The US banking system
Author:
Hi all,
here in Europe, each bank account has something called an IBAN - which stands for International Bank Account Number.
If I wish to make a transfer to someone, all I need is the recipient's IBAN and I can on-line transfer funds. This has worked from Europe to Australia, to South Africa and within the Eurolands as well.
Internally, in the UK, I can transfer funds to the recipient if I know three things - the account number, the name on the account and the sort code of the receiving branch. The sort code identifies the bank and its branch and is something like 20-12-66. The account number is the account number at that branch, something like 00487312.. And the name is a check to make sure that the account number does indeed belong to that person.
I was trying to send some funds to a US account, but they had no idea whatsoever what an IBAN was - nor a sort code etc etc. So I couldn't do the transfer.
What - EXACTLY - is used in the US? What numbers do I require? Then I can email the recipient and tell her to ask her bank for those details ...
Thanks in advance
Julia.