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Bank Transfer

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Wire transfer, bank transfer or credit transfer is a method of electronic funds transfer from one person or entity to another. A wire transfer can be made from one bank account to another bank account or through a transfer of cash at a cash office.

Related Information

Please see our most recent API guide.

Payment Flow

A bank wire transfer is effected as follows:

  1. The entity wishing to do a transfer approaches a bank and gives the bank the order to transfer a certain amount of money. IBAN and BIC codes are given as well so the bank knows where the money needs to be sent.
  2. The sending bank transmits a message, via a secure system (such as SWIFT or Fedwire), to the receiving bank, requesting that it effect payment according to the instructions given.
  3. The message also includes settlement instructions. The actual transfer is not instantaneous: funds may take several hours or even days to move from the sender's account to the receiver's account.
  4. Either the banks involved must hold a reciprocal account with each other, or the payment must be sent to a bank with such an account, a correspondent bank, for further benefit to the ultimate recipient.

Banks collect payment for the service from the sender as well as from the recipient. The sending bank typically collects a fee separate from the funds being transferred, while the receiving bank and intermediary banks through which the transfer travels deduct fees from the money being transferred so that the recipient receives less than what the sender sent.

In general, the flow looks like this

688

If you process bank transfers locally, please reach out to your account manager for a diagram specific to your circumstance.

Properties

Type of Payment
Offline
Chargebacks
Unlikely, although wires can be recalled
Consumer Currency
Any
Consumer Country
Any
Expiry Period
2 days (after a 16 day period, the order is automatically cancelled)
Recurring Payments
No
Partial Payment
Yes
Refunds
Yes

FAQ

  • Most international transfers are executed through SWIFT, a co-operative society founded in 1974 by seven international banks, which operate a global network to facilitate the transfer of financial messages. Using these messages, banks can exchange data for the transfer of funds between financial institutions.

  • Each financial institution is assigned an ISO 9362 code, also called a Bank Identifier Code (BIC) or SWIFT Code. These codes are generally eight characters long. For example: Deutsche Bank is an international bank with its head office in Frankfurt, Germany, the SWIFT Code for which is DEUTDEFF:

    • DEUT identifies Deutsche Bank.
    • DE is the country code for Germany.
    • FF is the code for Frankfurt.

  • Using an extended code of 11 digits (if the receiving bank has assigned extended codes to branches or to processing areas) allows the payment to be directed to a specific office. For example: DEUTDEFF500 would direct the payment to an office of Deutsche Bank in Bad Homburg. SWIFT deviate slightly from the standard though by using position nine for a Logical Terminal ID, making their extended codes 12 digits long.

Best Practices

Because the Bank Transfer method is offline, customers often forget to complete the transaction. Reminder emails can be a great way to remind them of their pending transaction.

Payment Timeline

The offline nature of bank transfers means that the timeline for customer payment is highly variable. A customer could complete their payment the same day, or they could complete their payment weeks later. At Reach, after 30 days of non-payment, orders are auto-cancelled.

Technical Considerations

  • In order to change the bank details in a wire, the only necessary change in the API call is the bank specified in the IssuerId field.
  • There is no standard set expiration for bank transfers, so at Reach, we consider an order cancelled if after 30 days it has not been completed.

Country-Specific Examples

Mexico

The following are examples of transfers from Banamex, Bancomer, and Santander, respectively.

772 770 777

Please find sample code below.

