Yes, in the sense that two of the three were eventually found, and the third (TD Bank to a very small local bank in wisconsin) could never locate the funds and the clearing bank and TD ended up sorting it out but I nearly lost the deal since I couldn’t pay $20k for a horse twice over while they sorted it out.
Thanks…very interesting. I like to be aware of potential problems with money transfer to be prepared for the “what ifs” type of eventualities.
I would only do a wire in a direct bank to receiving bank transaction. If you get a second routing/account number then don’t do it. The wire systems don’t have a way of accurately handling the secondary account information.
i have had no such troubles doing international wire transfers, just domestic. You’d think for the $30 they all charge to do it, there would be a better system besides just calling the recieving bank and hoping they find it.
every seller has been more than happy to accept a bank check with a letter from my bank certifying that I took the money out and the check is valid. I’ve never had a problem getting a proof of funds letter from a bank, either, so that’s how I buy horses these days unless the sum is just a couple thousand and I can show up in person with hundies.
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If you are transferring money for a large purchase, like a horse, having your own bank do it for you is much more reasonable and protects you. The fee they charge is nothing compared to what you could potentially lose.
on the Scammers - a former co-worker was trying desperately to sell his BMW SUV. He finally got an offer for like $35,000 and the guy said because he needed to ship the car he overpaid and co-worker needed to wire X amount back to buyer. Co-worker made the mistake of asking me where the closest place was that he could wire money? I said uh it’s a; scam Brad. No no he insisted the check cleared his account a few days ago. All was good. Nope scam brad. he was still adamant that it was a good cashier’s check, cleared etc etc. I urged him to just call his back before he trots down to Western Union. Sure enough as soon as he got on the phone the first thing the bank told him was - Mr. Brad, we were just getting ready to contact you, seems that cashier’s check was No Good.
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I used to work for a major corporation that received most incoming funds through wire transfer. Some were payments to affiliates, made to the company’s central bank in New York, with payments credited back to the affiliate.
Except that the space allotted for information on a wire transfer is extremely limited. And as it passes through the system, particularly if more than one handoff bank is involved, it can be truncated further.
It was crazy how much money was on the books that we had no idea who it came from or what affiliate was supposed to receive it. One of the most educational positions a new hire out of college could have was dedicated to finding out what was going on with these cash items. Detective work, really. They certainly learned the ins and outs of the company’s affiliate and customer structure! LOL
I’ll never forget that a very clever young graduate, working on a particularly stubborn item for a goodly amount of cash, decided that 3 letters in the mangled description line might be an airport code. She researched and phoned until she found a small local airport that nearly cried with relief to hear from her. They had paid a company affiliate for something rather expensive, and the affiliate claimed this customer had never paid since they couldn’t get confirmation from HQ. Working from their end the customer couldn’t locate or prove where the money had gone. So much for the effectiveness of wire transfers! Lots of apologies all around, but I’m not sure the butthurt was ever really smoothed over for anyone.
