7 ms·

I don't suppose they have any other published, easier methods? I spent almost an hour trying to jump through the fiery, spinning hoops being dangled by my bank

I don't suppose they have any other published, easier methods? I spent almost an hour trying to jump through the fiery, spinning hoops being dangled by my bank website only to finally at the end be given an "It looks like this part of our site isn't working. Please try again later." Thank you, bank /s For anyone else wanting to try their hand and weather the gauntlet, I found slightly more detail of their published bank acct info at: https://www.ccc.de/en/membership https://www.ccc.de/en/membership and an official, physical address over at: https://www.ccc.de/en/imprint https://www.ccc.de/en/imprint

School-Cotton 2y ago
If you are American the easiest way to send money to a European bank account is Wise. If you’re European you should be able to do it through your bank.
immibis 2y ago
For Europeans, this is an extremely easy method and the normal way to send money electronically. The information provided is all that's needed. If you're trying to send from America, it's still the normal way to send a payment to Europe so see how your bank sends international payments.
- School-Cotton 2y ago
  I have to contradict this, as an American. Don’t attempt to send from your bank as it is likely to be difficult and complicated and involve huge fees. Use Wise instead.
- MichaelBosworth 2y ago
  “Extremely” is a bit extreme for something that takes 100,000 times longer than a Venmo payment. Or, intercontinentally, a stablecoin transfer
  - immibis 2y ago
    It literally doesn't. And why would Europeans use venmo? That type of app arose in the USA specifically, to work around not having a convenient way to send money from one bank account to another - much like bulletproof school backpacks, it solves a uniquely American problem.
    - ikt 2y ago
      As an Australian we have payid to transfer free and instantly between banks instead of needing a 3rd party app but I think he's right that if you are relying on IBAN and needing to do an individual bank transfer then it's not ideal. It should be as easy as possible to donate, imo it would be better even setting up a basic kofi or buy me a coffee account, or I see the Ukrainians using paypal all the time. It should be a 3 click payment not a bank transfer requiring copying and pasting IBAN numbers and bank account numbers etc To poke fun at the Germans at least they are not requesting we fax a copy of the money in :P
      - lmz 2y ago
        It's just an IBAN. Not "IBAN numbers and bank account numbers".
      - masklinn 2y ago
        > As an Australian we have payid to transfer free and instantly between banks That... is what SEPA is, but built into the european banking system directly. > I think he's right that if you are relying on IBAN and needing to do an individual bank transfer then it's not ideal. It's not ideal that you can do a simple transfer by inputting the recipient's IBAN and an amount and be done with literally no third party involved? What? > imo it would be better even setting up a basic kofi or buy me a coffee account, or I see the Ukrainians using paypal all the time. You think it's easier to require setting up a third party account, adding your card to it, getting the card authorised, and doing the payment that way, with fees. Than putting 20 digits in your own bank's application and pressing "send"? > It should be a 3 click payment not a bank transfer requiring copying and pasting IBAN numbers and bank account numbers etc It's a SEPA transfer, it's super common and nothing very complicated. There is no bank account number involved: the BIC is the bank's own identifier, and while it was commonly required 10 years ago it's been optional for a long time, my bank's application doesn't even have a field for that anymore. There's a standard format for qrcode SEPA called EPC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPC_QR_code https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPC_QR_code), however the amount is fixed which is not always desirable e.g. - qrcode for a 133.70€ donation https://epc-qr.eu/?bname=CCC%20eV&iban=DE41%202001%200020%200599%200902%2001&euro=133.7&info=Lokomotive https://epc-qr.eu/?bname=CCC%20eV&iban=DE41%202001%200020%20... - qrcode for a 13.30€ donation https://epc-qr.eu/?bname=CCC%20eV&iban=DE41%202001%200020%200599%200902%2001&euro=13.37&info=Lokomotive https://epc-qr.eu/?bname=CCC%20eV&iban=DE41%202001%200020%20...
- fragmede 2y ago
