I'm having a small problem making a security deposit refund to a Norwegian guest who only has an internet bank. The original payment was made that way, but my bank is refusing to send it back because his end bank has no physical address and no SWIFT Code.
The internet bank is Skandiabank. I have his account name and number. He also gave me the name of the intermediary bank that Skandiabank uses, with their physical address and SWIFT code. Apparently that's not good enough for my bank.
I'm now looking for another way to send it. Is Paypal an option? I'm not sure he would be able to withdraw funds that way either if his bank hasn't got the required international SWIFT Code. Alternatively, I can send a normal US$ check or UK cheque for him to clear at his end or would that take forever and be prohibitive for him on fees? I have also suggested he could ask a family or friend with a normal bank account to accept payment on his behalf, now waiting for a reply.
Has anyone else come across this problem and can you advise me? I'm trying to do the transaction from the US to Norway, but could also go from UK to Norway if that would be easier.
Thanks in advance.
Problem with refunding to Internet Bank
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CostaBlanca
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Hi Joanna,
I have just had a peek at my UK Internet Bank for foreign payments.
They seem to require the following info:-
Recipient´s Name & Address,
Account No. or IBAN,
Swift ID or National Clearing Code or Bank Name & Address.
It just might be easier to transfer the money from your UK bank. I would have thought that even Internet only banks would still require a registered address.
Good luck, Maria
I have just had a peek at my UK Internet Bank for foreign payments.
They seem to require the following info:-
Recipient´s Name & Address,
Account No. or IBAN,
Swift ID or National Clearing Code or Bank Name & Address.
It just might be easier to transfer the money from your UK bank. I would have thought that even Internet only banks would still require a registered address.
Good luck, Maria
Very strange, I've never run into this.
I wonder if it might be easier from the UK? I find inter-european transfers wonderfully cheap and easy... the total opposite of USA-European transfers.
The only thing I thought of while reading your message was this:
Would love to know how this works out, as I imagine we'll be seeing more of this in the future.
Good luck!
debk
I wonder if it might be easier from the UK? I find inter-european transfers wonderfully cheap and easy... the total opposite of USA-European transfers.
The only thing I thought of while reading your message was this:
Which you've already done.I have also suggested he could ask a family or friend with a normal bank account to accept payment on his behalf, now waiting for a reply.
Would love to know how this works out, as I imagine we'll be seeing more of this in the future.
Good luck!
debk
Joanna, in my experience dealing with internet transfers from UK/Spain to Norway, Sweden & Finland have been painless, mainly as we are all within the EU and also because they have all had IBAN codes which is a doddle when I have had to make a security deposit transfer.
I know from our one and only (so far) experience from guests from US that transfers between the States and Europe are a nightmare..mainly due to the excessive bank charges!
If the original payment was made via internet then your client must have an IBAN Acc No. for it to have arrived to your account in the US safely.
The only way as you suggested is paying him by Paypal which I think would be the cheapest option US to Europe (as our American guests eventually decided on), to avoid excessive US bank transfer charges.
I know from our one and only (so far) experience from guests from US that transfers between the States and Europe are a nightmare..mainly due to the excessive bank charges!
If the original payment was made via internet then your client must have an IBAN Acc No. for it to have arrived to your account in the US safely.
The only way as you suggested is paying him by Paypal which I think would be the cheapest option US to Europe (as our American guests eventually decided on), to avoid excessive US bank transfer charges.
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Mountain Goat
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I've found no consistency with banks and their payment procedures, whether by Internet or walking into a branch.
It appears to be any combination of IBAN, Swift, Sort Codes, National account Nos., Full Bank Address, Full Name and Address of payee, and that's just between Switzerland and the UK.
In Switzerland our bank doesn't have any double-check between Account Nos. and the Name of the person who's receiving a transfer - one digit incorrect and your money is sitting with a little old lady in Zurich who won't always be keen on returning it as she celebrates her windfall. No sympathy from the bank either - it took us 3 months to extract a mis-directed final payment (via Internet) to one of our builders, which meant we had to fork out twice in the meantime (and fend off one uptight builder from our doorstep).
MGoat
It appears to be any combination of IBAN, Swift, Sort Codes, National account Nos., Full Bank Address, Full Name and Address of payee, and that's just between Switzerland and the UK.
