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[Badjer]

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."

I switched to the credit union thinking better rates and service and have only found the first part to be true in my 12 plus years of dealing with them. While it took some time the staff at the second branch must have called a similar department and figured out what needed to be done to make the transfer. Kudos to office #2 for doing their job. The current problems I'm having at branch #1 nearest my house warrant a change. Thank you for the recommendation.

 

[Badjer]

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.

I have found that out the hard way. I shared my story as a cautionary tale as well as providing a learning experience for myself and others. Thank you for your input.

 

[Hillbilly Marine]

I am a member of Navy Federal CU. I went to their closest branch to me and did my first transfer. The only problem I had was that there are so few wire transfers done in a smallish rural community that they hadn't done one in two years. Had to dig out the books, call a larger branh, but got it done.

 

[Badjer]

...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.

I saw a similar thing. Information was there but the wording didn't match. I did get a copy of the transfer form. I may not stay with this CU, but I'm saving it for the terminology differences. ...and the outfitter? I don't think they are in business anymore, but that's another story

 

[Hunting Hitman]

Wells Fargo Private Banker to start a new wire, after it’s already part of my wire pay profile and I can do it myself in minutes. Very easy and efficient.

HH

 

[Altitude sickness]

Reading this thread makes me appreciate that Dalton and York took the time to have a US bank account. so you can either just mail them a check to the US bank account.

Or even easier. I took a picture of a filled out check and sent it to Dalton. He sent it to his bank. Done

Then tore up the check.

I am done with cave man wire transfers. The seller needs to bear the brunt of the work. Not the buyer.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

I can do a global money transfer from my Canadian bank account directly to accounts in South Africa. Have sent funds to outfitter and PHs this way. Two drawbacks: 1) the receiver must pay a fixed fee to draw the money from their account. Sending funds to US accounts this is usually about $35. I think wire fees are comparable. My bank does not charge me anything to do the transfer. 2) Funds can ONLY be received in local currency. I suspect this is due to money laundering regs. I simply do the conversion from Canadian to US (the rates and trophy fees are always listed in US currency) and then my e-banking app will convert that Canadian funds amount to rand when I send the funds ... with $40 added to cover any withdrawal fee. So far it has worked okay. This way the outfitter doesn't have to pay credit card charges which are determined by percentage of purchase. Of course it won't work in countries whose domestic currency has self-destructed (e.g. Zimbabwe).

 

[Ontario Hunter]

About the "Twenty Questions" routine some banks may put you through to make wire transfers to Africa. They have good reasons for doing this. Seems every time some elderly couple gets scammed into sending their life savings to a Nigerian prince it makes national news that night (great human interest angle). Then the bank gets painted up as a villian for assisting by negligence. To avoid bad publicity they often wind up footing the bill. Can't blame them for being in preventative mode. Especially large national banks. They are more concerned with image than local credit unions.

 

[Badjer]

About the "Twenty Questions" routine some banks may put you through to make wire transfers to Africa. They have good reasons for doing this. Seems every time some elderly couple gets scammed into sending their life savings to a Nigerian prince it makes national news that night (great human interest angle). Then the bank gets painted up as a villian for assisting by negligence. To avoid bad publicity they often wind up footing the bill. Can't blame them for being in preventative mode. Especially large national banks. They are more concerned with image than local credit unions.

The twenty questions wasn't my issue. I get it. I told them I was going on this trip with a friend who had previously worked with this outfitter 5 times. The transfer info was accurate. It was the foot dragging and the reluctance to do what they are getting paid for that made me mad. Seems to be more the norm than the exception these days.

 

[Philip Glass]

I have found that out the hard way. I shared my story as a cautionary tale as well as providing a learning experience for myself and others. Thank you for your input.

It is a good discussion to have.

 

[Nyati]

Online, as fast as I take to type.

On large amounts, for security, they will ask me to verify with a phone message.

 

[Finprof]

The outfitters for my international hunts had accounts with either Chase or Bank of America in Miami. No problem with domestic wire transfers to a major bank.

 

[Andrew62]

Truist sends my international wire transfers for free, I've had the same great service from them whether I'm in Maryland or North Carolina. Another local bank here in Maryland that has a few branches charges 80.00.

 

[Andrew62]

Reading this thread makes me appreciate that Dalton and York took the time to have a US bank account. so you can either just mail them a check to the US bank account.

Or even easier. I took a picture of a filled out check and sent it to Dalton. He sent it to his bank. Done

Then tore up the check.

I am done with cave man wire transfers. The seller needs to bear the brunt of the work. Not the buyer.

