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Agency requires 11 figure IBAN
Thread poster: Faustine.Rou (X)
Faustine.Rou (X)
Faustine.Rou (X)
Local time: 18:46
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
... Mar 27, 2015

OK, so I called HSBC : my BIC is MIDLGB22. There's no SWIFT code for my account.

I called BNP Paribas : adding xxx or XXX at the end of my little BIC should sort things out. If not, the client should call their bank and make the payment over the phone (or how to make sure the client never gives me any more work... ever....).

We will see. I gave all the information I could find the my client. Fingers crossed, they'll manage eventually. If not, I have a French account tha
... See more
OK, so I called HSBC : my BIC is MIDLGB22. There's no SWIFT code for my account.

I called BNP Paribas : adding xxx or XXX at the end of my little BIC should sort things out. If not, the client should call their bank and make the payment over the phone (or how to make sure the client never gives me any more work... ever....).

We will see. I gave all the information I could find the my client. Fingers crossed, they'll manage eventually. If not, I have a French account that allows me to transfer money on my silly euro account using my tiny BIC.

Thank you everyone for your time and answers. I'll update this post with the solution, if there's any !
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Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida
Maria Teresa Borges de Almeida  Identity Verified
Portugal
Local time: 18:46
Member (2007)
English to Portuguese
+ ...
I just remembered... Mar 27, 2015

... that last year I had a problem paying an English translator as there was some change regarding the Bank Identifier Code (BIC) (Clydesdale Bank).

 
Diana Obermeyer
Diana Obermeyer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:46
Member (2013)
German to English
+ ...
Everybody's HSBC BIC Mar 27, 2015

is MIDLGB22. This is a central code. This is the only number the call centre will give you. All but one of my clients are happy to use that. For one of my clients, it doesn't work. They use an 11-digit code, but I could only get that number from the ACTUAL BRANCH, not from the call centre. HSBC does not give out that longer code through the call centre, because they want to process all international payments centrally and NOT branch-specific. You need to speak to your branch directly.

[Ed
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is MIDLGB22. This is a central code. This is the only number the call centre will give you. All but one of my clients are happy to use that. For one of my clients, it doesn't work. They use an 11-digit code, but I could only get that number from the ACTUAL BRANCH, not from the call centre. HSBC does not give out that longer code through the call centre, because they want to process all international payments centrally and NOT branch-specific. You need to speak to your branch directly.

[Edited at 2015-03-27 12:29 GMT]
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Thomas Pfann
Thomas Pfann  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:46
Member (2006)
English to German
+ ...
BNP seems to be the problem Mar 27, 2015

Faustine Roux wrote:
I called BNP Paribas : adding xxx or XXX at the end of my little BIC should sort things out. If not, the client should call their bank and make the payment over the phone (or how to make sure the client never gives me any more work... ever....).


And be aware (and possibly make your client aware, too) that it is not you or your bank which causes the problem but their bank (BNP). IBAN is a code developed to make international bank transfers easier. If a large international bank like BNP Paribas is not able to handle this international standard (which was introduced some 18 years ago) then that is pretty poor.

So your client should certainly not blame you for being difficult (they probably don't) but their bank.


 
Faustine.Rou (X)
Faustine.Rou (X)
Local time: 18:46
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
... Mar 27, 2015

Thank you Dianaft. I am calling them, spending a huge amount of money on 08 numbers, yey !!

Thomas, the client is definitely not blaming me for that. They're blaming their own bank. As I said, I believe them to be genuinely concerned with this payment issues and they try everything they can to sort it out.


 
Lori Cirefice
Lori Cirefice  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 19:46
French to English
XXX Mar 27, 2015

I confirm that adding XXX at the end should be the solution. Hope it gets sorted soon!

 
mariealpilles
mariealpilles  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 19:46
Member (2014)
English to French
+ ...
IBAN/BIC digits Mar 27, 2015

It is not your bank - it is their bank that should solve the problem. I had a similar problem once and when eventually I lost my temper with the agency supposed to pay me, they miraculously found a possibility. It is not difficult for the banks to communicate through an "internal" channel. They just hold on, it brings in interests to them. And BNP is one of such culprits...

 
Diana Obermeyer
Diana Obermeyer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 18:46
Member (2013)
German to English
+ ...
It's not Mar 28, 2015

Lori Cirefice wrote:

I confirm that adding XXX at the end should be the solution. Hope it gets sorted soon!


This might work for some banks.

It does not work for HSBC.

I've explained that in this thread already. The central BIC of HSBC is MIDLGB22.
Digits 7 and 8, i.e. the "22" is the code for the location.
The location code for the central HSBC BIC is for their central processing centre for international payments.
The long (11-digit) number is branch-specific.
Unless the specific branch has the same location code, these digits will differ in the long number.
Therefore, adding XXX or 000 will NOT bring results.

In my long code, the location is 21, not 22. So adding XXX on the Code MIDLGB22 would be entirely fruitless.

[Edited at 2015-03-28 07:50 GMT]


 
Lori Cirefice
Lori Cirefice  Identity Verified
France
Local time: 19:46
French to English
XXX Mar 28, 2015

I looked at theswiftcodes website and there is a list of codes starting with MIDLGB22, including one that is MIDLGB22XXX.

 
Steven Segaert
Steven Segaert
Estonia
Local time: 20:46
Member (2012)
English to Dutch
+ ...
Name / number Mar 28, 2015

I had problems with this once (a German client), and we settled things via PayPal. However, that too went wrong, as they managed to mangle my email address.

In retrospect, I suspect the issue was that they tried to pay me by using my name and the IBAN number of my company. It could be that the mismatch between the two caused the problem.


 
Faustine.Rou (X)
Faustine.Rou (X)
Local time: 18:46
English to French
TOPIC STARTER
update Apr 7, 2015

Just an update on the matter :

1) HSBC cannot give an 11 character BIC for foreign currency accounts. End of.
2) xxx / XXX does not work with HSBC
3) HSBC understands that wasting money calling their 08 numbers is not fair and agreed to refund me 2 month bank fees, yey !
3) Client managed to pay me by adding me as a beneficiary through their bank's customer service.

Phew !


 
Rachel Alleger
Rachel Alleger
United Kingdom
You should be able to find it. Apr 22, 2019

BIC is usually 8 char long. You can search here: https://www.allbankswiftcodes.com/

But you should call and check with your bank. But I think your problem must have already been solved by now.


 
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