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Wire Transfer: 1 month already

jan-jan (5 posts) • 0

My friend from US wired the money from Bank of America last Nov. 7, 2014 to my China Construction Bank but until now the money has not arrived yet and it's already 1 month..CCB just always tell me that if the money arrives it will just appear in my account...but my friend in the US gave me the receipt and called the foreign wire transfer there and they told him it just went fine... this is really frustrating... :( somebody here had experienced like this before?

laotou (1714 posts) • 0

1. Get a copy of your friend's wire notification from BofA.

2. Go to Construction Bank with your passport. You must go to the office that accepts international wire transfer. Ask them again - WHERE IS MY MONEY (please be polite - but LOOK dangerous in a professional way (not a gangster way).

Tell them International law is "they must verify within 24 hours" NOT this "it'll show up when it shows up" crap. If they cannot tell you at the bank - ask for the supervisor. If you still don't track down your wire, inform the supervisor you'll have to file both a police report regarding lost or stolen funds at the bank AND you'll have to notify your friend's bank and file a commercial SWIFT report against the bank.

That should rattle their cage enough to get them off their lazy behinds and actually go find your wire. It's at the bank - probably the names have been mixed up, switched (last name first, first name last, or some other lazy clerical error). CCB has a list of EVERY international wire transfer incoming and outgoing by date. The teller is just too lazy to go look for it and he/she is blowing you off.

PS - be prepared to go file a police report on lost or stolen funds at the bank AND be prepared to notify your friends BofA branch that funds were NOT received and bank denies knowledge.

SWIFT is an international banking system - a complaint against the bank will look REALLY bad - the bank head will need to explain this in writing to the main branch - who will then need to explain to the main corporate bank in Shanghai as to why they violated SWIFT rules.

yankee00 (1632 posts) • 0

"CCB just always tell me that if the money arrives it will just appear in my account"

If you just checked your balance through an ATM, it won't show the amount that has been wired, since it's still in foreign currency.
You have to go back to a branch of your bank and tell them that you have foreign currency that has been sent to your account from abroad and you want to convert it to Renminbi. You can also do that online yourself by login into your account.

Geezer (1953 posts) • 0

laotou' points are excellent.

As to point 1., it is extremely critical all information in the wire application/instructions be exactly correct. The slightest error can, or will, require the receiving bank to withhold depositing the money in your account.

The fix requires your friend return to the originating bank and amend the instructions.

Your friend should look into setting up a pre-formatted wire template. Getting the instructions perfectly correct is critical.

In my experience, the most common point of error occurs when when the hand written instructions are input into the originating bank's computer. Usually, poor hand writing is the cause.

Liumingke1234 (3297 posts) • 0

The whole concept of 'wire transer' is speed. A month's time is hardly speeding. Something obviously went wrong if you didn't get it within 24-48 hours.

jan-jan (5 posts) • 0

Thank you for the wisdom Laotou...that is a very systematic way... My friend in the US already told me that his bank (BoA) already sent an inquiry to the receiving bank yesterday and told him which they expect to get a response in about 2 days... after that if still nothing happens.. I think my wife and I needs to file a report in the bank and police like what you've said... by the way the money was already converted to RMB and not in dollars..

Geezer (1953 posts) • 0

In a prior life, I wired between $5 to $50 million USD to Hong Kong each month, usually on Tuesdays. I had to initiate the wires before 9:30 am. By 5 pm, I would get an email from Hong Kong confirming receipt of the funds.

Because China is not a signatory to the ICC, wires to China are usually processed through correspondence banks in Hong Kong which creates some additional delay.

Alien (3819 posts) • 0

Above comments all good. I had money wired to me here some years ago, took about a month. There was indeed a minor detail that was wrong that had to be corrected - in my case it was in the original wire request from a stockbroker.
By the way, BOA sucks, they're guilty of almost everything all over the planet.

AlexKMG (2387 posts) • 0

No, that would be JP Morgan and HSBC and UBS. You can hate BOA for being another giant bank (and having America in it's name), but they have been fined very little for wrong doing outside the USA, unlike those other three.

As to your international wire, less than a week. I would worry at five days business days. However, SWIFT is very regulated and has all kinds of tracking and factor in CCB and BOA have a working relationship, so your money (or friends) is safe somewhere in CCB. Use the good advice given by others to track it down. Your friends inquiry at a BOA branch in America will unlikely make the money show up in your account.

laotou (1714 posts) • 0

Don't forget - when you go to CCB - bring a copy of your buddy's BofA wire confirmation.

It has a reference number on it - that will help the lazy ccb staff go look it up in their book.

On a side note - I've NEVER successfully had a USD-CNY conversion wire from BofA. The wires to CCB have ALWAYS arrived in USD, requiring me to physically go to the window - which recently changed from Shulin Jie CCB - which may account for the processing errors and outright disinformation the teller is providing.

The police report thing will attract serious attention to the teller all the way up the chain to the bank head - they'll find your wire immediately or you can help them become famous...

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