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Important!: Do not try to 'construct' an IBAN
Thread poster: Mats Wiman
gurud
gurud
French to English
NatWest's ignorance of IBAN Jul 25, 2003

Graciela Carlyle wrote:

I had the same problem with NatWest.
I must have spoken with all the sections of the bank and they even passed me with foreign payments in Liverpool (for sending payments) when I was asking for my IBAN to RECEIVE payment.
Noone new what I was talking about. They finally said they'd ring back and eventually got it sorted.
I was the only/first customer in the branch (in Wakefield) to ask for the code and had to "inform" them what the IBAN code was for and that it was mentioned in their site on the internet.
Amazing!


 
gurud
gurud
French to English
NatWest's unawareness of IBAN Jul 25, 2003

Congratulations to Graciela Carlyle if she ever got her IBAN out of NatWest at all. It took me umpteen phone calls to get one. It was plain that my branch had never heard of such a thing---nor, though various people up and down the land in the NatWest 'organisation' did their best to be helpful---did almost anybody else.
Eventually, after endless sweat, I got one---but even now I've no notion whether it was right, because when (justifiably dubious of a bank that plainly cannot be bother
... See more
Congratulations to Graciela Carlyle if she ever got her IBAN out of NatWest at all. It took me umpteen phone calls to get one. It was plain that my branch had never heard of such a thing---nor, though various people up and down the land in the NatWest 'organisation' did their best to be helpful---did almost anybody else.
Eventually, after endless sweat, I got one---but even now I've no notion whether it was right, because when (justifiably dubious of a bank that plainly cannot be bothered to train its staff) I later tried to check it, I was told a totally different one.
Can anyone (I don't expect a rush.....)recommend a bank that DOES have some basic idea of its own business?

[Edited at 2003-08-07 10:22]
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awilliams
awilliams
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:24
Italian to English
+ ...
Exactly the same problems Jul 26, 2003

Anne Lee wrote:

The bank I was talking about was the HSBC.
I've banked with them for 16 years and they are a good bank, but I did find their ignorance of IBAN up to 10 days ago amazing. Will show them the legislation referred to above. Thanks.
--- Just checked the HSBC website for business accounts; but could not find any mention of the new legislation. The HSBC operator I then spoke to had not heard of the new legislation. Am waiting for the Kettering branch to call me back tomorrow morning...

[Edited at 2003-06-30 16:25]

I've had exactly the same problem with HSBC. I have a parallel Euro account, but they don't seem to have a clue about Euros, IBANs or SWIFT. Until I requested a Euro paying in book for the nth time, they used standard sterling paying in slips and crossed out the sterling sign, replacing it with the Euro one. (I was always secretly hoping that they would key in amounts as sterling...!) And transfer charges are a problem, too. Yesterday I went to transfer c. 150 EUR from my Euro account to a Euro account in Spain. The charge was £20, which is just plain rude! I asked the branch about the new regulations, but they didn't have a clue. Went home, called up the HSBC International branch and asked for the cheapest way of transferring 150 Euros between Euro accounts. They didn't seem to know either. "Let me just have a look at our website" was the answer. They called me back and told me I'd probably have to open another account. Not even the International branch could tell me how to do it. So..we're about as behind as we were in the Eurovision song contest.


 
Claudia Iglesias
Claudia Iglesias  Identity Verified
Chile
Local time: 05:24
Member (2002)
Spanish to French
+ ...
I have another problem with IBAN Jul 26, 2003

My French Bank has been using it for a longtime, so it's O.K. with that.

The problem is that domestic charges apply only if the order is given through Internet.
In order to make payment I have to fill a form where it's possible to put only IBAN similar to the French ones.
Yesterday I read many documents from the site given by Mats, and the numbers can go from 6 to 23 depending on the countries.

I sent an email to the people in charge of my bank Internet se
... See more
My French Bank has been using it for a longtime, so it's O.K. with that.

The problem is that domestic charges apply only if the order is given through Internet.
In order to make payment I have to fill a form where it's possible to put only IBAN similar to the French ones.
Yesterday I read many documents from the site given by Mats, and the numbers can go from 6 to 23 depending on the countries.

I sent an email to the people in charge of my bank Internet services more than one week ago, and they haven't answered yet.
I wonder whether they have to change the form or if I have to put zeros in the empty spaces.

I wish it can be used soon!
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gurud
gurud
French to English
NatWest's ignorance of IBANs Aug 7, 2003

gurud wrote:

Congratulations to Graciela Carlyle if she ever got her IBAN out of NatWest at all. It took me umpteen phone calls to get one. It was plain that my branch had never heard of such a thing---nor, though various people up and down the land in the NatWest 'organisation' did their best to be helpful---did almost anybody else.
Eventually, after endless sweat, I got one---but even now I've no notion whether it was right, because when (justifiably dubious of a bank that plainly cannot be bothered to train its staff) I later tried to check it, I was told a totally different one.
Can anyone (I don't expect a rush.....)recommend a bank that DOES have some basic idea of its own business?