Bancomer

{
  "MerchantId": "e78e8cd0-24b8-4b0c-a922-87a1d8cc61c3",
  "ReferenceId": "1540602920005",
  "PaymentMethod": "BANK",
  "ConsumerCurrency": "MXN",
  "IssuerId": "Bancomer",
  "Capture": true,
  "Items": [
    {
      "Description": "Piston Ring",
      "ConsumerPrice": 100,
      "Quantity": 1,
      "Sku": "4383471583721"
    }
  ],
  "Consumer": {
    "Name": "Jane Doe",
    "Email": "[email protected]",
    "Phone": "1234567890",
    "Address": "123 Any Street",
    "City": "Somewhere",
    "Region": "14",
    "PostalCode": "12345",
    "Country": "MX",
    "NationalIdentifier": "00003456790"
  },
  "DeviceFingerprint": "a5772185-1c9a-4646-9772-557fc6083ea2",
  "Return": "https://checkout-sandbox.gointerpay.net/return.php"
}

{
  "OrderId": "54e8e92d-2ba0-4a56-8da5-ec60d1cf6449",
  "UnderReview": false,
  "Expiry": "2018-11-13T01:14:25Z",
  "Authorized": false,
  "Completed": false,
  "Captured": false,
  "Action": {
    "Redirect": "https://sandbox.gointerpay.net/auth/5ea8f72f-05b0-4b6f-ac18-1dd0c67fbafe"
  }
}

Banamex

{
  "MerchantId": "e78e8cd0-24b8-4b0c-a922-87a1d8cc61c3",
  "ReferenceId": "1540602981444",
  "PaymentMethod": "BANK",
  "ConsumerCurrency": "MXN",
  "IssuerId": "Banamex",
  "Capture": true,
  "Items": [
    {
      "Description": "Piston Ring",
      "ConsumerPrice": 100,
      "Quantity": 1,
      "Sku": "4383471583721"
    }
  ],
  "Consumer": {
    "Name": "Jane Doe",
    "Email": "[email protected]",
    "Phone": "1234567890",
    "Address": "123 Any Street",
    "City": "Somewhere",
    "Region": "14",
    "PostalCode": "12345",
    "Country": "MX",
    "NationalIdentifier": "00003456790"
  },
  "DeviceFingerprint": "a5772185-1c9a-4646-9772-557fc6083ea2",
  "Return": "https://checkout-sandbox.gointerpay.net/return.php"
}

{
  "OrderId": "6005dd42-27ac-4eda-b7ce-19d39c1b7a58",
  "UnderReview": false,
  "Expiry": "2018-11-13T01:15:26Z",
  "Authorized": false,
  "Completed": false,
  "Captured": false,
  "Action": {
    "Redirect": "https://sandbox.gointerpay.net/auth/2024b068-6e54-4793-837b-ad6691e65241"
  }
}

Santander

{
  "MerchantId": "e78e8cd0-24b8-4b0c-a922-87a1d8cc61c3",
  "ReferenceId": "1540603009493",
  "PaymentMethod": "BANK",
  "ConsumerCurrency": "MXN",
  "IssuerId": "Santander",
  "Capture": true,
  "Items": [
    {
      "Description": "Piston Ring",
      "ConsumerPrice": 100,
      "Quantity": 1,
      "Sku": "4383471583721"
    }
  ],
  "Consumer": {
    "Name": "Jane Doe",
    "Email": "[email protected]",
    "Phone": "1234567890",
    "Address": "123 Any Street",
    "City": "Somewhere",
    "Region": "14",
    "PostalCode": "12345",
    "Country": "MX",
    "NationalIdentifier": "00003456790"
  },
  "DeviceFingerprint": "a5772185-1c9a-4646-9772-557fc6083ea2",
  "Return": "https://checkout-sandbox.gointerpay.net/return.php"
}

{
  "OrderId": "6005dd42-27ac-4eda-b7ce-19d39c1b7a58",
  "UnderReview": false,
  "Expiry": "2018-11-13T01:15:26Z",
  "Authorized": false,
  "Completed": false,
  "Captured": false,
  "Action": {
    "Redirect": "https://sandbox.gointerpay.net/auth/2024b068-6e54-4793-837b-ad6691e65241"
  }
}

Testing

Completing a bank transfer requires actual payment of the order. There is no test environment to simulate payment.

Related Information

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Please see our most recent API guide.

Updated about 4 years ago