| Sajha.com Archives | |
| Username | Post |
| shresthab | Posted
on 22-Apr-03 05:21 PM
I wired some money to my relative who has an account with Nepal Bank Limited in Kathmandu, Nepal. Money was wired over 6 weeks ago. My relative has not received it yet. I sent thru my account in Bank of America (BOA). BOA says it transferred money to Chase Bank who transferred to Nepal Bank using SWIFT. Nepal bank says to my relative it has never received money. I placed a tracer at BOA .. According to BOA, the repeated requests to Nepal Bank to confirm if the payment has been made to the recipient have been unanswered! At least, 4 requests were made to Nepal Bank to respond on the wired money, no response from them! I finally got tired of waiting and requested BOA to withdraw the money. BOA demanded money back from Nepal Bank (all coomunication were thru Chase Bank, and SWIFT of course!) .. STILL NO respnse from Nepal Bank Limited! Has anyone have this kind of experience? Where do you all think my money is? If Nepal Bank does not respond at all, am I to assume my money is lost? What is my recourse? |
| rook | Posted
on 22-Apr-03 05:37 PM
From your in depth description of the events, I think the money has gone into the wrong account. Someone is very happy to have received your money. They have probably closed the account so it could not be traceded. Hard pill to swollow. Then again someone may be pulling your leg, perhaps your relative, expecting you to send another deposit into their account. No, couldnt be. |
| shresthab | Posted
on 22-Apr-03 06:11 PM
rook: if money is deposited to an account, why nepal bank is not responding then? |
| khimu | Posted
on 22-Apr-03 06:18 PM
sorry to hear that shresthab 6 week is so long huh like rook said yuo must be given wrong account number you know better to send money through thamel.com it takes only one week or less. |
| shresthab | Posted
on 22-Apr-03 06:41 PM
Khimu: Well .. i was dealing with two world class banks .. Bank of America and Chase Manhattan Bank and I am in mess right now .. Not sure how thamel.com is.. may be some one from thamel.com can shed light in this mess .. by the way, Nepal Bank did admit to my relative that some wire transfer has taken as long as 3 months to arrive! What makes me surprised (and also Chase and BOA) that Nepal Bank is not responding to the querries from US on that wire transfer. Seems like Nepal Bank took the money and is sitting on it! |
| khimu | Posted
on 22-Apr-03 06:51 PM
why don,t you call to your relative tell'em to go to the bank and find out if money has transfered yet or not |
| shresthab | Posted
on 22-Apr-03 06:58 PM
Khimu .. i guess i should have mentioned that right in the beginning .. she has been going there almost every other day for the lat 6 weeks.. bank people knows her by face now and they can immediately tell why she came there .. even before she asks any question, bank official tell her .. no money yet! She was told by those people that it has taken as long as 3 months for some wire transfer to arrive .. |
| jhor | Posted
on 22-Apr-03 07:29 PM
shresthab, If u have really wired money to Nepal, why don`t u fax or email the copy of the same( BAnk voucher etc) to Kathmandu Post or Kantipur or for that matter to some newspaper in Nepal. Ur aim should be to get the attention of the new management so that others don`t suffer for the same. Think of some way to get this issue to the new management(americans I think) and to the newspapers. |
| shresthab | Posted
on 22-Apr-03 07:38 PM
jhor .. that is not a bad idea. in fact clerks at the Nepal Bank asked my relative for the same thing .. some sort of wire transfer record. i contacted my bank, BOA, who said the money was transferred to Chase who in turn wired the money to Nepal Bank. Real Bank transferring the money is Chase, not my bank, BOA. So the record has to come from Chase. I have not direct dealing with Chase. I asked my bank to get some record on wire transfer from Chase Bank. They are on the process of getting it. Not sure they will be able to get it .. but i will certainly keep on bugging them until i get one. |
| isolated freak | Posted
on 22-Apr-03 07:53 PM
shrestha b, sorry to hear about what you and your relative are going through. My suggestion: Why don't you email the GM orw hatever it is of the Nepal Bank? I think he is an American hired to restructure the whole organization, and I am sure being an American he will be more quicker to get back to you than others. Just a suggestion. I think, the bank now has a web page. |
| shresthab | Posted
on 22-Apr-03 08:15 PM
isolated freek .. i have been trying to get web page, email address of Nepal Bank. Have not got yet .. searched all over the web..i will appreciate if anyone can get for me. i asked my relative to get phone number of Nepal Bank Wire Dept so i can talk to those people direct myself.. i will get it next time i call her .. as for American CEO of Nepal Bank, i will be more than glad to file my complaint to him! |
| jhor | Posted
on 22-Apr-03 09:44 PM
