So, I sold up everything I owned (which wasn’t much…) and moved to Germany around 2 weeks ago. I found an apartment relatively easily, but the getting the money from the US to Germany to pay for the apartment has been a major sore point.
International Wire from the US to Germany
I sent the wire on the 18th May, and it was supposed arrive on the 21st May…. or so I thought. The wire was sent as my 2.5yr old daughter was running around me singing and dancing, so to say I was a little distracted was an understatement. I managed to mess up the recipient name. No problem, I figured. I’ll contact the bank and let them now what happened… well I did, and thought nothing more of the issue, as the transaction hadn’t confirmed yet.
The wire was sent on a Friday afternoon, so I figured it would be in Germany by Monday. Well Tuesday more likely, as Monday happened to be a bank holiday in Germany. No worries, I could stay with my ex till this sorted itself out over the weekend…
Well, Tuesday came and went. No money. nothing till Friday, when the recipient told me the money had been rejected and sent back. hmmm, not cool. But not the end of the world. I could hang with my daughter some more. I figured it would be back in my US account by Monday, then I could resend and be in my apartment by Friday…
Monday 28th just happened to be a bank holiday in the US…
Tuesday came and went with no sign of my money, and all emails sent to my bank were promptly ignored.
Homeless
Today is Wednesday, Im currently on the hook for 2 weeks rent for an apartment I can’t move into till the archaic banking system releases MY money back to me. I then have the privilege of using the opaque SWIFT system to try and resend the money where it needed to be almost 2 weeks ago.
I’m still staying with my ex, who I really don’t want to be staying with… I need to move on with my life.
So… I wait…. I, mean what else can I do…
crypto currency
If only there were some way of transferring money internationally instantly with low fees, no middle man and total transparency. Hmmm, wasn’t this invented almost a decade ago… Such a shame many companies are stuck using 20th century tech for financial transactions…