Receiving international bank transfers to my bank in DR

You need to get the IBAN etc from your bank.  What they gave you will work from USA likely but nowhere else.

Hi,

IBAN from my Dominican bank?

Actually, popular will give you an intermediary bank for you to transfer funds from Asia.  It will depend on finding a country that can work with the funds you are sending and the funds banco popular can receive.  For example, if you are sending rupees, Banco Popular may not be in a position to receive rupees and convert them into pesos.  Therefore your rupees would go to an intermediary bank (a middle man) in another country that can accept rupees and send banco popular a currency that they can accept such as pesos or US dollars dpending on your banco popular account.

Dominicancanadamike is correct you very may need to use an intermediary bank.  Do you have a lawyer here that you use and trust.  We find that ours has a bank account in the US and will transfer money from anywhere

Bob K

It's not necessary to have a lawyer for just a transfer.  Banco Popular has a list of intermediary banks that they use.  I received a list for myself just last week as well as detailed instructions that included several US banks and a few European banks.  They will also give you all of the information you require for the transfer.  You should first ask your bank that you are sending the money from, what information you will need.  That way, when you get the info from Banco Popular, you can see if they have given you everything required.  Saves a lot of back and forth.  Look for the simplest transfer route possible, the more exchanges the more exchange fees (which are hidden).  For example; send your money from your bank to a US intermediary bank in US dollars. From the intermediary bank to your Dominican USD dollar account.  One exchange fee of 2.5% better if you shop around and depending on the amount.

Just ask your Dominican bank for international fund transfer outside of USA. Simple

My point was that if your bank does not have an intermediary bank then maybe your lawyer may be able to.

Bob K

All the banks here have intermediary banks set up Bob.

Don't send too much or your funds will be held up.

You need to check with your bank officer first to see what your monthly limit is. I don't mean the teller. The bank officer. If your account is set for $5k per month and you send $10k, your funds will be held up. That means it won't show up in your account on time and when you ask a teller where the money is, they will have no clue. You need to talk to your banking officer. This is the person that created the account with you to begin with. When they hold your wire up at your DR bank don't expect a phone call or email.  They usually don't even notify you. Dominican communication!

Yes, it's a royal pain in the $%#$ss. You have to keep checking with the banking officer. Usually, after a week or so of not seeing the money there,  you can get the officer to call the "secret dept." that you cannot call or contact directly and they can fix it quickly or require you to answer questions before they unfreeze the funds. With each bank having different questions.

Scotia Bank is only interested in where the money came from and showing proof and a complete audit trail and another bank like Banca Reservas only caring about what you are going to do with the money and couldn't care less if the money came from some Jihadi or the Mexican drug cartels. It's banking insanity.

If you think that's bad, the intermediary bank can also hold it up. Which they do all the time nowadays.  And they wonder why many people are tired of dealing with banks.

Some banks have intermediaries required depending upon where the money is coming from. From Europe or Asia could be different ways to wire in. Your local bank here will give you the wiring details required.

Scotia Bank, since it's parent is a Canadian company, requires a USA intermediary for all wires to the local Scotia bank here no matter where the wire is coming from. The reason why is because they make more fees on intermediary services and they also control the money. There are all kinds of lists and algorithms, and if your on it or even if one word in the name in the wire, sender or receiver, matches something in one of their lists, they hold it up. Sometimes, they hold it and you can't get it back! Kind of like civil forfeiture laws in the USA where they steal it and it's almost impossible to get it back without spending a fortune.

They can also hold up a wire for completely bogus reasons which tells you a lot about how messed up the financial system really is. It's all completely illegal as the Swift system, which is what banks worldwide use to wire money to each other is supposed to be a completely neutral system.

when you send money via wire transfer, there is a unique tracking number created for your transfer.  It's an ICN number.  If you have a good contact in your bank you can get this number from them for each transfer.  If you give this number to your receiving bank they can search, find and "rescue" your transfer, depositing into your local branch much quicker.  It seems like many transfers sit in limbo, meanwhile the banks are collecting huge amounts of interest.  They wait to see if anyone collects it (by following up) and if not it eventually goes back to the originating bank.  It's a cat and mouse game.  Alternatively you might want to try traveler's cheques or a bank draft if you are accompanying the the money.  Traveler's cheques can be ordered in large denominations and are a safe way to transfer your money.

