Payment from Outside EU into My Personal Account

[I just need to test it]

I've searched the forum but
this is as close as I can find.

In short my current client (note: no agency) has been trying but failing to pay an invoice into my Cater Allen account from the USA.

Another contractor here (using a different bank) HAS had his invoice paid.

The difference seems to be that Cater Allen require money to be routed from sender bank to Standard Chartered to RBS and then onto Cater Allen. Whereas Other Contractor's company bank account (Santander) could be paid directly.

I've had days of "What should I put in THIS box?" questions, I've called Cater Allen multiple times, I've got them to call Cater Allen, but here we are, still stuck.

Their latest bright plan was to express a cheque to the UK until they realised it could take three weeks for the funds to clear.

They are open to the idea of paying the money into my personal account. From there I can simply b̶u̶y̶ ̶a̶ ̶t̶i̶c̶k̶e̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶C̶a̶n̶c̶u̶n̶ transfer it to my Ltd Co account. But what can of worms is this likely to open?

[ASB]

I've searched the forum but
this is as close as I can find.

In short my current client (note: no agency) has been trying but failing to pay an invoice into my Cater Allen account from the USA.

Another contractor here (using a different bank) HAS had his invoice paid.

The difference seems to be that Cater Allen require money to be routed from sender bank to Standard Chartered to RBS and then onto Cater Allen. Whereas Other Contractor's company bank account (Santander) could be paid directly.

I've had days of "What should I put in THIS box?" questions, I've called Cater Allen multiple times, I've got them to call Cater Allen, but here we are, still stuck.

Their latest bright plan was to express a cheque to the UK until they realised it could take three weeks for the funds to clear.

They are open to the idea of paying the money into my personal account. From there I can simply b̶u̶y̶ ̶a̶ ̶t̶i̶c̶k̶e̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶C̶a̶n̶c̶u̶n̶ transfer it to my Ltd Co account. But what can of worms is this likely to open?

Provided you have documented it and transfer it to the company I see no problem at all. You are holding it as trustee for the company. I mean things get paid into the wrong accounts all the time, people just pay them into the right time.

Obviously you will be transferring whatever sterling you end up with; there is of course an official rate published on HMRC that should be used in accounting for it. Any difference is simply currency gain or loss.

Your accountant may feel the need to show it via a DCA, i.e. loan to you on your receipt and payment to company when it is paid to the company.

[Martin at NixonWilliams]

I agree with ASB, I see no problem at all especially considering the difficulties you are having receiving payment. Just make sure the exact amount is then transferred into the business account without delay as the money could be seen as a director's loan if left in your personal account for some time.

I'm not sure if this is an option for you but a few of our clients have a USD account for receiving payments, they then transfer the money to the GBP account when it suits them.

I hope this helps.

Martin

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

Its not ideal but as Martin and ASB said, if you transfer it in immediately it shouldn't be an issue. You'll have an obvious paper trail and a reasonable explanation why.

Funnily enough I had a very similar problem when I was with Cater Allen. When I had an app on the app store, I transferred my personal iOS developer account to a company account but I Apple weren't able to make payments to the Cater Allen account either. I still received payments to my personal account; I simply transferred this directly into the company account and never had any queries.

[tractor]

.....

What ASB said and then immediately open a Santander business account.

[AptoAccounting]

Just to add another dimension

You seem to be having a genuine banking issue. I'd just be very transparent about the problems you are encountering.

[darrylmg]

Assuming your personal account is in the UK and not Nigeria...

[jamesbrown]

I have US clients pay funds into my Cater Allen bank account all the time. The procedure is pretty much identical whether you have a USD or Sterling reserve account. There is considerable scope for mistakes and confusion, certainly, and this is one of my criticisms of Cater Allen w/r to foreign transactions, but it is doable. You just need to make sure the wire transfer form is correct. Get them to send you a copy of the wire transfer form they are using for you to correct. On the wire instruction, the recipient name should be Cater Allen Private Bank with associated account number (beginning GB66RBOS...). The Bank Name should be RBOS with associated bank ID (RBOSGB2L) and address. The intermediary bank information should be Standard Chartered with associated bank ID (SCBLUS33) and address. Crucially, the "additional reference informations" should contain your Cater Allen account number. If this is missing or in the wrong place, the payment will be returned by Cater Allen (this is fairly recent policy). Shoot me a PM if you want...

[TheCyclingProgrammer]

jamesbrown: you just reminded me why I couldn't receive App Store payments to my CA account. Apple were not able to accept the extra intermediary bank information. I'd forgotten what a faff that was.

[jamesbrown]

jamesbrown: you just reminded me why I couldn't receive App Store payments to my CA account. Apple were not able to accept the extra intermediary bank information. I'd forgotten what a faff that was.

Indeed. The only way to avoid this is to do your business banking with a clearing bank, such as HSBC. Unfortunately, the Cater Allen procedure is about as complex as it gets and an awful lot of things are lost in translation when intermediating between a UK and US bank, especially when adding the client and front office bank staff to the mix. Nightmare, but it does work once you know the procedure. Not all online payment systems are set-up to deal with intermediary banks, which is why the OP's client will probably need to visit their bank with a template of the wire instruction and and raise it manually.