[Edited at 2003-08-07 10:22]


 
gurud
gurud
French to English
NatWest's ignorance of IBANs Aug 7, 2003

An update to my lamentation in late July that NatWest or at least its manifestly untrained staff knew nothing about IBANs.

Lo, now NatWest has put out a document aimed at its customers(Google for NatWest AND IBANs and you'll find it)on the net. Amazing how a bit of public prodding can stir even the sleepiest elephant.

Whether it will help you may be another matter. If your turnover is under a million pounds, you are advised to try...yes, your local branch.

... See more
An update to my lamentation in late July that NatWest or at least its manifestly untrained staff knew nothing about IBANs.

Lo, now NatWest has put out a document aimed at its customers(Google for NatWest AND IBANs and you'll find it)on the net. Amazing how a bit of public prodding can stir even the sleepiest elephant.

Whether it will help you may be another matter. If your turnover is under a million pounds, you are advised to try...yes, your local branch.

Has anyone out there experience of what---even now---this means in actual practice? In my case (a re-check on two rival NatWest- supplied versions of my IBAN) a personal visit and some mildly plain speaking did work, as phone calls and letters hadn't. One of the two versions was--it seems--actually right.
Has anyone else any evidence, pro or con? Tell us: the more deserved rudery any big company gets on the net, the likelier it is that they will take note and do something about it
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Ralf Lemster
Ralf Lemster  Identity Verified
Germany
Local time: 09:24
English to German
+ ...
UK IBAN structure & online check Aug 7, 2003

Hi gurud,
Eventually, after endless sweat, I got one---but even now I've no notion whether it was right, because when (justifiably dubious of a bank that plainly cannot be bothered to train its staff) I later tried to check it, I was told a totally different one.

The structure of UK IBANs is:

[GB][xx][AAAA][SCSCSC][ANANANAN]
whereby:
GB is the country code
xx is a two-digit check number (this is the only component of the IBAN which you cannot set yourself)
AAAA is the 4-letter bank code
SCSCSC is the 6-digit sort code (without the dashes)
ANANANAN is your 8-digit account number

You can check whether the check number provided is correct using an online validator provided by Barclays. Note that this only checks whether the number provided is a correct IBAN - but then you can check SC and account number yourself.

HTH - Ralf


 
DGK T-I
DGK T-I  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 08:24
Georgian to English
+ ...
(UK) IBAN info etc from banks Aug 8, 2003

It can be useful to get the phone number for their "International Banking" departments, or be put through to them from the switchboard. Although sometimes my enquiries have been handled well, I have to say I've often found local branch staff at all UK branches worryingly vague and unreliable about charges and procedures for international banking.

By chance I came upon a leaflet that a branch of HSBC gave me a little while ago, called: "IBAN International Bank Account", Number" and e
... See more
It can be useful to get the phone number for their "International Banking" departments, or be put through to them from the switchboard. Although sometimes my enquiries have been handled well, I have to say I've often found local branch staff at all UK branches worryingly vague and unreliable about charges and procedures for international banking.

By chance I came upon a leaflet that a branch of HSBC gave me a little while ago, called: "IBAN International Bank Account", Number" and explaining about IBAN charges and the new charges.

[Edited at 2003-08-10 10:50]
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Ramon Somoza
Ramon Somoza  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 09:24
Dutch to Spanish
+ ...
Fine in Europe - but headaches in the US! Aug 10, 2003

I got my IBAN all right from my bank, & within Europe it works perfectly. However, I found out that american banks have sometime trouble with this code - too many digits, it appears!

 
gurud
gurud
French to English
NatWest's ignorance of IBANs Aug 14, 2003

Ralf Lemster wrote:

Hi gurud,
Eventually, after endless sweat, I got one---but even now I've no notion whether it was right, because when (justifiably dubious of a bank that plainly cannot be bothered to train its staff) I later tried to check it, I was told a totally different one.

The structure of UK IBANs is:

[GB][xx][AAAA][SCSCSC][ANANANAN]
whereby:
GB is the country code
xx is a two-digit check number (this is the only component of the IBAN which you cannot set yourself)
AAAA is the 4-letter bank code
SCSCSC is the 6-digit sort code (without the dashes)
ANANANAN is your 8-digit account number

You can check whether the check number provided is correct using an online validator provided by Barclays. Note that this only checks whether the number provided is a correct IBAN - but then you can check SC and account number yourself.

HTH - Ralf


Many thanks, Ralf Lemster. It was getting the actual check number, the two figures after the GB, that was my problem--and no wonder, given that NatWest's supposedly banking people at the time plainly knew much less (if anything) about IBANs than you do!
What was striking was that mainland- European banks plainly had taken some notice, in good time, of the arrival of IBANs, while NatWest (other British ones too, to judge from other entries in this thread) evidently couldn't be bothered.


 
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Important!: Do not try to 'construct' an IBAN







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