Making a payment to a French bank account with a letter in the IBAN

Brendan Burgess

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In case anyone is trying to make a payment to France and gets stuck with their funny IBAN format

I was making a payment to a French bank account this morning and had to enter the last 8 digits of the IBAN into the AIB card reader.

But French IBANs contain a letter e.g. FR14 2004 1010 0505 0001 3M02 606
You can't input a letter into the card reader.

I googled it but couldn't find the answer.

I rang AIB and he told me that the IBAN must be wrong. But I googled it while on the phone and found that the format is correct.

France IBAN Format and Example - Wise

What does a typical IBAN code in France look like? Find out about its structure and see some examples, including IBAN codes of some of the biggest banks in France.
wise.com

He suggested doing it via the app but it was for more than €1,000 and I don't like doing my banking on the phone.

I suggested he ask a colleague so he input the question on the system and got the answer back - just put in the last 8 numbers and ignore the letter.

Which I did and it appears to have worked.

Brendan
 
But this was the first issue I encountered and I resolved it. I see no need for fiddling about with a small screen when I can work with a keyboard and large screen.

If it changes, then I will change.
 
I think it is technically correct, but when you are making a payment and trying to make sure that you don't put in the wrong account information and lose your money, and you expect to see 8 numbers but you see this

FR14 2004 1010 0505 0001 3M02 606

you don't think "Is a letter a digit?".

AIB could make it very easy by saying "enter the last 8 numbers in the IBAN - ignoring any letters"
 
I agree, they probably never considered an IBAN with a letter in one of the last 8 positions,

Maybe they might see this and think about how clear or not the request is,
 
The bank would appear to be at fault. The format of IBAN no’s is specified in international standard ISO 13616:2020 Financial services — International bank account number (IBAN). The example of a compliant FR IBAN no. given in IBAN Country List is FR14 2004 1010 0505 0001 3M02 606. Observe the letter M in the sixth-to-last position.

Brendan Burgess said:
I rang AIB and he told me that the IBAN must be wrong. But I googled it while on the phone and found that the format is correct.
Click to expand...
This really gets me. I worked briefly with international standards, and to put it kindly, Ireland was not particularly known for its awareness of global norms—especially in IT. The IBAN is clearly compliant. It complies with the ISO and FR standards.

Brendan Burgess said:
I suggested he ask a colleague so he input the question on the system and got the answer back - just put in the last 8 numbers and ignore the letter.
Click to expand...
Have you confirmed the transaction? If so, it would seem there may be a cause for concern if you entered a different a/c no and the transfer was still carried out correctly. Or have you sent to money to another a/c, following the advice of the bank?

The FR bank account standard says a bank number is composed of 11 characters (11 caractères) and not 11 numbers / digits (chiffres). RIB, IBAN et BIC : les petits noms de vos coordonnées bancaires. So an a/c no with a letter is compliant.
 
PMU said:
Have you confirmed the transaction? If so, it would seem there may be a cause for concern if you entered a different a/c no and the transfer was still carried out correctly. Or have you sent to money to another a/c
Click to expand...

Just to be clear

I entered the full IBAN in the space for account number and there was no problem.

But to make a payment with AIB you must use a card reader where you input the amount you are paying and the "last 8 digits of the IBAN" and it generates a code which authorises the transaction.

It was the last 8 digits which threw me.

I paid it yesterday and the recipient confirmed today that he received it.

Brendan
 
I used to prefer using a laptop and the website, easier to type IBAN. But recently I setup the selfie feature on the AIB app. Copy and pasting the IBAN wasn't too bad and it allowed the selfie in place of the silly card reader. Wasn't too bad. Frustrating they don't allow foreign IBANs to be saved as Quick Payees.
 
Hello,

I need to make occasional payments to a couple of French accounts, from my AIB account.

I've set up a couple of standing orders, for a minimal amount, paying the specific French accounts, every few months. I then edit them, at will, to change dates and payment amounts to whatever I need to pay.

Worst case scenario, I transfer 1 euro by standing order, every six months, if I forget to change the payment date of the standing order....

I think you may be able to also either copy or edit a previous international payment, with AIB, but can't recall how and found my standing order system the easier to manage.
 
MrEarl said:
I've set up a couple of standing orders, for a minimal amount, paying the specific French accounts, every few months. I then edit them, at will, to change dates and payment amounts to whatever I need to pay.
Click to expand...
That sounds like a feasible workaround. Might give that a go.
 
SEPA stands for Single European Payments Area. The clue is in the word “single” which means there are no foreign or domestic IBANs, just SEPA and non-SEPA IBANs.

This has all been EU law in effect from 2014.
 
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