International wires, experiences?
 

Tell me your bad and good experiences for wiring money into and out of the US. Ive heard horror stories and then Ive heard stories of instant transfers, Im trying to understand why there is a huge gap and not a standard. Plus Im waiting for some and wonder what can I expect.

What horror stories? you send a wire, the other person gets it the next day... I've never had any issues with wires...

Wow woj NEXT day? I wish my bank was your bank Ive been waiting awhile.

Can be hit or miss actually.. anyone that says otherwise most likely does not deal with "very large" wire amounts on a regular basis.

In our experience, if you're under $10k for a wire you generally get it more or less instantly depending on the banks involved policies (some might credit next day, etc.).

However, once you start getting larger - wires "magically" will get "held up" for days/weeks on end. Generally, this is attributed (though not directly.. after much cajoling of a bank manager you might get a nudge nudge wink wink type of answer) to various Three Letter Acronym US law enforcement agencies. You will magically then get this money into your account at some later date, without any explanation or interest payments for the delay.

As I type this I'm trying to track down a somewhat large international wire which was sent weeks ago. sigh.

This is of course our experience, your mileage may and likely will vary :)

-Phil

Is it a " swift "...

If so, call your buddies for more info:

U.S. to view banking records in terror fight

Updated: 9:04 p.m. ET June 22, 2006

WASHINGTON - The U.S. government gained sweeping access to international banking records as part of a secret program to choke off financial support for terrorism, officials confirmed Thursday.

Treasury Department officials said they used broad subpoenas to collect the financial records from an international system known as Swift. Stuart Levey, Treasury?s undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, called the subpoenas ?a legal and proper use of our authorities.?

BTW, got a wire today from The Cypros Popular Bank under 1K.
It took 24 hours to be in my account in Canada. Considering time zones, it is not bad.

Generally not bad Splum. Depends where they are coming from and going to, but got a tendency to allow 7 days for delivery.

The worst example.. only happened once.. was they lost the wire "somewhere" on route - suspect Bank of America - and was never delivered for almost three months.

never done it b4