Are IBAN transfers instantaenous?

I made my first IBAN transfer this week to put a deposit on a holiday apartment in Italy. [Side issue: Why does the 19th generation photocopy indemnity form that the bank got me to sign refer solely to fax instructions given that all my instructions were by email?].

The amount was debited from my current account on Tuesday 3rd May. I was planning on emailing the receipient that evening to advise them to look out for the lodgement at their side, but I came home to find email confirmation from Italy that they had already received the funds that day! Are IBAN transfers instantaenous? If so, can I make IBAN transfers to Irish accounts to get round the 3-day clearing period?

Rainy,

Have no answer to your query but many congratulations on the purchase.

How conventional of you - somewhere beautiful which everybody knows like Italy!

Can't believe that you didn't join the great Irish balance of payments black hole and go for one of the sure things that crop up on AAM and elsewhere - Bulgaria,Beijing and Beirut are my top tips this week. It's free money, folks!

RainyDay, if your money went through the same day, I fear you may have been charged more than was strictly necessary (see my post ) - unless of course the amount was over 12.5K and/or you wanted it to go through that quickly?

Even if the amount is over 12.5K, in theory there's nothing to stop you putting through two or three payments as necessary - each of them at no greater cost than a 'domestic' transfer...

Hope this is useful next time!

oysterman said:

Rainy,

Have no answer to your query but many congratulations on the purchase.

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Who mentioned a purchase? You've put 2+2 together and made 5.

DrMoriarty said:

RainyDay, if your money went through the same day, I fear you may have been charged more than was strictly necessary (see my post ) - unless of course the amount was over 12.5K and/or you wanted it to go through that quickly?

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Hi Dr M - I sent my NIB manager a link to your thread when I was setting up the payment and asked her to confirm that the charge would be the same as a domestic transfer. She didn't explicitly respond, but the only thing to hit my account so far is a €0.50 charge.

...fingers crossed, so. But I'm surprised the money went throught the same day - I was always told that that was an option, but the charge was considerably higher.

Be interesting to see if any further charge shows up over the coming week or two!

Nah. IBAN transfers within the eurozone are dirt cheap.

extopia said:

Nah. IBAN transfers within the eurozone are dirt cheap.

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It costs 75c in AIB - just did one.

Although when I rang up to inquire I was told €20.

As per the post below, if you know the IBAN and BIC codes, you can do it for 75c; if not, you specify the bank name, address, sort code and account, and AIB manually put it through, costing you €20.

The banks have indeed been slow to point out how cheaply transfers can be done within the eurozone.

MonsieurBond said:

It costs 75c in AIB - just did one.

Although when I rang up to inquire I was told €20.

As per the post below, if you know the IBAN and BIC codes, you can do it for 75c; if not, you specify the bank name, address, sort code and account, and AIB manually put it through, costing you €20.

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Pardon my ignorance, what is the BIC code?

BIC stands for Bank Identification Code. It's a 6-digit number, printed on your cheque book just before your account number.

There are two IBAN transfer animals in existence with most banks. There's the slow transfer - taking up to 3 days for your bank to make the transfer - which costs 75 cent with AIB , and I believe nothing with BOI. This animal uses SWIFT electronic transfer by SWIFT message MT103+ - which does NOT allow the sender to provide extra information to the recipient in order that the recipient might know what the payment is for.

The second animal is the fast one - same day SWIFT transfer by MT103 (without the plus). This costs approx Eur20 - and allows you to provide extra details and ensure that AIB etc staff send the SWIFT message promptly.

SWIFT do not care whether MT103 or MT103+ is sent - once the message is sent it's sent. The difference here is that the Banks, to maintain their profit margins, have taken the EC Directive stating that European transfers should cost the same as internal transfers literally - they also apply the same 3 day clearing rule to them.

So if you want the money sent quickly, and would like to tell the person on the receiving end what the payment is for (handy feature really!) you are out of luck with the cheap method. And I see no other reason for the 3 day delay other than that the Bank literally sits on your cheap transfer for 3 days before sending it.

Of course, a lot of you have parted with Eur20 to get them to send it now, haven't you.

Anyway, that's my understanding, and experience. If anyone disagrees I'm sure they will correct me!

podgerodge said:

So if you want the money sent quickly, and would like to tell the person on the receiving end what the payment is for (handy feature really!) you are out of luck with the cheap method. And I see no other reason for the 3 day delay other than that the Bank literally sits on your cheap transfer for 3 days before sending it.

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If you are right, P&R, it looks like NIB did the instantaenous transfer for me (as they quoted the property reference to the recipient) but charged me for the 3-day one (€0.50).

extopia said:

BIC stands for Bank Identification Code. It's a 6-digit number, printed on your cheque book just before your account number.

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Wrong about that. IANACW (I am not a cheque writer) but I will wager that the NSC (National Sort Code) is on your cheque. [broken link removed] is where BICs live.

e.g. NIB's is [size=+1]NIBKIE2DXXX[/size]

That's what I thought. I was writing a cheque yesterday and noticed that the number before my account number was the NSC.