# How long does an IBAN transfer take?



## serotoninsid

I filled out & signed the forms for a euro transfer from my current account to an account in germany in Ulster bank early yesterday morning.  Theres no sign of it on my online banking transaction details as of a few minutes ago.  Surely these transfers are very quick?


----------



## bond-007

They are not that quick, but they are cheap.


----------



## delgirl

I send one to France last Monday morning and it arrived that afternoon.


----------



## serotoninsid

delgirl said:


> I send one to France last Monday morning and it arrived that afternoon.


This was my expectation.  I thought that was the whole idea of IBAN?

Just checked my account online and its still not processed - which will mean I wont get the goods next week when I need them.


----------



## gauloise

There are 2 types of IBAN transfers, one is express and if received early in the day can be in the recepient account by close of business that same day, the other which is cheaper can take 3 days.


----------



## serotoninsid

gauloise said:


> There are 2 types of IBAN transfers, one is express and if received early in the day can be in the recepient account by close of business that same day, the other which is cheaper can take 3 days.


Thats good to know gauloise. The guy behind the counter didnt seem to be too sure about the whole thing - which surprised me as I would have thought its got to be a fairly common transaction these days.


----------



## gauloise

I don't know which bank you use but BOI have a section on their form that you can tick if you want express delivery and Bank of Scotland will guarantee same day delivery (without forms just a fax) if processed before 11.00am!


----------



## serotoninsid

gauloise said:


> I don't know which bank you use ...


Ulster Bank


gauloise said:


> BOI have a section on their form that you can tick if you want express delivery and Bank of Scotland will guarantee same day delivery (without forms just a fax) if processed before 11.00am!


I double checked UB's foreign transfer form after your last post and there was no mention of express or standard delivery.  The guy did fax the form through while I was there. 
I suppose theres a possibility the transfers gone through but their online banking system isnt right up to date with it..


----------



## jpd

With the Bank of Ireland, normal transfers cost 28cts and take up to 3 working days. For 25 euro, you can get same day service.


----------



## gauloise

BOS charge 12.50 for same day but if you have online business banking you can do this for a few cents. Interestingly my old bank BOI never charged me the express fee and I was doing IBAN's on a weekly basis.


----------



## serotoninsid

I filled up the form at the bank on Tues. 8th.  Funds were received on the other side on the 17th.  9 days - not great...


----------



## extopia

Sounds to me like the banks are delaying the cheap transfer (which they are obliged to offer) in order to sell the "premium" product. It's been a couple of years since I did an IBAN but it cost only cents and happened very fast at the time.


----------



## irishpancake

AIB have a very good service, which you can use from your on-line banking, with 4 options, Paylink Euro (Standard and Urgent) and Paylink (Standard and Urgent) 

The Standard Paylink Euro costs nothing, except standard transaction fees, which are free if you qualify for transaction-free banking, and can take 3-4 days, but can be executed from your own on-line banking, once you have IBAN and BIC/SWIFT details.(You also need the newly issued code-card)

 [broken link removed]


----------



## serotoninsid

extopia said:


> Sounds to me like the banks are delaying the cheap transfer (which they are obliged to offer) in order to sell the "premium" product. It's been a couple of years since I did an IBAN but it cost only cents and happened very fast at the time.



Yes, I was coming to the same conclusions.


----------



## allendog

Hi,
In the next few weeks, I'll be in a position of selling copies of a book which I've written/self-published.  To keep personal and business (publishing/printing costs and income from sale of books) separate, I'm considering of opening a new bank account (probably current a/c).
  If somebody overseas (or using online banking) wishes to purchase copies, I'd ask for funds (currency value and postage/packing) to be transferred using the IBAN process.  Would that be effective, or is there a better way of receiving funds electronically?

Thanks,
Allendog (novice author/self-publisher)


----------



## irishpancake

> Originally Posted by extopia
> Sounds to me like the banks are delaying the cheap transfer (which they are obliged to offer) in order to sell the "premium" product. It's been a couple of years since I did an IBAN but it cost only cents and happened very fast at the time.





serotoninsid said:


> Yes, I was coming to the same conclusions.



I don't know about that. 

I did an IBAN transfer, standard Paylink Euro transfer, to Germany last Sunday evening, and it was in the German a/c the next day, Monday. 

This was through AIB, using my on-line banking and code-card, and the transaction showed "complete"  by Monday evening.

AIB says you should allow 3-4 working days for this transaction, but mine went through as described above.


----------



## extopia

allendog said:


> Hi,
> Would that be effective, or is there some better way of receiving money electronically?  I couldn't decide whether to use my personal name or the publisher name for the account.



I think the amounts will be too small to make IBAN transfers practical, unless your book is very expensive. 

Why don't you look into setting up a Paypal or similar account?


