Passport lad is having trouble with bank accounts

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Posted: Tue Dec 19, 2017 9:12 am

On the 16th, Oscar sent me a piggy with a 16-digit account number that looked suspiciously like a credit card number. (Numbers can be up to 17 digits in the USA, but numbers longer than 13 digits are rare.) This was at a credit union, which may not have a SWIFT code (I didn't check). A few hours later, he wrote:

Quote:

We are sorry to inform you about a little complication that has got to do with the bank details we sent to you.
We will like to inform you to hold on while our bank details are being reviewed so there won't be any complications when payments is being made
Thanks while waiting for our response

I reported the account and expected the bank account number of the same account. But no, he sent me a completely different piggy. Again no SWIFT code. This account is at BofA, which I know has a SWIFT code. I reported it and wrote back, asking for the swift code. He replied less than two hours ago:

Quote:

We apologize for the delay in response due to a promotion program as concerns our services we weren't able to generate a genuine SWIFT CODE to the account you requested due to this fault,we have decided that the money should be payed to our Company Bank Account in Spain.
Below is our Company Bank Account Details to make payments.

And he sent me a Spanish cochinito with IBAN — but still no SWIFT code!

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2017 6:13 am

I just got a reply to my request for a SWIFT code. He sent a JPEG of a sample account, the same one at https://bank.codes/iban/structure/spain/ which I used when splitting it into routing number and account number when reporting the account. Neither the email text nor the attachment gives any clue what the SWIFT code of the bank is. (Spain has a bank identifier and a branch identifier, which together I'm calling the routing number.)

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2017 7:22 am

It's possible that the mule doesn't know what the SWIFT code is. If you are in a country that uses IBANs and sending to another country that uses them (i.e. pretty much the whole of Europe) then you most likely only need to know the IBAN number and your online banking will identify the SWIFT code. So unless the mule has a habit of receiving money from outside of Europe, they've probably never been asked for it.

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2017 2:15 pm

He sent me a SWIFT code for Wells Fargo (in the US) on November 1. However, he had exchanged the routing number and account number, so the transfer couldn't go through until he fixed that.

I'm going to tell him that he knows what it is, since he gave me the SWIFT code for the other bank account, but I won't tell him what it looks like. If his Spanish mule can't figure it out, he may give me another piggy.

Posted: Wed Dec 20, 2017 10:14 pm

I didn't get around to that; the lad sent me another piggy, in Ukraine, with swift code — but the IBAN is missing the letters. I checked the format of Ukrainian IBANs, and that's all it's missing, so I'm going to report it with the letters added. But my character doesn't know this; she's going to tell the lad there's a format error in the IBAN.

That's five piggies from one lad so far.

Posted: Thu Dec 21, 2017 1:39 pm

He finally coughed up the SWIFT code for the Spanish bank, which told me immediately that he had given me the wrong bank name. He told me it's Caixabank (part of La Caixa, which is Catalan, not to be confused with Banco Caixa Geral, which is Galician), but the SWIFT code and routing number both belong to BBVA (which is Basque).

Not quite a Newb Joined: 20 Nov 2012 Posts: 68

Interestingly, my bank doesnt appear to have a swift code anymore, last online reference to it is back in 2013 (which is attached to the old BSB number so wouldnt work anymore anyway)

It has an IBAN code, which attaches to the current BSB number and works (I know it does as it connects to UK banks regularly with no issues)- I have never seen any SWIFT forms or numbers required- is this a US bank thing maybe or a hangover like cheques?? My UK friends have not seen SWIFT for years, its always IBAN these days there too

I wikied SWIFT and it doesnt appear to be commonly used here anymore, some of the big 4 still have a SWIFT code, but most only use the IBAN these days from what I gathered

I got a cheque a few weeks back after doing jury duty- its the first one Ive seen in over a decade. I took it into my bank to cash it into my account and the teller had no idea how to do it, she had to ask one of the older tellers how to do it, shows how little they are used these days lol

Posted: Thu Dec 28, 2017 2:00 pm

^What country are you in? ISTR that BSB is Strine.

SWIFT codes are also called BIC codes. They are always 8 or 11 characters long (the last 3 of an 11-character code is the branch code, with XXX equivalent to omission) and all the ones I've seen are mostly or entirely letters. They are not a US thing; they are international. Many US banks and credit unions (more CUs than banks) don't have them; to send to one of those from outside the US, you have to send through the correspondent bank.

I don't know why the US still hasn't set up IBAN. The format is pretty simple: two letters (US of course), a two-digit checksum, nine-digit routing number, seventeen-digit account number.

The lad is getting impatient for the transfer.

Not quite a Newb Joined: 20 Nov 2012 Posts: 68

Yup Ozzie here
I do a few transfers (mostly UK) and its always IBAN these days, I have a bank account at one of the big 4 as well as my credit union account (we have 4 major banks here hence the name) and it specifically notes that although it does still have a SWIFT, it is advisable to use IBAN as delays may occur using SWIFT, my credit union hasnt had SWIFT since 2013

So sounds like its just an obsolete hangover from the old days then like cheques lol

Anyways sorry for the derail

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