posted
Okay, y'all may remember that I am trying to get the insurance company of the truck driver who hit me in Germany to pay for my medical bills. A little over a year ago, I finally got a German lawyer and he has been in contact with them.
Nothing has happened for a few months and I've been sending inquiring e-mails. Today I got an e-mail saying that the insurance company has sent them the payment for the German part, and translation is still going on to determine what to do with the American part.
The problem is that all of a sudden, I find I don't trust my German lawyer. I got an e-mail stating that they have turned over some of the money, and to send my bank and account number so it can be transferred. Maybe it was the whiff of Nigerian oil money, but that freaked me out a little bit. I requested that a check be sent to me, and I got the following:
quote: Dear katharina,
Nasty German Insurance Company did already transfer the money to us and will proceed the same way in the future. Since we have had several losses of checks in the past I am not prepared and can not recommend to send one.We only use the transfer from bank to bank. I appreciate your understanding and ask kindly to write a short letter with the needed information although I see no severe risk in telling via e-mail or fax.
Best regards Albus
What do I do now? I have seen some paperwork from Nasty German Insurance Company, but it's all in German and I haven't seen most of it. This is why I got Albus. I guess the problem is that all of a sudden I'm not sure I trust Albus, and I don't know what to do next. Is transferring from bank to bank normal? Should I open an empty account for the express purpose of recieving the money? Not that I have all that much in the savings account anyway - less than a month of expenses. Everything more than that is stashed away in places.
Still, it feels kind of fishy to me. What are my alternatives?
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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posted
Open an account specifically for this money (and this money only), and send them the wiring instructions.
Posts: 524 | Registered: May 2003
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Wouldn't it be good if banks offered the service of giving you a temporary account number for situations like these? Kind of like the throwaway account numbers you can get to use a credit card online.
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It still makes me uncomfortable. It feels too unofficial, and if not all the money makes it, I don't have paper proof that they tried.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Okay, I think what I am asking is if this is normal business practices in Germany. I have never had an American company do it, but before I throw a fit, I need to know if this is normal in Germany.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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I second Sweet William's idea. It's hard enough fighting this stuff in your own country. Fighting it in another country sounds like a problem waiting to happen.
Wiring is much safer than mailing a check internationally, but businesses usually have suitable safeguards.
Ask your bank if providing that number will allow withdrawels. Otherwise, make a throwaway account.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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quote:Okay, I think what I am asking is if this is normal business practices in Germany. I have never had an American company do it, but before I throw a fit, I need to know if this is normal in Germany.
It is if you've got a Russian Mafia chasing you down.
I heard the Russian Mafia can kill you just by thinking about you!
Posts: 1660 | Registered: Jan 2000
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Katie, Checks are very unusual in Germany and bank transfer is the standard method of payment for virtually everything. Virtually all bills and paid by bank transfer. There is no reason that this request should cause you to suspect Albus of something shady. In Germany, this is no more suspect than if he asked you for an address.
This is a major pain for me when I work in Germany because I don't have a Germany bank and making transfers from a US bank to any foreign bank has never been easy but has become even more difficult due to new security measures.
I have, however, had money transferred to my account from both Germany and the UK without any difficulties. The fact that he is asking for your bank account number is not a reason to distrust him.
To the best of my knowledge, the only thing he can do with your bank account is to transfer money to you unless you have authorized it through your bank. As I understand it, in the Nigeria scam they ultimately end up asking you to send them a bunch of money to cover expenses of tranfering the money.
To the best of my knowledge, there is nothing he can do with your bank account number except transfer money into your account.
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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Rabbit, I could hug you. Thank you - that's exactly what I needed to know.
Hey: You know what this means? It means things are actually moving, four years after the accident. Yay!
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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A little late to the party, but I second what Rabbit said: transferring money between accounts - even between different banks - is a very normal thing in Europe and you really don't have to worry about them asking your account number. And he is right about the fact that the only thing that can be done is to transfer money into the account.
In fact banks here issue RIB's (= bank identity statement) that contain your account information and you are often/always asked to give one to whoever has payments to make toward you.
Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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Oh, now I'm starting to feel bad for suspecting anything.
In my defense, it is very different from the USA. I've never been actually asked for my bank account for anything, except for when you sign up for automatic withdrawels for bills and rent and things, and autmatic deposit of my paycheck. In four years of having it, no one has ever deposited money in there except for me and my employer.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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I have a couple of co-workers who are fluent in German. I could probably get one of them to translate that letter for you if you want. Let me know if you want my work fax #.
Posts: 399 | Registered: Sep 2002
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Thank you, Mama. Albus conducts all correspondence with me in English (very good English), and I don't have a copy of anything of the German stuff. I've thought about asking for it, but am not sure I want to yet. He's been very good so far. I think I'm frustrated with how long it's taking, and I hate the feeling that I'm at the disadvantage, which I am. I'm far away and I don't speak the language. I think that makes me more sensitive.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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quote:Originally posted by katharina: Oh, now I'm starting to feel bad for suspecting anything.
Don't! I have no idea about the American or Canadian systems, for example. I don't even know if they resemble each other or not. Anyway, I got around without starting a Canadian account when I was in Montreal, but at first I looked into a couple of offers and everything seemed weird to me. So, yeah, don't worry about suspecting stuff. Better safe than sorry! Posts: 4519 | Registered: Sep 2003
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I'll add my third to the others as far as German banking goes - it's VERY different from the US version. Here's a link explaining it a bit: http://www.german-way.com/money.html
I actually used to be a nanny for a judge and lawyer couple in Germany. From what I understand, Germany doesn't have the same level of scumminess in lawyers (no offense to Hatrack lawyers!), mainly because it takes about 10 to 14 years of schooling (after high school) besides passing several super-super hard comprehensive exams to become a lawyer. Then you have to serve as an apprentince of sorts for a few years. And the system is policed pretty carefully, from both inside and outside.
Germans are VERY concerned with law and order. Posts: 2409 | Registered: Sep 2003
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*hides face in hands* I feel like I should send an apology to Albus. I feel so bad now.
This is actually my experience in Germany as well. Also, excellent, excellent medical system. When they stitched my head back together, the doctors were even careful to shave the back part so when my hair was down, you couldn't tell anything was missing.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Yeah, the 419 Nigerian scams almost always end up being that you cover some of the costs. Given the "fact" that you are going to be "receiving" a percentage of a large amount of money, you should be willing.
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You got good advice here -- and we all learned things!
I ask going to go with "ask your bank" because if you have a personal banker (someone at your local bank you work with pretty exclusively that knows you) they can usually give you good advice on these matters.
But it sounds like all your questions got answered fine through Hatrack.
quote: When they stitched my head back together, the doctors were even careful to shave the back part so when my hair was down, you couldn't tell anything was missing.
Come on kat. All you have to do is talk to you for a bit to know something's missing upstairs. Posts: 4625 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Having spent some time overseas myself, you might want to give your bank a 'heads up' just in case
Posts: 1918 | Registered: Mar 2005
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I would say definitely call your bank and let them know the transfer is coming, and make certain of their policies regarding transfers leaving your account - in other words, verify that you don't want anything going out of your account without your specific okay.
But don't feel guilty - you did the right thing here. I'm just glad you're getting some resolution to the issue. Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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I think you're missing a real opportunity here, kat.
You should set up a Swiss bank account and have the money transferred into it. Everybody needs a Swiss bank account.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
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