In Switzerland our bank doesn't have any double-check between Account Nos. and the Name of the person who's receiving a transfer - one digit incorrect and your money is sitting with a little old lady in Zurich who won't always be keen on returning it as she celebrates her windfall. No sympathy from the bank either - it took us 3 months to extract a mis-directed final payment (via Internet) to one of our builders, which meant we had to fork out twice in the meantime (and fend off one uptight builder from our doorstep).
MGoat
Thanks for feedback and suggestions. The guest was due to have the security returned in cash at check out, but we missed him as he left an hour early without warning, and I did tell him I thought I might have trouble returning it.
As MG says, every bank seems to be different, as well the charges, but just to give you an idea of what I'm dealing with here in small town America, this was my first attempt 10 days ago:-
I gave the bank clerk all the details on a piece of paper and watched her enter it into the computer screen. She got as far as address, and put Norway into the City field, then asked me which State it was in. I replied that Norway was a country not the city. She called for her manager and explained that she was having trouble sending to a bank in Norway, "which is the country of course". The manager reassured me that she had heard of Norway and how many $ did I want to send? "None", I replied, "I want to send the US$ equivalent in local currency, covering all sending bank charges as well." Big smile. "That's fine" she said, "I'll work out how many Euros that is." "That would be great", I replied, "Just one small thing, I'm not sure they can accept Euros, I think it's Krone". They were completely stumped, said they would look into it and get back to me, but not to worry, sign here and they would take care of it next day.
Four days later, the clerk called me (we're on first name terms now), to say she had worked out the amount in k...k....k....whatever that currency was they used in Norway, but couldn't get past the screen that requires the address of the bank and SWIFT Code. So basically, it hadn't been sent and she had no way to send it. She's using one of those idiot proof data entry forms (thank goodness), and it won't accept the transaction without end bank address and SWIFT code fields filled in. No amount of argument with the computer makes any difference, it's not listening.
They don't use IBAN numbers here, but I've done lots of bank transfers and it's never been a problem before, usually takes no more than 2-3 days and costs $12.50 per transaction for the sending bank. However, this is the first internet bank transaction and has taught me that it's not possible to send to one from a US - it must have a physical bank address and SWIFT Code, so in future, I'm not going to be able to accept security deposits in US$ from internet banks...
Sounds like the UK banks don't have the same problem.
As MG says, every bank seems to be different, as well the charges, but just to give you an idea of what I'm dealing with here in small town America, this was my first attempt 10 days ago:-
I gave the bank clerk all the details on a piece of paper and watched her enter it into the computer screen. She got as far as address, and put Norway into the City field, then asked me which State it was in. I replied that Norway was a country not the city. She called for her manager and explained that she was having trouble sending to a bank in Norway, "which is the country of course". The manager reassured me that she had heard of Norway and how many $ did I want to send? "None", I replied, "I want to send the US$ equivalent in local currency, covering all sending bank charges as well." Big smile. "That's fine" she said, "I'll work out how many Euros that is." "That would be great", I replied, "Just one small thing, I'm not sure they can accept Euros, I think it's Krone". They were completely stumped, said they would look into it and get back to me, but not to worry, sign here and they would take care of it next day.
Four days later, the clerk called me (we're on first name terms now), to say she had worked out the amount in k...k....k....whatever that currency was they used in Norway, but couldn't get past the screen that requires the address of the bank and SWIFT Code. So basically, it hadn't been sent and she had no way to send it. She's using one of those idiot proof data entry forms (thank goodness), and it won't accept the transaction without end bank address and SWIFT code fields filled in. No amount of argument with the computer makes any difference, it's not listening.
They don't use IBAN numbers here, but I've done lots of bank transfers and it's never been a problem before, usually takes no more than 2-3 days and costs $12.50 per transaction for the sending bank. However, this is the first internet bank transaction and has taught me that it's not possible to send to one from a US - it must have a physical bank address and SWIFT Code, so in future, I'm not going to be able to accept security deposits in US$ from internet banks...
Sounds like the UK banks don't have the same problem.
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Hells Bells
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Joanna, before I had a French bank account, I had similar trouble sending a small deposit for accommodation to a french account from my major UK one. I had the swift code, IBAN, etc, etc, but they still couldn't do it. I went down to my building society,and they did it in 2 minutes with the same information.
What gets me is every time I have to transfer money, I have to go to the bank in person to do it, even if it is to my owna ccount, and the bank is actually the same one (Barclays UK and France).
