Major Bank? Regional Bank? Local Bank? Credit Union?

[GuttormG]

It is amazing how old fashion and outdated US banking systems are!?
An international transfer is done in 2 minutes online..

 

[baxterb]

credit union. 5 minutes. No problem.

@Badjer what exactly was their issue?

A second credit union I deal with argued with me about a trust one time. I sent a letter to the president and asked her if I should find a new bank. Next day all was well.

Dunno.

 

[Badjer]

I actually almost exclusively use chase for my hunts and hunting wire transfers. My primary bank is USAA, but I transfer money to my Chase account and wire transfer from there. I may be dead wrong, but I feel more secure traveling with my Chase card that only has a few hundred dollars on it rather than my USAA card that has my and the kids savings accounts connected to it.

I seriously thought to myself during the process... "Maybe I should have stayed with Chase"

 

[Badjer]

credit union. 5 minutes. No problem.

@Badjer what exactly was their issue?

A second credit union I deal with argued with me about a trust one time. I sent a letter to the president and asked her if I should find a new bank. Next day all was well.

Dunno.

Not sure if they didn't know what they were doing and didn't want to admit it, or they thought I was sending money to a Nigerian prince or ???? They kept telling me stuff like, "it's risky to send money to Africa" and "Do you know this person?" and "There are a lot of scams online where people are asked to send money to people they don't know" It was like I was trying to use THEIR personal funds.
I'm having problems with them right now with a home improvement loan. (nothing on my end) Utter incompetence on their part... <sigh> Will be shopping for a new financial institution shortly...

 

[Fatback]

Just finished paying for my upcoming safari today. Took me 15 minutes to get the wire squared away. I bank with a local community bank and have never had an issue doing wire transfers to pay for hunts, taxidermy, dip/pack, shipping, etc….

 

[baxterb]

Not sure if they didn't know what they were doing and didn't want to admit it, or they thought I was sending money to a Nigerian prince or ???? They kept telling me stuff like, "it's risky to send money to Africa" and "Do you know this person?" and "There are a lot of scams online where people are asked to send money to people they don't know" It was like I was trying to use THEIR personal funds.
I'm having problems with them right now with a home improvement loan. (nothing on my end) Utter incompetence on their part... <sigh> Will be shopping for a new financial institution shortly...

That’s wild.

Hope you get it all sorted out. Nothing like having to justify spending your own money.

 

[wesheltonj]

I too use USAA FSB. However, their international wires are sent using a corresponding bank - Bank of New York Mellon.

 

[Denvir Tire]

I have used a small local bank many times, but the branch manager knows me and my wife because our business accounts are there.
Is anyone here using Navy Federal Credit Union?

 

[Andrew NOLA]

No matter what bank you use, don’t rely on emails for wire transfer information. Confirm the details over the phone with a human being who you know. And don’t use the phone number that was in the email with the wire instructions.

Very easy for scammers to insert themselves into an email string. Tons of this comes from Russia and China, and yes, Nigeria.

Part of what I do for a living is to move money. Probably three times a month I see fake wire instructions. Best practice is to get the wire instructions and then call and actually speak to a known human being and confirm them. This advice comes from the FBI cyber crimes unit. And they won’t even look at a loss of a couple of thousand dollars. Most likely, it would take a loss of six figures to get them to take it seriously. There’s just too much of this stuff going on and they have too much stuff to do.

Never rely on wire instructions that get changed via email. That is almost always a sign of an intercepted email string and it’s a scam. Be smart, don’t get taken.

For what it’s worth, I would much prefer using a bank like JPMorgan Chase than a credit union or a small regional bank. Chase has much greater resources and much better fraud prevention.

And don’t be pissed off at the bank because they’re asking you questions about your wire transfer. They’re trying to save your dumb a$$

 

[Hogpatrol]

Not really regional since they are coast to coast, PNC handles my wire transfers.

 

[Doug3006]

I use a local PNC branch. They always ask the obligatory questions, but I’ve never spent more than 30 minutes including the time waiting my turn.

 

[Doug3006]

Why don’t more Safari outfitters establish a US banking presence? It makes things so much easier for us, and I would think more secure for them. I remember that my Zimbabwe outfitter asked me to let him know when the transfer was in process so he could be at his bank when it hit! Seems that banking in Zimbabwe is a perilous undertaking.

 

[BourbonTrail]

Wise, US check/wire (outfitter with US bank), or Credit Union wire transfer (larger credit union, my smaller one is terrible for wires).

 

[Rem280]

Credit Card companies tend to get the best conversion rate, less to go wrong, if no foreign conversion fees and cash back all equals a win! I just had to send a Forex Wire for my most recent wire though.

 

[Pancake]

I bank both with Wells Fargo and a medium-sized state bank. For my first African hunt, I tried using Wells Fargo for the initial deposit because I figured they'd be more likely to be familiar with wire transfers. That turned out to be dramatically wrong. I went to the other bank afterwards, and they were a lot more helpful. It took probably an hour to get it done, but everything went through just fine with them.