Really glad you posted this, just last month I had my bank 'wire' funds to D&Y's US bank, now I know when I get home from my September hunt with D&Y I can do the same as you did to pay Dalton.

You're right, more outfitters should be offering this service.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Yes sir, just send a pic of the check to Dalton. Done deal

 

[DLSJR]

I’m a banker, so I find this thread particularly interesting. Yes, sometimes you’ll be questioned about your wire, but please try to remember this… Wire fraud is very easy for bad guys to perpetrate and it’s one of the largest problems with banking these days. That is precisely why some of you get asked questions before a wire is sent. The bank is trying to protect YOU from yourself. And they have to because it may come up during a bank examination by regulators.

There are a ton of scams out there. The wire team at my bank catches fraudulent wires more often than you expect. I personally had a business client lose $28,000 to scammers but it was the owner’s fault as he was using his work computer to surf porn sites and one of them had spyware that installed on his company’s entire computer network. Then, when the owner was on vacation in Hawaii his CFO got an email that appeared to be from his CEO and he followed the instructions in the email and faxed us a wire request. We confirmed the wire request with the CFO by calling him on a number we had on file for such matters. The CFO confirmed the wire and we sent it. Two weeks later the CEO was back from vacation and going over payables and that’s when they discovered that the fraudsters had sent the CFO the email that he thought was from his boss. They lost the $28,000 and had a substantial cost to get the company’s network cleaned up from the spyware.

People get scammed out of money by wire fraud every single day, so don’t be offended if your bank asks a few questions to confirm that you’re likely safe with your wire request.

 

[Altitude sickness]

The Swift system has a lot of flaws. And is pretty easy to defeat. It relies on employees at each end being competent.

One of my nephews that is a pretty savvy investor told me to buy a certain Blockchain-based platform that is faster and more secure than the current Swift system.

The Swift system is being replaced. It’s just a matter of which Blockchain system becomes the ubiquitous system.

 

[Sabre]

I’m a banker, so I find this thread particularly interesting. Yes, sometimes you’ll be questioned about your wire, but please try to remember this… Wire fraud is very easy for bad guys to perpetrate and it’s one of the largest problems with banking these days. That is precisely why some of you get asked questions before a wire is sent. The bank is trying to protect YOU from yourself. And they have to because it may come up during a bank examination by regulators.

There are a ton of scams out there. The wire team at my bank catches fraudulent wires more often than you expect. I personally had a business client lose $28,000 to scammers but it was the owner’s fault as he was using his work computer to surf porn sites and one of them had spyware that installed on his company’s entire computer network. Then, when the owner was on vacation in Hawaii his CFO got an email that appeared to be from his CEO and he followed the instructions in the email and faxed us a wire request. We confirmed the wire request with the CFO by calling him on a number we had on file for such matters. The CFO confirmed the wire and we sent it. Two weeks later the CEO was back from vacation and going over payables and that’s when they discovered that the fraudsters had sent the CFO the email that he thought was from his boss. They lost the $28,000 and had a substantial cost to get the company’s network cleaned up from the spyware.

People get scammed out of money by wire fraud every single day, so don’t be offended if your bank asks a few questions to confirm that you’re likely safe with your wire request.

As a banker maybe you could answer this question. I see people on here saying you should use a separate account set up only for wire transfers so that people on the other end couldn't draw more money later after you sent them money.

I have asked my bank in the past about this and they said that no one could get money from the wire transfer other than whatever amount I was sending in that moment.

Is there some backdoor way for the recipient or recipient's bank to draw more money than what is sent by the sending bank/individual?

 

[Safari Dave]

I use a small regional bank. (United Community Bank - SE USA).

Everyone knows me at the 3 branches closest to me.

Never a problem, and never a service charge.


IMO, everyone needs to have a relationship with a local or small regional bank.



I haven't shown an ID in over 20 years.

I don't even have to fill out deposit slips.



They didn't have enough cash on hand to cash an $18K check a few years, but it didn't create a problem.

 

[DLSJR]

As a banker maybe you could answer this question. I see people on here saying you should use a separate account set up only for wire transfers so that people on the other end couldn't draw more money later after you sent them money.

I have asked my bank in the past about this and they said that no one could get money from the wire transfer other than whatever amount I was sending in that moment.

Is there some backdoor way for the recipient or recipient's bank to draw more money than what is sent by the sending bank/individual?

You’re generally safe, but having an extra account isn’t a terrible idea. The bad guys are always looking for new ways to rip off people but I haven’t heard of anyone having funds stolen from an account they sent a wire from. Many millions of dollars are wired daily from business operating accounts without problems.