  The problem that I'm guessing GP had is that their bank blocked the wire transfer because it looked fraud-y.
- vsl 2y ago
  > If you're trying to send from America, it's still the normal way to send a payment to Europe It’s not; SWIFT is, and that requires additional information not shown there (although some of it is encoded in the IBAN if you know how to decode it).
  - RandomThoughts3 2y ago
    SWIFT is not a payment system. It’s only a messaging system. It’s generally used to send initiating orders between financial institutions but they then have to be cleared or directly settled through something else.
    - immibis 2y ago
      IBAN isn't a payment system either, but I'm talking about the end user experience: insert account number, insert amount, click send. Sometimes you also need the SWIFT code which specifies the receiving bank.
socksy 2y ago
I guess you can use something like https://wise.com https://wise.com to make the IBAN transfer locally, and pay them using a more convenient payment method for you, like ACH, PayPal, Credit Card, etc
rcbdev 2y ago
This is a registered European association using fee-less European payment standards to fund a lawsuit entirely in Europe involving only European parties. Do you see the rest of the world complaining when no-one can send free uncomplicated transfers to fund a U.S. non-profit because the U.S.A. prefers to run a draconian consumer banking system? The shier American arrogance in this comment thread gives me an aneurism. Fix your banking system, ours works.
- boneitis 2y ago
  i am doing little more than lamenting the hurdles placed in front of me that i couldn't figure out how to overcome (albeit with a dash of frustrated snark), after having spent north of three hours of my time today. i am not rich, nor well off by many reasonable measures. i rent a small room in a small town, hardly making ends meet, but i simply wanted to donate a couple bucks toward a cause i believe in, out of principle, as i'm not usually a donating type (see bit about renting a small room and barely making ends meet). i wanted to leave some breadcrumbs for anyone else in a similar situation (that is, trying to donate from U.S., not the bit about wealth) trying to figure out how to make it work, because i sure expended some effort digging it up. this specific discussion thread is a call to donate and to write here in solidarity in having done so. i may not have successfully donated cold, hard cash, but i'll dare say my pledge of most of my afternoon trying to move mountains in order to send some scratch their way fits in here. it may have barely registered as a drop in the bucket had i been successful, but i believe this is what the thread is about.
  - jdiez17 2y ago
    Hey, thank you for trying to donate and sorry it was more difficult than it should be. I think even writing about the effort that you put into it helps. <3
    - boneitis 2y ago
      Thank you for your generous donation <3
- 2y ago
hyperman1 2y ago
I'd love all participants in this thread to provide their countries. As a Belgian (EU), I love how I can pay them just by sending them money, without all these weird intermediate companies stealing your personal details and sometimes even your money. To answer some contras: In my experience, the process takes about 10 seconds before the payment confirmation appears in the destination bank. Outside business hours and for some bank combinations, the actual money might be in a reservation/underway/unspendable state until the next business day starts. You can not cancel the transfer once it's gone, so most businesses don't care about that delay. Typing the IBAN is a tiny bit annoying. I see QR codes appearing, containing bic+iban+amount+message to autofill. You pay by scanning the QR code and pressing OK. AFAIK bic+iban+amount+message is all you need to pay from anywhere in the world. The BIC can be derived from the IBAN if you have the right and up to date database, but outside the EU it is smart to know it, just to be sure. Sometimes, reading HN, I wonder if I should write a loooong blog post about how Belgium does its money transfers(iban) and buys bread (Bancontact). I suspect most of the EU will answer: duh, boring! Meanwhile, the average USAian brain goes poof.
- mszyndel 2y ago
  10 seconds in a German bank? You must be joking, it still takes days.
seba_dos1 2y ago
SEPA transfers are generally as easy as it gets - a free direct transfer straight from your bank, avoiding unnecessary intermediaries. You paste the number, confirm and it's done. Sounds like you need to complain to your particular bank for its subpar service.