----------



## lfcfan

Bank of Ireland are adding international payments to their online banking soon. I know this doesn't help now but some info for future reference!!


----------



## jpd

lfcfan said:


> Bank of Ireland are adding international payments to their online banking *soon*. I know this doesn't help now but some info for future reference!!


 
How soon is *soon* ?


----------



## Perplexed

How soon is *soon* ?

Supposed to be in November 

 			 				 Originally Posted by extopia  
Sounds to me like the banks are delaying the cheap transfer (which they are obliged to offer) in order to sell the "premium" product. It's been a couple of years since I did an IBAN but it cost only cents and happened very fast at the time.  	 	 

Afraid the answer to this one is just sheer volume. Did you ever notice the number of Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians etc transferring weekly to their home countries ? Or the number of Irish making payments for their holiday/investment properties ?  System gets a bit clogged up.
With BOI there's no charge whatsoever if you have the BIC & IBAN & addresses & it's going in Euro to Eurozone & assession countries. Paying the charge just puts you to the top of the queue. If it's a quieter day queue is shorter.


----------



## extopia

Perplexed said:
			
		

> Afraid the answer to this one is just sheer volume. Did you ever notice the number of Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians etc transferring weekly to their home countries ? Or the number of Irish making payments for their holiday/investment properties ?  System gets a bit clogged up.



Eh, we're talking about a simple electronic transfer here. Ever noticed the number of Poles, Lithuanians, Latvians, Irish etc. sending emails all over the globe? Somehow these all arrive within minutes, without any charges being incurred.


----------



## Perplexed

Yea, but I'm afraid that they have to be input manually.

Sorry, not making excuses but that's how the system works at the moment. It explains why sometimes it's faster than others.


----------



## extopia

When you go up to the counter with your information doesn't the teller input the info to the computer then print out your receipt? If so the info is in the system ready to be sent into the ether from the moment you walk away from the counter.


----------



## Perplexed

I can only speak for BOI. 
The person behind the counter checks that the IBAN is valid, that there is sufficient funds in the a/c & the identity of the customer. Gets a debit on the customers a/c & transfers the funds to a central holding a/c.

Then the form gets faxed to the International Dept who process all the details & only then does the link to the foreign bank take place.

I don't know how other banks operate but that's certainly the process as I know it.

The system will speed up for everyone when they get it up & running online & personally I can hardly wait...........


----------



## Bgirl

Ulsterbank charge 51c for a IBAN transfer if you do opt for 3 day transfer and €12.70 for same day.  Only IBANs received before 1.30 can be done same day.  Ulser bank transfers are done by faxing their international dept with the details - its not done online within their systems.


----------



## bond-007

The backwardsness of the banks is unreal in this country.


----------



## jpd

backwardness ? they hold your money for up to 3 days - that's a lot of interest earned in the course of the year. Why do you think banks earn so much money? what can you do - shop around ? up to recently, there was no competition!


----------



## extopia

In this case the backwardness is an excuse to make money. I suppose it's up to the regulator to enforce the viability of the low-cost IBAN option.

Shop around? Why not. Maybe one of the banks will introduce this as a "perk." Doubt it though. Seems people are probably dumb enough to pay the outrageous charges for the "express" service.


----------



## bond-007

Is the money in the German account once it says completed on your aib online banking or do you still have to allow 3-4 days for the money to arrive?


----------



## Gulliver

serotoninsid said:


> I filled out & signed the forms for a euro transfer from my current account to an account in germany in Ulster bank early yesterday morning. Theres no sign of it on my online banking transaction details as of a few minutes ago. Surely these transfers are very quick?


 
These cross-border credit transfers are covered by two agreements.  The first is an EU regulation - Regulation 2560 of December 2001.  In summary, that says that a credit transfer below €12500 (€50000 from 2006 onwards) should be charged at the same rate as a similar transfer within the country.

The second is the Credeuro Convention, which specifies a standard 4-day cycle (including both start and end dates i.e. an item handed in to UB on Monday should be in the destination account in Germany on Thursday).  This latter convention should be overtaken by the Payment Services Directive which was agreed in Brussels yesterday (But will not become law for some time)


----------



## serotoninsid

Have done a few more of these recently - all to germany. I notice on the UB form, as the sender I can choose whether the beneficiary or myself pays the fees.  The confirmation on the last one showed that the beneficiary was charged €26.  
Can this be right?
The whole reason direct transfer is commonplace in germany is due to their dislike of credit cards and the charges that go with them.  But credit card fee would be considerably less in comparison with the above.  I'm surprised they bother shipping to ireland at all..


----------



## ClubMan

serotoninsid said:


> Have done a few more of these recently - all to germany. I notice on the UB form, as the sender I can choose whether the beneficiary or myself pays the fees.  The confirmation on the last one showed that the beneficiary was charged €26.


