Bancolombia wire problem

tomtom33 says on Dec 29, 2007, 11:46:

I wired money to my novia's Bancolombia account in January of this year. They printed out the instructions for sending the wire and gave them to me. The account was promptly credited. CitiBank in New York had to be used as an intermediary.

Of course then I had to get the money out to pay for my apartment. That took about 2 weeks and a lot of fucking around.

Oh and there was the minor problem of someone stealing 9 million pesos from the account.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

manINred says on Dec 29, 2007, 12:13:

Thanks for the reply Tomtom. So when you wired the money (as instructed by bancolombia) did you novia have to go 'claim' the money and then deposit it, or was it wired directly into her account without her having to 'reclaim' it?

0 funny, 0 helpful.

nothatsure says on Dec 29, 2007, 12:37:

Don't want to be the bearer of bad news but I had the same problem last year with Citibank.Wired money to my own account in Bogota and exactly the same story.As I am not in the country I asked them to wire it back to me......no response.It took 4 months,many phone calls from me and many emails from the bank who had sent the money...all the time my money was in limbo,so to speak.No department that we rang seemed to know which department was responsible for sending the money back.Finally sent a nasty letter to my own branch in Bogota and emailed it to a friend who delivered it and,finally, the money was returned. Hope it doesn't take you as long as 4 months but nothing is straightforward where Colombian banks are concerned.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

manINred says on Dec 29, 2007, 12:57:

Nothatsure, this is exactly what I expect with useless and amateur Bancolombia.

The amount of shit that I've seen with this horrible embarrassment of a bank is unbelievable. This is the first time it has affected me. My bank in Canada is good enough to perhaps try and resolve the problem, but I do not know in the end what will happen.

I will, in the end, expect Bancolombia to return the money. I hope it does not take long.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

nothatsure says on Dec 29, 2007, 13:11:

I agree...Bancolombia leaves a lot to be desired! Frankly,I had expected better from Citibank so I was sorely disappointed with this carry on.When I returned to Colombia last summer I just closed all my accounts there....and belive me thet wasn't straightforward either.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

tomtom33 says on Dec 29, 2007, 14:58:

As far as I know, she had to do nothing to get it deposited into her account. That part was automatic. It was after that that the circus started.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

vicshere says on Dec 29, 2007, 15:17:

the best way is to do a wire transfer to your wife/GF account in Colombia....you will need Wife/GF account number--- exact account name----and the Colombian bank swift number....I use the TD bank in Canada and it usually takes about 3-5 days to be in my wife's account....remember the Canadian dollars will show up in here account in pesos with the exchange rate of the day of the deposit.....she also has to get a letter from an chartered accountant to testify the source of the money and its extend use

listo

0 funny, 0 helpful.

manINred says on Dec 29, 2007, 17:02:

Bancolombia are the worst bank in the world.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

tomtom33 says on Dec 29, 2007, 18:11:

The wire caused no problems at all. That's the only part that went smoothly.

Colombia's concern about money-laundering combined with employees who are never allowed to have any authority. And they seemingly are penalized heavily for any errors. There is no incentive to get anything done.

Of course, the longer they can drag their feet, the longer they have my money.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

adrimm says on Dec 29, 2007, 19:58:

I wired some money to a Bancolombia account to pay to attend a conference in Bogota, emailed my registration to the organizers along with a scan of the transfer papers my home bank gave me (to prove I had sent the money). Got to Bogota, and on day 1 of the conference I went to sign in..... Lo and behold my name wasn't on the list.

They **hadn't** recieved the funds. I raised a stink and found the registrar who was gracious enough to let me in.

Never heard if they actually managed to track the money down or not tho...

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jonas says on Dec 29, 2007, 20:43:

I had money wired into my GF´s Bancolombia account, took a few days longer than predicted but it got there. She had to go in person and have the money transfered to her account because it got there as a giro, same as yours. We were told this has to be done only the first time money is being wired from abroad. The good thing about it was that we could negotiate the exchange rate when it was wired to her account and we managed to get a better rate. Good Luck!

What I have, I do not want to lose, but Where I am I do not want to stay, but those I love, I do not want to leave, but those I know I no longer want to see, but Where I die, I do not want to go;I want to stay where I have never been

0 funny, 0 helpful.

ds says on Dec 30, 2007, 07:13:

If you wire international to a Bancolombia account the bank holds your money until you sign a declaration. Usually they call the account holder by phone and you have to go to their office. If the account holder is not in the country you may send the paperwork by email/fax. The account holder should call his branchs divisa department for details. The document you have to sign is called: DECLARACION DE CAMBIO POR INVERSIONES INTERNACIONALES/FORMULARIO No. 4

Hope this helps!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

jinksmiester says on Dec 30, 2007, 08:04:

Sounds like nothing but problems with opening bank accounts ...wiring and transfering money etc ..in colombia.Id one day like to live about 6 months of the year in colombia but with all the horror storys i think i,ll just keep my bank accounts in canada and use the ATMs. It does,nt sound like the banking system is secure or trustworthy enough to take a chance sending large sums of money.Sending a wad of cash electronically then finding your account has been robbed as in tom toms case must be infuriating to deal with.Probably a long road of problems trying to get the money back too....obviously as it happened to him last jan and he is still out the cash.

A man is not old until regret takes the place of dreams

0 funny, 0 helpful.

manINred says on Dec 30, 2007, 13:19:

Amen Jinksmeister! That's what I generally tend to do, rely on the ATMs.

"If the account holder is not in the country you may send the paperwork by email/fax. The account holder should call his branchs divisa department for details. The document you have to sign is called: DECLARACION DE CAMBIO POR INVERSIONES INTERNACIONALES/FORMULARIO No. 4"

I was never told this before. I will make the necessary inquiries. I hope they just return the money, quite frankly.

Thank you all for your feedback.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

manINred says on Dec 30, 2007, 13:27:

hahaha, PepeA, you are spot on! I have friends in Colombia who are in a battle with the Bancolombia over a simple problem (unrelated to my issue), and the bank said the situation which has gone on for 4 months will be resolved by the end of January. Bancolombia, until then, will just earn an extra 5 months interest on the money that isn't theirs. The thieves.

0 funny, 0 helpful.