Safest account to receive payments from abroad?

planteria

we have a potential customer who is prepared to pay in advance for some of our products, and one of our team is extemely cautious.

what sort of account details are safest to provide?
we could provide Sort Code & Account Number or IBAN for a current account.
or we could provide details of a Personal Savings Account?
or even Sort Code & Account number of, for example, Barclaycard, and provide the Barclaycard account number as a reference.

to be ultra cautious, which of these best reduces risk?

i have never used Western Union, for example, but perhaps this is safer still?

[Deleted User]

What risks are you concerned about exactly? Doesn't the potential customer want to send you money?

planteria

yes, and i am fairly comfortable to provide IBAN.. but one of our guys has expressed concern:undecided.

Anthorn

I use western union and it's just a matter of collecting the cash from an agent and my local agent is almost next door. Over £800 per year verify ID online. I've found when sending money that WU works on a double-entry system where money has to come from somewhere and go to somewhere. So you might for example have to produce a bank statement to your local agent who could be a local shopkeeper and they will photocopy it. Being able to send cash without a confirmed origin is unlikely.

planteria

thanks Anthorn.. so to receive money via WU do you go to them and set up an account?

[Deleted User]

May also be worth checking what the WU fees are (I have no idea I'm afraid)

Ballard

I don't see any danger in providing your full account details. indeed, many companies include the IBAN, BIC & sort code on their invoices for all the world to see.

Anthorn

planteria wrote: »

thanks Anthorn.. so to receive money via WU do you go to them and set up an account?

I registered online and verified identity electronically online first.You need an address and a phone number and a debit card or do it by bacs. Don't forget to choose cash as the transfer method.

You should be able to do it at an agent too. Typically people walk into an agency with cash and ID, fill out a form and whammo 5 minutes later it's sent and the recipient advised.

Transferwise is a lot cheaper though.

eDicky

Would it satisfy your extremely cautious team member if a new bank account were opened solely for the purpose of receiving funds from your potential customer, even if they are Nigerian..?

planteria

thanks Anthorn. i will discuss it further tomorrow. does the recipient pay to receive money via WU, or just the sender?

eDicky wrote: »

..even if they are Nigerian..?

i had a meeting with a Nigerian today, but this particular potential customer is a Pakistani.

and agreed, i think a new account ought to do it. but i suppose the broader question is "can someone do any damage if they have your IBAN number, Sort Code, Account Number" with no card or security details? i don't think they realistically can:think:.

worried_jim

Why not ask your bank? Do you have a business relationship manager? Ask what you can do/check for to safeguard as much as possible.