I've found that the banking information you get from your outfitter might not be a 1:1 match with the bank's wire transfer form. It's a good idea to get a copy of the filled-out form if you can. Every subsequent transfer I've done with this bank to this outfitter has been very easy since I can show the banker exactly how we did it last time.

 

[Troubleshooter]

Small, local banks for me. Better customer service and I know who to call on the rare occasions when a problem does occur.

I had an account with one small bank near where I used to live. They handled an international wire transfer for one of my European hunts. Sat down with the bank rep, told her what I had planned, and she handled the transaction quickly and efficiently. After I had returned, we discussed the hunt and subsequent tourist activities. By the time (several years later) when I wanted to do another transfer, they had been bought-out by a large regional bank which started the Twenty Questions routine. The new bank rep seemed not to know how to make the wire transfer or unwilling to do it, so I closed my account and moved on.

Now I'm at another small, local bank. Again, the first time they did ask a number of questions "for my protection" but this bank was so small that they pretty well knew me. There was a learning curve, as none of them had ever done a wire transfer overseas so they had to call someone at the back office, but it got done. What helped me a lot was that I'd picked up some small trinkets (key-chains, magnets, etc.) while in Africa and passed them out following my return. Since then, no problems with any wire transfers that I wanted done. The questions were now along the lines of "is this for taxidermy or are you taking another safari?" or "so where are you going this time?" Several productive discussions have followed regarding the role of hunting in conservation.

 

[gcbailey]

That brings up a very good point.
It’s always much safer to transfer money in / out of an account that is dedicated for external electronic transfers. Using a standard checking or savings account that has additional funds in it above the transfer amount is asking for problems….
As an example, companies that provide electronic payrolls have dedicated external transfer accounts for that purpose. The funds are transferred from their regular accounts into the transfer accounts on payday, so that employees banks do not have access to the company’s regular accounts….
I have set up the same basic system at my personal bank. It requires an extra step to transfer money, but it also provides an extra protection.

I had no idea companies did that. Thank you for that bit of information. Maybe I'm not so crazy after all.

 

[gcbailey]

I seriously thought to myself during the process... "Maybe I should have stayed with Chase"

The only reason I have Chase is because USAA doesn't have a bank branch. Sometimes it is more convenient to be able to walk into a local bank and conduct business. When I was stationed in Indiana several years ago, it seemed you couldn't spit without hitting a Chase bank. I opened a secondary account with them because they were two blocks down the street from where I lived.

 

[Sabre]

Not sure if they didn't know what they were doing and didn't want to admit it, or they thought I was sending money to a Nigerian prince or ???? They kept telling me stuff like, "it's risky to send money to Africa" and "Do you know this person?" and "There are a lot of scams online where people are asked to send money to people they don't know" It was like I was trying to use THEIR personal funds.
I'm having problems with them right now with a home improvement loan. (nothing on my end) Utter incompetence on their part... <sigh> Will be shopping for a new financial institution shortly...

To offer some specific advice to your location. Your profile says SE WI. I have lived in both Wisconsin and Iowa before and there is a credit union there called Dupaco Community Credit Union. I have banked with them and transferred funds with them internationally and it was incredibly easy.

I had heard that CU didn't often do international wire transfers and you would usually need to go into a larger bank. However, I saw on their site that they offered it. So I went into a branch expecting it to need to be done in person. Instead the person there told me it was even easier to call in to do it, because they had a department that handled it and did them all the time.

I called in and it was incredibly easy. The woman did say "I am required to ask because of scams, do you know the person you are sending money to, and know that they are legitimate?"

I know I shouldn't have said the next thing, but I couldn't help myself and I said, "Of course he is legitimate. When the son of the deposed Nigerian King asks for your help, you help, and you send him money immediately."

 

[Philip Glass]

Without giving too much personal information... What type of financial institution do (did) you use to send your money to Africa?

I used to have a local bank, that got swallowed up by Bank One- then Chase swallowed them. I decided to move my money to a regional credit union that gets high reviews. I have not had luck with them. (read as: another part of my Africa trip disaster)
When it came time to send the deposit for my S.A. trip, two different people in the branch closest to my home argued with me about sending money to Africa. I told them It was an established outfitter. I even had a copy of transfer information from the outfitter! We went back and forth for at least 10 minutes before I got mad and walked out. NO deposit sent. --A few days later I went to a different branch in a nearby town. I didn't say anything about my experience at the other office. I showed them the sheet of account transfer information... A second worker then the manager got involved. Over an hour later the money was transferred. Multiple days, multiple offices, multiple "clerks" and a three day headache for me to start my "African Experience" So to repeat.
What type of financial institution do (did) you use to send your money to Africa?

I work with many clients getting ready to go to Africa and many for the first time. The majority of them have never sent a domestic wire much less an international one. I Have a very, very simple answer for any bank customer who has ANY trouble sending a wire of any kind. Find a new bank! I have no patience for this at all. This is blatant incompetence.
It is a much better bet to work with a local bank where you can easily walk into the president or other officers office and sort out such a problem.