Can Nationwide current account receive USD transfer directly via SWIFT?

Footslog

wmb194 said:

In theory it's no problem but it uses HSBC* as an intermediary and IIRC there have been reports on this forum that if there's an issue with the payment it can be a pain managing the NW/HSBC interface to get NW to sort things out.

https://www.nationwide.co.uk/help/payments/bic-iban/

*Which is just FD in a different skin anyway!

Thanks for the info - HSBC + faff with NW sounds like a non-starter on two counts then!

Footslog

sausage_time said:

Why not set up a Wise account for receiving the USD?  

Another vote for Wise, thanks.

Ballard

A Google search got me to this page and it seems that Nationwide aren’t direct participants of Swift and use HSBC as their correspondent for all currencies. I dare say that they don’t accept every currency that HSBC are able to process but they’ll accept USD. 

Receiving an international payment

There’s no transaction fee to receive an international payment.

You need to give the person sending money:

• Your Bank Identifier Code (BIC). These are sometimes called 'SWIFT codes'. Nationwide's BIC is NAIAGB21.
• The intermediary BIC. Our Intermediary Bank (HSBC) BIC is MIDLGB22.
• Your International Bank Account Number (IBAN), which you can find in the Internet Bank or on your bank statements
• Your full name and address.

How long it takes to get the payment depends on where it is coming from. You can only receive a SWIFT payment to your current account, not a savings account.

https://www.nationwide.co.uk/help/payments/swift-sepa-international-payments/

Footslog

Ballard said:

A Google search got me to this page and it seems that Nationwide aren’t direct participants of Swift and use HSBC as their correspondent for all currencies. I dare say that they don’t accept every currency that HSBC are able to process but they’ll accept USD. 

Thanks for the hard information.  The fact that Nationwide (and also Triodos) use an intermediary bank for international payments is enough of a potential or actual problem to put me off using them for that purpose, especially as I have no direct one-to-one communication with the sender in my particular case.    

nyermen

Only the main banks don't need a correspondent bank (and so are correspondents themselves, and unfortunately none of them are likely more "ethical new banks").  But it shouldn't be an issue, thats why MT202's etc were brought in to improve the process.   If the bank is having issues, its best talking to them - they'll be doing swift payments every day (for treasury purposes).

Triodos are an established bank in the netherlands, I remember visiting their head office around 10 years ago in Zeist (think it might have moved now) so shouldnt be having issues.

Ballard

nyermen said:

Only the main banks don't need a correspondent bank (and so are correspondents themselves, and unfortunately none of them are likely more "ethical new banks").  But it shouldn't be an issue, thats why MT202's etc were brought in to improve the process.   If the bank is having issues, its best talking to them - they'll be doing swift payments every day (for treasury purposes).

Triodos are an established bank in the netherlands, I remember visiting their head office around 10 years ago in Zeist (think it might have moved now) so shouldnt be having issues.

I’m going completely off topic but all banks have correspondent banks for international payments. Nationwide just have an additional layer. In the case of Nationwide I think that payments would have to be done by MT103 only as they’re apparently not on Swift. That in itself shouldn’t be a problem but could introduce delays.

Daliah

Footslog said:

sausage_time said:

Why not set up a Wise account for receiving the USD?  

Another vote for Wise, thanks.

And a third vote for https://wise.com/.

Or use one of the other currency transfer firms. Just never any of the traditional banks or building societies.

born_again

Footslog said:

born_again said:

Best bet would be to ask Nationwide. 

Yes, as long as I'm confident the person I'm talking to really knows. That's why I was hoping someone else has already been through this.  Triodos say they accept international transfers, but...

 https://www.nationwide.co.uk/help/payments/swift-sepa-international-payments/

Receiving an international payment

There’s no transaction fee to receive an international payment.

You need to give the person sending money:

• Your Bank Identifier Code (BIC). These are sometimes called 'SWIFT codes'. Nationwide's BIC is NAIAGB21.
• The intermediary BIC. Our Intermediary Bank (HSBC) BIC is MIDLGB22.
• Your International Bank Account Number (IBAN), which you can find in the Internet Bank or on your bank statements
• Your full name and address.

How long it takes to get the payment depends on where it is coming from. You can only receive a SWIFT payment to your current account, not a savings account.

eDicky

j.p said:

Footslog said:

sausage_time said:

Why not set up a Wise account for receiving the USD?  

Another vote for Wise, thanks.

The problem with Wise US Dollar accounts is they're not in the beneficiary's name, they're in Wise's name. When an institution sets out to pay into your Wise account from the US and they do account name verification, the account holder name comes up as Wise, not your name, so if the institution can't verify the account is in your name they won't pay you.

It used to be that way before the full TransferWise 'Borderless' account was launched. But now with a full and verified Wise account (i.e. not just using them for a one-off transfer), the account holder is your own name in the USD account details to be given to a sender.

Footslog

j.p said:

The problem with Wise US Dollar accounts is they're not in the beneficiary's name, they're in Wise's name. When an institution sets out to pay into your Wise account from the US and they do account name verification, the account holder name comes up as Wise, not your name, so if the institution can't verify the account is in your name they won't pay you. Receiving money from a relative or contact should be OK.

Thanks.  I suspect this may have been the problem with the failed transfer to Triodos, ie. that Triodos themselves are named as the beneficiary, with my son's name and account number as an additional reference (as instructed to do on Triodos' website).

eDicky said

It used to be that way before the full TransferWise 'Borderless' account was launched. But now with a full and verified Wise account (i.e. not just using them for a one-off transfer), the account holder is your own name in the USD account details to be given to a sender.

Thanks, this sounds more hopeful.  I don't know whether there would need to be a minimum amount of activity to qualify for a 'fulll and verified Wise account' - at the moment, it's little more than once a year.  I shall investigate.