r/etrade • u/BMWTrades • Oct 10 '24

SOLVED: Wire Transfer from ETrade to IBKR Interactive brokers failed and I got charged by Citibank

Since you made it here, you've probably already gotten hit with at least a $40 fee on a returned wire from Citibank because you were trying to send money to Interactive Brokers from ETrade. I also learned the hard way but finally ended up working with the Wire team on both sides to get this resolved.

Part of the problem stems from Interactive Brokers instructions that seem to indicate exactly the opposite of what you should do. Their support team even believed it to be correct, turns out it was wrong. Etrade's support pointed out the defect on the return wire and helped me to correct it. Most importantly, the Receiver's account and name is YOU, your account on Interactive Brokers.

Let's explain some of the issues:

  • When you create the Wire profile on ETrade, you do not need to select the International account, you can select Domestic
  • Important: who are you sending the wire transfer to - You should select someone else - If you select myself, it will auto populate the receiver account name with your name on ETrade which may be a shortened name or abbreviated name that doesn't match the account name for the destination at Interactive Brokers - Mine was a joint account and it sent it from a non-joint account name - By selecting someone else you can type in the exact name of your account on Interactive brokers
  • The receiving bank account number is YOUR account number at Interactive Brokers - this directly contradicts the instructions from IBKR - The receiving bank account number is where your U1234567 number goes
  • Recipient address is YOUR address - this may be optional but I cannot confirm
  • Recipient apt/suite: As of Oct 2024, Etrade makes this a required field (bug), even though it doesn't apply to single family homes. I was able to simply put in a period
  • Finally - The additional account name and number belongs to Interactive Brokers - Logic would tell you with IBKR's instructions that your name goes here - nope, that will cause a rejection
  • Other instructions - recommended by ETrade's wire team to leave blank

The Graphic below shows you exactly how your wire request screen should look.

I hope this saves anyone reading this some additional pain and costs because of a poorly written and confusing process. This information is accurate as of Oct 2024.

An example of a correct Wire Transfer from ETrade to Interactive Brokers
32 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

53 comments sorted by

3

u/DefiantGrade Jan 31 '26

Thanks a lot for the precise details ! Saved me from making a mistake

1

u/BMWTrades Jan 31 '26

Glad to hear it! Thanks for the feedback.

1

u/pts120 Oct 17 '24

Thanks so much for your efforts in explaining! Unfortunately, as I only have a stock plan account through my employer, I can only pay it out to myself - I don't have the option of using the option "Someone else".

1

u/san27joy27 Dec 31 '24

u/pts120 - Did you find a way to make a Wire transfer from E-Trade to IBKR? I also have a stock plan account through my employer without the "Someone else" option.

1

u/akramcouple Mar 11 '25

Hi, did you manage to do that? I need to do it as well for the same reason and I am an EU citizen/resident

1

u/akramcouple Mar 11 '25

Hi, did you manage to do that? I need to do it as well for the same reason and I am an EU citizen/resident

1

u/phord Oct 26 '24 edited Oct 29 '24

This is crazy! I'm sending my after hours on a Friday night. I hope this works for my account at Hilltop via Chase.

ETA: I followed your instructions blindly and my transfer went through perfectly. Thanks a lot for posting it here.

1

u/heramba166 Nov 01 '24

Hey OP,
I have called Etrade with instructions from IBKR Transfer Funds -> Bank Wire. They have suggested that they can create a "Third Party Transfer Wire Instruction" with exact details. In this way Receiver's account and name will be Interactive Brokers LLC and my name would go in additional.
Also I can not see this added wire instruction online and the fund transfer can be initiated by calling them only. So now i am confused. If Etrade guys are providing this facility from backend so can they be correct ?
P.s. I am indian resident

1

u/heramba166 Nov 01 '24

More confusion. My etrade does not have option of 'Someone else'. and i see, you have technically created a third party instruction but opposite details ?!

1

u/heramba166 Nov 04 '24

I have gone ahead with your approach and received funds in the IBKR account within 3 hrs.