School-Cotton 2y ago

If you are American the easiest way to send money to a European bank account is Wise. If you’re European you should be able to do it through your bank.

immibis 2y ago

For Europeans, this is an extremely easy method and the normal way to send money electronically. The information provided is all that's needed. If you're trying to send from America, it's still the normal way to send a payment to Europe so see how your bank sends international payments.

School-Cotton 2y ago
I have to contradict this, as an American. Don’t attempt to send from your bank as it is likely to be difficult and complicated and involve huge fees. Use Wise instead.
MichaelBosworth 2y ago
“Extremely” is a bit extreme for something that takes 100,000 times longer than a Venmo payment. Or, intercontinentally, a stablecoin transfer
- immibis 2y ago
  It literally doesn't. And why would Europeans use venmo? That type of app arose in the USA specifically, to work around not having a convenient way to send money from one bank account to another - much like bulletproof school backpacks, it solves a uniquely American problem.
  - ikt 2y ago
    As an Australian we have payid to transfer free and instantly between banks instead of needing a 3rd party app but I think he's right that if you are relying on IBAN and needing to do an individual bank transfer then it's not ideal. It should be as easy as possible to donate, imo it would be better even setting up a basic kofi or buy me a coffee account, or I see the Ukrainians using paypal all the time. It should be a 3 click payment not a bank transfer requiring copying and pasting IBAN numbers and bank account numbers etc To poke fun at the Germans at least they are not requesting we fax a copy of the money in :P
    - lmz 2y ago
      It's just an IBAN. Not "IBAN numbers and bank account numbers".
    - masklinn 2y ago
      > As an Australian we have payid to transfer free and instantly between banks That... is what SEPA is, but built into the european banking system directly. > I think he's right that if you are relying on IBAN and needing to do an individual bank transfer then it's not ideal. It's not ideal that you can do a simple transfer by inputting the recipient's IBAN and an amount and be done with literally no third party involved? What? > imo it would be better even setting up a basic kofi or buy me a coffee account, or I see the Ukrainians using paypal all the time. You think it's easier to require setting up a third party account, adding your card to it, getting the card authorised, and doing the payment that way, with fees. Than putting 20 digits in your own bank's application and pressing "send"? > It should be a 3 click payment not a bank transfer requiring copying and pasting IBAN numbers and bank account numbers etc It's a SEPA transfer, it's super common and nothing very complicated. There is no bank account number involved: the BIC is the bank's own identifier, and while it was commonly required 10 years ago it's been optional for a long time, my bank's application doesn't even have a field for that anymore. There's a standard format for qrcode SEPA called EPC (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPC_QR_code https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EPC_QR_code), however the amount is fixed which is not always desirable e.g. - qrcode for a 133.70€ donation https://epc-qr.eu/?bname=CCC%20eV&iban=DE41%202001%200020%200599%200902%2001&euro=133.7&info=Lokomotive https://epc-qr.eu/?bname=CCC%20eV&iban=DE41%202001%200020%20... - qrcode for a 13.30€ donation https://epc-qr.eu/?bname=CCC%20eV&iban=DE41%202001%200020%200599%200902%2001&euro=13.37&info=Lokomotive https://epc-qr.eu/?bname=CCC%20eV&iban=DE41%202001%200020%20...
fragmede 2y ago
The problem that I'm guessing GP had is that their bank blocked the wire transfer because it looked fraud-y.
vsl 2y ago
> If you're trying to send from America, it's still the normal way to send a payment to Europe It’s not; SWIFT is, and that requires additional information not shown there (although some of it is encoded in the IBAN if you know how to decode it).
- RandomThoughts3 2y ago
  SWIFT is not a payment system. It’s only a messaging system. It’s generally used to send initiating orders between financial institutions but they then have to be cleared or directly settled through something else.
  - immibis 2y ago
    IBAN isn't a payment system either, but I'm talking about the end user experience: insert account number, insert amount, click send. Sometimes you also need the SWIFT code which specifies the receiving bank.

socksy 2y ago

I guess you can use something like https://wise.com https://wise.com to make the IBAN transfer locally, and pay them using a more convenient payment method for you, like ACH, PayPal, Credit Card, etc

rcbdev 2y ago

This is a registered European association using fee-less European payment standards to fund a lawsuit entirely in Europe involving only European parties. Do you see the rest of the world complaining when no-one can send free uncomplicated transfers to fund a U.S. non-profit because the U.S.A. prefers to run a draconian consumer banking system? The shier American arrogance in this comment thread gives me an aneurism. Fix your banking system, ours works.

boneitis 2y ago
i am doing little more than lamenting the hurdles placed in front of me that i couldn't figure out how to overcome (albeit with a dash of frustrated snark), after having spent north of three hours of my time today. i am not rich, nor well off by many reasonable measures. i rent a small room in a small town, hardly making ends meet, but i simply wanted to donate a couple bucks toward a cause i believe in, out of principle, as i'm not usually a donating type (see bit about renting a small room and barely making ends meet). i wanted to leave some breadcrumbs for anyone else in a similar situation (that is, trying to donate from U.S., not the bit about wealth) trying to figure out how to make it work, because i sure expended some effort digging it up. this specific discussion thread is a call to donate and to write here in solidarity in having done so. i may not have successfully donated cold, hard cash, but i'll dare say my pledge of most of my afternoon trying to move mountains in order to send some scratch their way fits in here. it may have barely registered as a drop in the bucket had i been successful, but i believe this is what the thread is about.
- jdiez17 2y ago
  Hey, thank you for trying to donate and sorry it was more difficult than it should be. I think even writing about the effort that you put into it helps. <3
  - boneitis 2y ago
    Thank you for your generous donation <3
2y ago

hyperman1 2y ago

I'd love all participants in this thread to provide their countries. As a Belgian (EU), I love how I can pay them just by sending them money, without all these weird intermediate companies stealing your personal details and sometimes even your money. To answer some contras: In my experience, the process takes about 10 seconds before the payment confirmation appears in the destination bank. Outside business hours and for some bank combinations, the actual money might be in a reservation/underway/unspendable state until the next business day starts. You can not cancel the transfer once it's gone, so most businesses don't care about that delay. Typing the IBAN is a tiny bit annoying. I see QR codes appearing, containing bic+iban+amount+message to autofill. You pay by scanning the QR code and pressing OK. AFAIK bic+iban+amount+message is all you need to pay from anywhere in the world. The BIC can be derived from the IBAN if you have the right and up to date database, but outside the EU it is smart to know it, just to be sure. Sometimes, reading HN, I wonder if I should write a loooong blog post about how Belgium does its money transfers(iban) and buys bread (Bancontact). I suspect most of the EU will answer: duh, boring! Meanwhile, the average USAian brain goes poof.

mszyndel 2y ago
10 seconds in a German bank? You must be joking, it still takes days.

seba_dos1 2y ago

SEPA transfers are generally as easy as it gets - a free direct transfer straight from your bank, avoiding unnecessary intermediaries. You paste the number, confirm and it's done. Sounds like you need to complain to your particular bank for its subpar service.