BANKS
No matter where you live, it does not matter which country your bank account is from.
So this can be in your own country, any other country or an E-bank account, as long as the bank account is in your own name and matches your ID.
It is useless to ask us if we can transfer your money to another person (friend, sibling, parent and so on). This is forbidden by law.
Don't get 'smart' by sending an account number of someone else and then use your own name. Banks really do check and it won't work, not even if that person is your brother and has the same last name. The money will be returned to sender and the delay and the costs are on you. Besides that the account holder risks to have his/her account being deactivated for fraud.
Make sure you double check your details before sending.
Swapped numbers, forgetting a number, it does happen. But with foreign transfers this can cost you both time and money. Time because it can literally take many weeks before the money has been returned. Money because banks will often take out a fee for the extra work plus you will lose the original sending fee to begin with.
It is your own responsibility to do it right so always double check.
Another often made mistake: in a lot of countries the number on your bank card is
not
the same as your account number.
A real FAQ: do you work with my bank?
That is a wrong question. A sending party can send money to any bank anywhere in the world, as long as all details are correct. The right question is 'will my bank accept the transfer?' and that is a question you should ask your bank, not us. There can be many factors involved:
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Does your bank accept euro payments for your type of account?
Banks change policies all the time. For instance, more and more banks in Surinam are starting to require that you have a specific Euro account and refuse to accept Euro payments on SRD accounts. But also with most banks in Nigeria nowadays a domiciliary account is required.
A bank like GODO (Suriname) does not accept payments anymore at all, the Zenith bank (Nigeria) is not a good idea either (they can never find anything), but also an E-bank like Payoneer does not accept Euro payments anymore.
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Is your account a savings account? In most countries it is not allowed to receive money for work on a savings account. Might work fine for a while, until they freeze your account. You don't want that to happen.
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Do you have a student account? Those are often limited to a certain amount or you can't receive foreign currencies with it to begin with.
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Is your account active? If you did not use your bank account for a while, it may have been deactivated or even closed.
These are just a few things we come across regularly. Remember, it is your bank, your bank account and the terms and conditions and other policies are from your bank. So it is really your responsibility.
How long does it take before I receive my money?
Payments within the Netherlands to regular banks are real time. To E-banks and IBAN/EU accounts from other European countries, it is usally one full day.
All other foreign transfers take 3 to 5 working days on average, but this can vary from country to country, from bank to bank within a country and even from branch to branch within the same bank. So in reality this can be anything from a couple of days up to 2 weeks.
For more questions about banking and payments, check our page 'Payment'.