Making a payment to a foreign bank - advice please

Banking Personal Banking
1

I need to make a payment to a French bank account. I have the IBAN number (and some other numbers).

  1. What do I need?
  2. What does the other person need to repay me the same way?
2

  1. You need the name of the account holder and the IBAN.

  2. They need your name and IBAN.

Possibly also whether the account is personal or business.

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3

You may also need the name and address of your respective banks.

Yes, this information is can be obtained from the IBAN but banks frequently like having it separately for international payees

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4

Thanks chaps.

5

Account name the IBAN which should start FR for grande and the bic/swift code.

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6

It does, indeed. Thanks :relieved:

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7

Your return IBAN is likely to start with GB as well, although this depends on the account.

Assuming you would want to receive Euros and keep them as Euros, then Revolut, Wise, Fineco, Starling and (of the high street banks) HSBC and Barclays can offer you Euro-denominated accounts.

If you want to receive the payment into a “normal” GBP account and get the Euros auto-converted then this is also possible but usually involves fees - so is not recommended.

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8

For the reasons you give, I’m inclined to use my Starling euro account for both transactions. (In full disclosure, it’s a refundable deposit for accommodation.)

9

More common for a card to be used for deposits?

10

If you mean credit card, the original ask was cash.

11

Any card really. I’ve used debit or credit for deposits.

I’ve never heard of an accommodation deposit be paid by transfer but perhaps I only book thru the same places.

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12

Sure. But if I elected to pay with a debit card, does that change the information I’ll need to make the transfer?

13

Well I’m assuming the accommodation would need some sort of merchant payments system to do that.

If they’ll only take transfer it’s just an IBAN job - I guess ask them for a receipt?

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14

Yes, because you wouldn’t be making a transfer; you’d be making a payment.

The accommodation would need to have a way of accepting card payments online, or by phone, and you’d need to provide all of the information on the card.

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15

None of it appeals, but it’s the first time I’ll have rented a place rather than stayed in a hotel.

The upside is the whole arrangement is logged through Booking.com.

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16

Are you sure they’ll be covering you in the circumstances? It sounds rather like the proprietor is trying to work around their platform fees…

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17

The accommodation will be paid for through booking.com by credit card in the normal way. This is a damages deposit.

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18

I’d check what booking.com say about making payments outside of the platform before proceeding.

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19

Yep - done. They’ve confirmed that it’s a condition of the property but said that if any issues around refund occur, I should pursue it through Booking.com.

I thought so, but wasn’t sure.

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20

Sometimes the bank asks for the recipient’s email address, and physical address or business address. I’ve done a fair few IBAN transfers in the past and they’ve been hassle free. Revolut, Starling and Monzo make it fairly painless

The alternative is them asking for a whacking great cash deposit that they will return to you on your last day.

The only thing I’d caution is reading reviews about where you’re staying. I’ve had a fair few people wish they’d done that (not just for deposit reasons) where what was advertised and what was provided had a fairly large gap.

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