Most banks will charge a commission for travelers checks.  You can use a personal check but most banks regardless of the type of check and regardless of the issuing bank will hold your money for up to 30 working days (6 weeks) before releasing the funds.  I even showed my bank that my check cleared and the funds were in their bank 3 days after cashing but  still held the money for 30 days.  Now they have changed that to releasing 1/2 the funds in 5 days and holding the rest for 20 working days.  Making money on your money.

Bob K

It will depend upon your bank of course and the type of credit and account you have.  I fortunately do NOT have to pay fees for traveler's cheques and I am able to get a preferred exchange rate on the currency.  When I get to my bank here all I have to wait for is the time it takes to sign my traveler's cheques.

I have a very similar relationship with mine as well but it took time to develop

Bob K

Good relationships always do...

So true and usually worth the effort

Bob K

We received wire transfer from Europe to our Dominican account (ScotiaBank), no problem at all and yes it did go through the intermediate bank in USA. We got the money in 4 days! I was pleasantly surprised how fast it was and no hold on it. If you are expecting a bigger amount of money, just inform your bank here in DR, send them an invoice and you won't have any hold on it either.
Denise

Glad to hear it all went well.

It is checks they put a hold on.  Wire transfers are available almost immediately

Bob K

Ahhhhh Bob not always my friend. I have had them held up for almost 10 bloody days!!! Its called greedy little buggers.

I agree Planner, I have had wire transfers held up to the point they were returned to sender a month later.  Even with follow-up.  It all depends, on what I am not sure but sometimes you win and sometimes it's anybody's guess...

Nope all of ours have gone through in the first 48 hours

Bob K

But I do agree on the greedy little buggers comment.

Bob K

Hahaha.  Those held up were always over 10,000 US.

If the wire amount is small, less than $5k, then probably no issue. If more, that's when problems show up. Especially if the amount is more than what you told them your monthly turnover will be.

Ours was more than 5K, I gave our lady in Scotiabank La Romana bank an invoice ahead of time and no hold, all money on our account and available in 4 days from the day the transaction was done. I think if you talk to the people at your bank ahead of time, all should go smoothly.
Denise

Demi you are probably right. 

Bob K

Yep. That makes sense!

You must show source of money if over 10k, that is international money laundering rules! 

Anything unusual - never hurts to talk to your bank. I routinely get wires under 10k in under 24 hours now!

I had that question too.  If we are wire transferring large sums of money from US to Europe through an escrow account, does it converted twice?  First into RD and then to Euro?  Is your lawyer Julio Guzman?? Because I was hoping he has a US bank to do all the transferring of funds...I'm wishing you guys rain...

If you are sending from USA to  Europe why would you use some here?  Sorry I don't understand. BUt likely the firm has a US account.

I have been able to make transfers to my bank account here in the DR (Banreservas) using only my name, account number, bank name and address, and the SWIFT code. The only problem I had: I was putting dashes and spaces in my account number as the bank here had given me and my bank overseas didn't recognise the number, but after talking to them I got it sorted out. Now I haven't had any problems.

Brodies I have the same question why use a bank here to transfer between the US and Europe?

Bob K

Vero yep that is all it takes I one misplaced . or - and it will not go through.

Bob K

Buying a property on a payment plan...to owners who live in France...sorry, not enough details...😃

If funds are being transferred from a Canadian bank in USD to Scotia DR, will it still have to go through a intermediary bank. I haven't set up a bank account in the DR yet so I am seeing what the different options are.

Brodie so still why not just transfer the money directly to France and skip the DR part.

Bob K

Stan  I believe it still does. Technically  Scotia there and Scotia here are not linked.  Technically.....LOL

Complicated. Thanks Planner