Wire Transfer from USA to UK Problem. Need Advice.

JooJar

Hi,

So, to cut a long story short on the 17th of this month Facebook sent me a wire transfer for $5000. It was payment for services. They sent the payment to my UK Barclays account.

I provided the details they asked for which was: SWIFT, IBAN, Bank Name, Account Number, Sort Code, Name

On the 27th there was no sign of the payment so I got in contact with Facebook. They asked me to confirm the details I sent them, and they were all correct. They then contacted the bank they sent the payment from and confirmed that it was sent by their bank on the 17th.

They have gave me the following information from their bank:

Bank reference number: ********, WIRE TYPE:INTL, OUT DATE:011714, TIME:1242 ET, TRN: *******, SERVICE REF: *****

(I've replaced sensitive information with ****)

Facebook confirm that my details they passed to the bank were entered correctly by the bank and the payment was dispatched.

So, now what do I do?

Facebook have told me because their bank sent the payment correctly, that I need to pass the information they have sent me to my bank so my bank can chase it up.

The problem is Barclays do not seem concerned with this. I went into the branch on the 27th and spoke to one of the women there who was rude, and very unhelpful. She basically said "If it's not in your account there's nothing they can do".

I've had payments from the USA and they've taken 3 days. I sense something isn't right, but I have no idea what to do about it.

I know Facebook have paid it. They'd have no reason not to as I was paid for some work I did for them.

I'm lost. I look forward to hearing some advice on what to do. Is it my understanding that it's down to my bank to chase this up? I think I read online that it's the payee that has to chase it.

agrinnall

I would normally expect a SWIFT transfer to be complete within 3 days, as you have previously found. If anything goes wrong with it and it needs manual intervention that can add extra time, and it's possible it could still be going through. I doubt whether a teller at Barclay's will have much knowledge of SWIFT processing, you need to find a way of getting through to someone who deals with this type of payment on a regular basis. I'd be tempted to call customer services rather than try in a branch as they may be better placed to put you through to someone who can help.

JooJar

Thanks for the response.

I spoke to the bank manager in Barclays today who wasn't very helpful. I showed him all the reference information from the bank that sent the payment and he didn't have a clue how to use them.

I don't think he believed that I was being paid from such a big company. I think he thought it was a joke, or a wind up. He kept saying "For all I know this information has probably be typed at random to show they have made a payment".

I had to keep telling him it was genuine.

He told me to contact Facebook, and have them chase up with their bank on all the steps the payment has went through and where it currently is. So I've emailed them - which I am starting to feel bad about doing because they've been so helpful and I feel I am being a pain in the backside now.

I was under the impression that if I had all the reference details from the wire, surely Barclays could call the head office and ask them if any wire has entered their systems. It's not unheard of for payments to be sitting in a different branch and just idling there. I've read about this happening to people before.

So, if Facebook reply and tell me it's in the UK, then I am stumped because if the bank manager can't help, and the payment is in the UK, then what do I do?

Getting a little fed up with it now.

To make matters worse I have another payment from Facebook being released on the 17th of February!

henm2

The usual procedure in a case like this and the easiest way to track down where the money is is to ask the sender (Facebook in this case) to contact their bank to do a 'trace' on the payment. This will usually produce a result in a few days and locate exactly where the money is. Often it turns up in a bank suspense account as due to some technical reason it has not been possible to pay into the beneficiary account.

agrinnall

Just because the person you spoke to is a manager doesn't mean he has any more knowledge of SWIFT payments than a teller would, it's a specialised area and most bank employees won't handle them regularly. As I said before, call CS rather than visit a branch. Or you could continue to bang your head against a brick wall, your choice.

jonesMUFCforever

agrinnall wrote: »

Just because the person you spoke to is a manager doesn't mean he has any more knowledge of SWIFT payments than a teller would, it's a specialised area and most bank employees won't handle them regularly. As I said before, call CS rather than visit a branch. Or you could continue to bang your head against a brick wall, your choice.

Sorry but CS will not know anything either. They need to contact the international branch asking for the team dealing with inward payments.

jonesMUFCforever

To answer the question here there are probably at least a couple of banks involved.
Facebook's American bank would send the money to their UK agent bank who would then send it by FP or Chaps to the recipient bank.
It could be stuck somewhere in the middle - I agree it is Facebook who should start a search for the funds.
Barclays would be looking for a needle in a haystack.

agrinnall

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Sorry but CS will not know anything either. They need to contact the international branch asking for the team dealing with inward payments.

Absolutely, which is why I wrote in my first post

agrinnall wrote: »

... you need to find a way of getting through to someone who deals with this type of payment on a regular basis. I'd be tempted to call customer services rather than try in a branch as they may be better placed to put you through to someone who can help.

jonesMUFCforever

Customer services and the International team are very different and will have different telephone numbers.

henm2

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

It could be stuck somewhere in the middle - I agree it is Facebook who should start a search for the funds.
Barclays would be looking for a needle in a haystack.

I totally agree. Facebook should start the search from their end with their bank. To try and find it from the beneficiary bank end would be extremely difficult.

agrinnall

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

Customer services and the International team are very different and will have different telephone numbers.

Of course they are, but the OP is likely to already have a contact number for CS and one would like to hope that CS would be able to transfer a call to another more relevant number. I have never banked with Barclays so I have no idea how widely known to their customers numbers such as that of International team are, but I've never known numbers like that for any bank I have been with.