shresthab, I am sure you filled out a form in BOA with senders name, beneficiary`s name, bank name, a/c no. etc. and they must have given u a copy. I think that itself should be sufficient to start an investigation from the Nepal Bank`s side. On such requests, the banks in nepal usually send a SWIFT message to the bank in America asking that their client is expectinf some remittances in nepal from so and so person on such tentative date oe even with number of the form that u must have filled in BOA. To start an inquiry from Nepal, all they need is a piece of paper to prove that u have gone to BOA and actually sent the money. As a past banker from some other bank in Nepal, I remember sending such enquiries to foreign banks even on verbal request( judging the request to be genuine) w/o any paper. Good Luck.I see one possibility in your case. If the accountholder in Nepal is located in some districts or more remote area then Nepal bank sends a bank draft to the nearest bank in that area by government registered post(usually takes over a month to reach) for credit to the beneficiary`s account. More good luck |
| baljoshi | Posted
on 22-Apr-03 11:29 PM
Shrestha B, Some comments as I am part of this industry (thamel.com). When money moves from one country to another, it moves from from various intermediary banks. It does not matter if you are working with big banks like BOA or Chase. Legally, they are only responsible to transfer $ to the intermediary bank speicified. Once the funds are in the hands of Intermediary bank, BOA is not liable if the money gets lost. You may read the disclaimer... If you don't have a good intermediary bank then it can take a long time for delivery or tracing. When you send $ via BOA, Chase was the intermediary bank. Normally intermediary banks are identified by the banks in respective countries. Recently, transfer via " the US bank" has not been going through for some reason. I have talked to some of our customers whose funds never reached to KTM and are now in teh process of recovering the funds. If you have the receipt it should you will be able to recover it. However, the processing time is quite long. First I would check with the bank in Nepal, if not talk to the remittance department of BOA to reverse the trasaction. There will be a nominal fee but unfortunately you don't have a choice at this point. In some banks, you cannot initiate a tracer for 15 days after teh transfer, which I think is a ridiculous policy. The bank transfers should not take more than 5 business days. If your money does not reach in 5 business days then something went wrong. Its unfortunate but banks in Nepal sometimes don't do their jobs. They hold the funds and tell the customers that the funds have not arrived regardless of the fact that money arrived in Time. this is not a sales pitch but us on the other hand works directly between the intemediary bank and our affiliate bank in Nepal where we have total access to view the status of funds at any point. Good Luck, BKJ -thamel.com |
| shresthab | Posted
on 23-Apr-03 03:29 AM
jhor: I do have paper from BOA, but it does not have anything except my name, account nmber , amount transferred, and beneficiary's name, her acount number, and bank address, etc .. I did get BOA reference number and CHIP sequence number (whatever that is), but these numbers were not sufficient for bank clerks in Nepal to locate the money. Baljoshi, could you tell what is CHIP srquence number is? Should that help bank clerk in Nepal to dig in the money? Glad to hear from thamel.com. They asked for Wire Statement from US. What do they want to see in that statement except our names , bank account numbers, amount transferred? I thought they wandted tracking/reference number .. we gave them two of those .. reference number ad CHIP sequence number. I am still trying to get something from Chase. Not sure what do they have on their statement. |
| sally | Posted
on 23-Apr-03 06:13 AM
Baljoshi, when you wrote "Recently, transfer via 'the US bank' has not been going through for some reason," were you talking specifically of shresthab's case or has this been a widespread problem? Any particular intermediary banks that you'd like to warn us to be cautious when using? |
| joie de vivre | Posted
on 23-Apr-03 07:15 AM
I've wired money to ANZ Grindlays several times (from US Bank) and never had any problems though I have heard such horror stories about Nepal Bank. Could it be just a Nepal Bank thing? |
| playa_from_himalaya | Posted
on 23-Apr-03 08:08 AM
The best way to wire money to Nepal bank is via Citibank. There is no intermediary Bank in between. NB LTD and/or NBB both deal with citibank directly.I'd open up an account with citibank if I were to send money Nepal frequently. Again, No sales pitch, just a frindly suggestion |
| baljoshi | Posted
on 23-Apr-03 08:21 AM
Sally, what I meant by "the US Bank" was http://www.usbank.com/ not all the US bank. I think there is a problem with one of the intemediary banks handling the funds via US BANK. Banks like BOA, Wells Fargo post credits to the intermediary banks by 5 PM EST. Once the fund is in the hands of intermediary bank then its up to them. Your funds are very secured when you deal with intl banks who have their own Network. Grindlays, STC CHTD bank are few of them. shresthab, what you need is paper from the CHASE since they are the ones involved in the transfer. The reference number used in Nepal is from CHASE rather than from BOA. My hunch, either you have a wrong ac number if not then funds have reached Nepal but its the bank in Nepal is not disbursing the funds. I can assure you that unless its a hundi transaction it does NOT take 3 MONTHS. That's bogus!! Try to call CHASE. Depending upon the banks, you can get through their transfer department who can give you specific info. What day they received funds, what day it was sent to Nepal. Its unfortunate but its tough dealing with govt. banks in Nepal. Bal |