What gets me is every time I have to transfer money, I have to go to the bank in person to do it, even if it is to my owna ccount, and the bank is actually the same one (Barclays UK and France).
Hi Joanna
I think our guests from the US can sympathise with your problem! Our guests were from Candor NY and they had terrible problems with their local bank re. transatlantic transfers. Re-reading their emails..they could not make a transfer to Europe via their local bank and the major banks insisted they open an account to make a wire transfer to Europe and the transfer cost would have been more than Paypal! They eventually made the payment via Paypal.
The majority of our guests are within the EU or Europe so the IBAN code comes very useful for transfers. We cannot do an online international transfer via our UK account so I make all our international payments online to UK and other Countries via our Spanish bank account (without any problems) using the IBAN code. International transfers from UK accounts have to be done in person at the branch. Why?...Unfortunately you're fooled into getting a 'personal service' and charged for that service.
I think our guests from the US can sympathise with your problem! Our guests were from Candor NY and they had terrible problems with their local bank re. transatlantic transfers. Re-reading their emails..they could not make a transfer to Europe via their local bank and the major banks insisted they open an account to make a wire transfer to Europe and the transfer cost would have been more than Paypal! They eventually made the payment via Paypal.
The majority of our guests are within the EU or Europe so the IBAN code comes very useful for transfers. We cannot do an online international transfer via our UK account so I make all our international payments online to UK and other Countries via our Spanish bank account (without any problems) using the IBAN code. International transfers from UK accounts have to be done in person at the branch. Why?...Unfortunately you're fooled into getting a 'personal service' and charged for that service.
Last edited by Guest3 on Thu Oct 26, 2006 9:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Hells Bells
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Helen...I have to smile...because when we moved to Spain we soon had to get used to the 'Spanish' way of banking! As soon as you spend any money i.e debit card or cash point, it is deducted straight away from your account at the time of withdrawal! I was so used to the UK way of banking where you would use your debit card/cash point...but not have an accountable balance (thereby thinking you've got more money than you have spent!)...it was a short sharp shock for me...but I much prefer the Spanish banking system than the UK one!as the bills come out 2 days after they print our statement
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Hells Bells
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Helen B said
I really can't understand why in this day and age of computer technology (and in an ideal world) there isn't a universal banking system where all banks adhere to the same banking 'code of practice'...yes I can see pink elephants flying in the sky!!
What a terrible banking system! If someone misuses your card number (not by physical theft), you won't find out until the end of the month that your account has been debited?All our French debit card transactions come out of the account on a set day each month, regardless of when we spend the money.
I really can't understand why in this day and age of computer technology (and in an ideal world) there isn't a universal banking system where all banks adhere to the same banking 'code of practice'...yes I can see pink elephants flying in the sky!!
Joanna,
After a bit of sniffing about I found this on the Skandiabanken website:
http://www.skandiabanken.no/SKBWEB/VisN ... aling.aspx
"SkandiaBanken aren't a valutabank and has accordingly no matter own SWIFT - cipher. Payment at din account from abroad be bound to accordingly elapse via another bank. This the bank able get a fee for service. This shall become deducted account din. Communications at din account from abroad able carry out via consecutiv valutabank:"
So I reckon you could use that address and Swift on the idiot-proof entry system. If you Google that information you find it corroborated on various sites, albeit in Norwegian.
After a bit of sniffing about I found this on the Skandiabanken website:
http://www.skandiabanken.no/SKBWEB/VisN ... aling.aspx
Which translated using a dodgy translation site comes out as:SkandiaBankens SWIFT-kode:
SkandiaBanken er ikke en valutabank og har derfor ikke egen SWIFT-kode. Innbetalinger til din konto fra utlandet må derfor gå via en annen bank. Denne banken kan ta et gebyr for tjenesten. Dette vil bli trukket fra kontoen din. Overføringer til din konto fra utlandet kan foretas via følgende valutabank:
DnB NOR
0021 Oslo
Norway
Swift-kode: DNBANOKK
"SkandiaBanken aren't a valutabank and has accordingly no matter own SWIFT - cipher. Payment at din account from abroad be bound to accordingly elapse via another bank. This the bank able get a fee for service. This shall become deducted account din. Communications at din account from abroad able carry out via consecutiv valutabank:"
So I reckon you could use that address and Swift on the idiot-proof entry system. If you Google that information you find it corroborated on various sites, albeit in Norwegian.
Paolo
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