I always calli the routing number… and that makes sense, but I think someplace in the UK might need more than that…
Anybody know if there’s some way of looking IBAN up somewhere other than cashiers who have no idea what I’m talking about, or if there’s some standard code to throw up front of the ABA to get an IBAN?
And, anyone have an idea if just having it converted and mailed would be easier?
If you’d have asked just a couple weeks ago, we coulda done a swap
IBAN stands for International Bank Account Number (IBAN) and from my understanding, it’s a Europeonly thing.
For transfer to the US, the sending party would require the Account Holder Name, Bank Name and Address, Bank ABA Routing Number and Swift Code. I think ABA Routing Number is for Electronic Fund Transfers while Swift Code is for International wire transfers, so maybe the sending party needs just the Swift Code, but I’m not quite sure.
At BoA, for example, it costs:
a. 45 to send a US International wire transfer
b. $35 to send an International Foreign Currency wire transfer
c. $15 to receive an International wire transfer
The difference between a. and b. as explained to me by the BoA staff is that for a. the bank sends the funds across in USD and it gets converted by the receiving bank, and that for b. they convert it on their side on the day of the transfer at the prevailing exchange rate, and send it in the receiving local currency. My assumption is that they make money on the exchange rate and hence are willing to charge you a lower transcation fee so that they can make their profit on the exchange.
I used option b. to wire funds from the US to the UK. Your friend’s UK bank probably has similar options. Check with your bank what the fee is for receiving an International wire transfer.
I’ve received many transfers from overseas to my US bank account, and I’ve never needed a Swift Code. I’ve only ever used my routing (ABA) number. If I remember correctly, there isn’t a swift code for US Bank accounts - I know I never succeeded in tracking one down.
However, for sending internationally, I have needed the Swift code.
THinking on it now, my last two accounts were with small, local banks, so maybe banks without an international (or even large national) presence don’t bother to apply for SWIFT codes?
My company receives international money transfers routinely, not necessarily originating from the US. In every case, the money was routed through an American bank. We were required to provide our bank’s swift code each time, along with our account details.
We have our British bank account set up so that we can go online and transfer funds to our American bank account. (FTR, this is Bank of Scotland to Provident Bank of Maryland.) BoS charges 5 pounds per transfer but there is no charge at all on this end. It takes about 3-5 business days for the money to be deposited on this end. I don’t remember the set-up being any more complicated than needing the name on the receiving account, the name of the bank, the account number, and the routing number.
All the replies here have been helpful, but this one especially so… Hearing that it’s as easy as it sounds with no extra fees takes a weight off my mind.