| boston_dude | Posted
on 23-Apr-03 09:01 AM
baljoshi and others, It seems Thamel.com is a good alternative for small transactions. What about transferring large sums? Say, if you had to transfer between $10K - $20K. What would be a good option then? Any suggestions? B_D. |
| sally | Posted
on 23-Apr-03 09:03 AM
Ditto, JDV. I've never had a problem with Grindlay's. Or whatever it's called now ... Standard Chartered? But if relatives aren't in KTM that can be a pain. Good tip about Citibank, Playa. Speaking of all of the above (and the grand Remittance Economy), does anyone know the cheapest way to send the occasional buck? I bet a lot of people would like to send a little bit every month, but the $30 fee certainly throws a damp towel on that idea. |
| baljoshi | Posted
on 23-Apr-03 09:51 AM
boston_dude You can certainly send 10,000 + via us or via Banks. However in a post 911 America, funds above 10,000 has to be reported (the financial institutions are obliged to fill Currency Transaction Report). Sally, Bank to Bank transaction via citibank is a reliable transfer. Citibank had a branch in KTM inside Yak N Yetil until 6 months ago. Now its monitored via Delhi Office. However, C2It, web based transfer service from citibank (they charge $10/ transaction) is a bogus service. The exch rate you recieve is 3-4 RS less, I would stay from it. |
| LUMA | Posted
on 23-Apr-03 01:20 PM
I have send to Grindlays Bank several times it reaches there within a week. I am concern about your case. Sorry to hear that. |
| joie de vivre | Posted
on 23-Apr-03 01:39 PM
Sally, Every once in a while I'll send a card to my folks / younger cousins etc and just slip in a $50 bill. So far none of my cards or money have gone astray and my cousins sure do appreciate the extra cash :) |
| Poonte | Posted
on 23-Apr-03 02:15 PM
JOIE...I just found out that you are my father's dai's sasura's chhora's sali's daughter...Want my mailing address? ;) |
| joie de vivre | Posted
on 23-Apr-03 02:34 PM
Poonte-dai, No, but I'll send you my mailing address instead as I've been calling you 'dai' since you were a snot-nosed kid. I could do with some pocket money, dai! |
| shresthab | Posted
on 23-Apr-03 04:51 PM
Baljoshi: Since you are an insider in this trade, I have few questions for you. 1. What is the difference betwen Telex and Wire? What about echeck and ACH clearance? I just found out my money was send thru ACH and CHIP sequence or Serial sequence number (SSN) refers to ACH. 2. How does wire work? Does the receiving bank in Nepal have to have an account with the wire transmitting bank in US? When they say money can be delivered in 3 to 5 days, the receiving bank actually see the cash in 5 days before it transfers that amount to beneficiary's account? Or is it just paper transfer between banks? Sounds like transmitting bank , Chase, deposits money in an account of receiving bank (Nepal Bank) right here in US. Nepal Bank in turn pays to the actual beneficiary in Nepal. Is that how it works? by the way, i did visit thamel.com. your rates are indeed very competitive. As good as BOA or even better for smaller amount. BOA charges $40 regardless of how much you send. Now some news for relief (I hope!). I finally got hold of right people in Chase Bank. I did not even bother to go to BOA anymore. Fortunately, Chase clerk was understanding and answered all my questions. Chase did get message (i forgot to ask when they received) from Nepal Bank denying it ever received the payment. Chase asked again with detail info. Nepal Bank responded on Apr 17.. yes they have money but not enough info to credit to any account .. (i was surprised!). Chase again sent message on 4/18 telling them basically same info that I had provided earlier .. account holder name, bank account number, etc. No further response from Nepal Bank yet. Interestingly, they told my relative on 4/19 that they had no transaction from Chase to ANY recipient, but on 17 they responded to Chase that they did have payment but did not have enough info on beneficiary. I verified with Chase all info I provided on beneficiary. They were all accurate. See no reason why Nepal Bank could not locate beneficiary account ! Why they are giving run around to my relative when they admit they have the money! Chase went as far as telling me that if money was indeed not delivered to the actual beneficiary, it will debit that amount from the account of Nepal Bank and send it back to me. I hope that is true! Next time i will send a Cashier check in a registered mail. i am sure it will cash in less than 6 weeks. Joje de vivre, Sorry amount was little too high to put inside Birthday card. Where is that American GM of Nepal Bank? He should clean up all the mess there getting rid of those lazy bums. |
| madhesi | Posted
on 02-May-03 08:39 AM
May be Nepal Bank Clerks looking for "under the table" kickbacks before they deposit money to your relative's account............???????????? |
| playa_from_himalaya | Posted
on 02-May-03 09:16 AM
BKJ, you guys need to increase the stake, pay $45 for 5K is too much.. I don't mind paying $45 for 10K. As I think sending upto 10K is not a big hassle. |