Does anyone here understand a lot about international wires, ABA numbers, Fedwire and payments?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by Daal, Feb 13, 2019.

  1. Daal

    Daal

    I'm having an issue with an international wire. I sent from my account at my non-US bank to my US bank (TIAA bank). They use Citibank as a correspondent bank and Citigroup gave the following message to my non-US bank:
    "
    PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE UNABLE TO LOCATE AN INTERMEDIARY BANK FOR CREFUS31XXX. IN RESPONSE TO YOUR MT199 DD 11FEB2019. PLEASE CONFIRM THE BELOW FORMAT.

    F57 30995037 TIAA, FSB RETAIL DEPOSIT WIRES F59 #MYACCOUNT NUMBER

    .

    IF WE DO NOT RECEIVE INTERMEDIARY BANK DETAILS BY 13FEB2019, WE WILL CANCEL THE PAYMENT AND CONSIDER IT NULL AND VOID."

    I tried to ask TIAA bank about an intermediary bank but the customer service is too incompetent to even know what that is, furthermore their website do not list that information at all
    https://www.tiaabank.com/support/easy-deposits

    But what I dont get is, TIAA bank is an american bank with a working ABA number. They are on Fedwire (right?) so all Citibank has to do is to send the funds through Fedwire directly to TIAA, there is no need for an intermediary. Am I correct? Can anyone make sense of why would they ask me for a intermediary when I gave details of a US bank directly connected to the US payment system?
     
  2. Baron

    Baron ET Founder

    I'm no expert but an ABA number for an international wire transfer is irrelevant. You would need to use the receiving bank's SWIFT code for a direct international transfer, not their ABA number.

    Also, I've had experiences where the bank person sending the wire screwed everything up because they set the wire up like there needed to be an intermediary bank but they never actually filled in the intermediary bank details on the wire transfer form, so the whole thing got kicked back.
     
  3. Daal

    Daal

    In this case I have provided both the ABA and Swift code, I'm not sure why they cant make the transfer to that bank given they know which bank it is
     
  4. Baron

    Baron ET Founder

    If you figure this out, I'd love to know what the problem was. Because it sounds like Citi is saying they can't find an intermediary bank for TIAA, but Citi is the intermediary bank!
     
  5. Daal

    Daal

    lol, thats exactly what I was thinking. No wonder why they became a penny stock in the last recession
     
  6. traderob

    traderob

    This is strange, I send money between international banks often, and in various countries. never had a problem like this. There must be an issue with the way the form was filled in. Usually , if you are doing it online, it won't let you submit until everything is done right.
     
  7. Daal

    Daal

    I just received the wire, all I did was to write an email to my bank and tell them how dumb the request was and that an intermediary bank was not necessary. Somehow that was all it took. lol
     
    Baron and destriero like this.
  8. destriero

    destriero

    TIAA uses BONY as an intermediate with overseas xfers. Normally your outgoing template will have a section for intermediaries.

    Edit: Disregard. Wow, that was dumb.
     
    Last edited: Feb 14, 2019
  9. Daal

    Daal

    I'm curious about how you found this out? Is that listed on their website? I might put that information in the future just so I dont have to deal with delays again
     
  10. destriero

    destriero


    I honestly don't recall, but it was on the TIAA brokerage-side.
     
    #10     Feb 14, 2019