Why would anybody pay €26? Doesn't the eurozone cross border electronic payment charges legislation mentioned earlier apply here and cap the charges to a relatively low level?


----------



## serotoninsid

ClubMan said:


> Why would anybody pay €26? Doesn't the eurozone cross border electronic payment charges legislation mentioned earlier apply here and cap the charges to a relatively low level?


Thats what i thought?


----------



## DACMAN

I do some work for a Swiss company, money is transferred via IBAN, I notice that there is always a €5.00 deduction from the invoiced amount by the time the money arrives into my A/C, yet there is no itemised list outlining the cause for the deduction, bank is AIB, I'll query next time I'm in there as to the reason.


----------



## ClubMan

Obviously the eurozone cross border electronic payments charges rules don't apply to _Switzerland_.


----------



## polly2000

serotoninsid said:


> Have done a few more of these recently - all to germany. I notice on the UB form, as the sender I can choose whether the beneficiary or myself pays the fees.


My Ulster Bank staff told me NOT to check these boxes, cross them out and don't put in a Value date ( near the top of the form) Instead, clearly mark you want 2 day value 51c near the vlaue date.

Absolutely ridiculous when all this should be on the form in the first place but I have been caught out with excessive charges before and queried this so I always keep an eye out for the actual charges going through.

If you didn't request a certain date I would query the charge. 

Payments made within a day are charged a hefty rate so this might explain the charge although the bank should inform you of this. Again I'm almost sure this is not spelled out on the form. 
P


----------



## Kurly

We requested our money from the Ulster Bank to be transferred into our French bank account and it still hasn't arrived - that was 8 months ago.


----------



## Brendan Burgess

Kurly

Your posts are odd and you should either tell the full story or not make any serious allegation about a named institution. 

From this post a family friend has ripped you off. 

And now you have a problem with Ulster Bank taking 8 months to transfer your money. 

We have no problems with people making credible complaints about a financial institution in the Republic. But you have to give the full story or no story.

Brendan


----------



## Kurly

Brendan

Like you said, you don't know the full story.  I would like to add that I am not a stupid man, and I don't make allegations about anyone or anything unless I have good reason to.

I see I have now been given a choice, I either explain my whole story allowing me to stay, or I leave the forum?  Am I correct in thinking you meant this?  

With all due respect Brendan I am new to forums and have only looked to them to try to get a little advice, or a little insight as to whether anybody else may have been though what I have been through.  I am not here for any other reason.

However, it would seem that all I have done to you is get your "back up"??


----------



## Brendan Burgess

Hi Kurly

If you wish to post on Askaboutmoney, you must post meaningful posts within the Posting Guidelines. 

Your posts are odd. They hint at things. You seem to have given a large sum of money to a friend of yours who ran off with it, or at least won't give it back to you. 

You later defame Ulster Bank, without telling the story. Is it the same story? Or is it a separate story? You seem to be extremely unlucky.  Defaming anyone or any institution is in serious breach of the Guidelines. It's not about getting my back up. It's about using the site for the purposes for which it is intended. 

Brendan


----------



## Kurly

Brendan

I only said how long it is taking to transfer my money through IBAN from the bank where it is.

This happens to be my experience and the truth, I apologise if this is not within the forum guidelines.


----------



## ClubMan

Kurly said:


> I only said how long it is taking to transfer my money through IBAN from the bank where it is.


This does not sound like a normal _IBAN _transfer in which case its relevance to this thread is certainly questionable.


----------



## zebulba

Transfered money from my AIB current acc to my Swedish bank acc, last sunday night. The money was on my swedish account on Tuesday


----------



## serotoninsid

zebulba said:


> Transfered money from my AIB current acc to my Swedish bank acc, last sunday night. The money was on my swedish account on Tuesday


What did they charge?


----------



## zebulba

Cost me nothing, Iban transfers are free within EU (with AIB), however if u choose the xpress transfer wich takes about 24 h it's 12 euro something. But with the free one it took less den 48h, so if u dont need the money same day just use the free transfer . The exchange rates were quite ok to, since it's Swedish krona in Sweden.


----------



## DublinTexas

It depends a lot who the irish bank is using for their international transfers.

I do some transfers to Germany regulary and I notices strange things when making payments to the same banks:

PTSB, before 1059 in the branch for free - there same day (9 out of 10)
_They use citibank and that seams to speed things up._
Halifax, before 1059 via the phone for free - 3 days (5 out of 5)
_I assume RBOS in the background_

I see similar things when IBAN transfers are done to the UK to an € account
PTSB, before 1059 in the brank for free - there same day (5 out of 6)
Halifax, before 1059 via the phone for free - next day.

So neither PTSB nor Halifax charge for standard transfers but because they use different bankends the transit is diffent.

_These are personal experiences and YMMV_


----------