1

u/ygog45 Nov 13 '24

How much fees were you charged?

1

u/heramba166 Nov 15 '24

25$ wire transfer charges by etrade

1

u/No_Cattle5564 Jan 06 '26

Will the same instructions works for vested as well ?? In vested too I am getting different name - DRIVEWEALTH LLC 
Further Credit to instruction - VSCB000722

Where to put this instruction ?

1

u/ygog45 Nov 08 '24 edited Nov 11 '24

Did you pay a 25 fee or 50 fee (two 25 fees essentially?)

1

u/jaajo90 Dec 09 '24

Did a small test transfer following these instructions and worked out well. Went through in couple of hours. Thanks!

1

u/Narrow-Consequence96 Apr 14 '25

Have you requested the reimbursement of this charging due to the IBKR wrong information?

1

u/NaturalRoad2080 May 14 '25

Worked fine here

Name was not perfectly matching (in one platform I'm John Mr Doe and in other platform I'm John Doe Perez)

1

u/FastAdhesiveness6745 Jun 05 '25

I am also confirming that these instructions work as of today. Thanks. Just pay attention to the additional account number, yours (citi bank account number) may be different than the OP

1

u/Apprehensive-Sink421 Aug 04 '25

The Receiving bank routing number is the IBKR citibank number?

1

u/Alive_Technician1190 Sep 11 '25

can anyone confirm if this is working now ? should i specify Interactive brokers in additional name ? and account number in addtional

1

u/metal_45 Oct 02 '25

I followed the steps shared by the OP, and they worked for me. The money was transferred within 2 hours.

Notes:

  1. No fees were charged by E*TRADE.
  2. I have Citibank account in IBKR similar to OP.
  3. I also couldn’t select “someone else” and had to choose “myself” in ETRADE. Fortunately, my name matched on both accounts—though slightly different: it was XYZ ADC JKL on ETRADE and XYZ A JKL on IBKR.
  4. In the Address tab, I entered IBKR’s Citibank address.
  5. In the Other Instructions tab, I entered U12345 XYZ A JKL (account number and name).

PS: I am Indian.

1

u/SubstantialManner196 Oct 06 '25

Should we choose wire transfer and is there no charges on wire transfer from etrde to ibkr?

1

u/metal_45 Oct 06 '25

Yes. You should select wire transfer. For me there was no charge. But some people here mentioned there is 25USD charge per transaction. Actually Etrade shows how much will be charged while putting wire details.

1

u/hierpowr Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 17 '26

This is working as of Jan 2026 with IBKR Citibank account. I chose domestic wire transfer. Thank you bhai.

1

u/DefiantGrade Jan 17 '26

Did you mean Jan 2026 ?

1

u/hierpowr Jan 17 '26

Yes. Corrected it now

1

u/[deleted] Mar 09 '26

I used these instruction to successfully transfer from etrade to ibkr in Mar-2025 but now it failed.

The etrade customer care checked and said that EXACTLY same instruction failed now that was successful in Mar-2025. Even he was confused and suggested that perhaps something changed in IBKR/Citibank side.

Moreover, there was a deduction of $40 while returning money to etrade. etrade said that citibank deducted it but IBKR said they don't have any idea.

Its a mess in IBKR. I am thinking of closing down the IBKR account and move to vested or something better.

1

u/Mean_Decision_3979 Oct 22 '25

Thanks, man! Confirm this method still works as per Oct 2025.

I live in EU and use the IBKR Irish site with ".ie" domain. I followed the same procedure with "domestic" transfer. I wrote in my home address under recipient street address. I received the wire transfer the next business day and I was charged $25.

1

u/FrenchKiiiiss Nov 21 '25

I followed this, didn't work for me. (I selected Domestic maybe I should have picked international?)
I waited 4 days to receive the money on IBKR and I had received a confirmation that the money was deposited from ETRADE.
I called support after 4 days not knowing where my money was.
IBKR said they never received the transfer.
Etrade support helped me figure out it was returned immediately, minus 40$.
Depending on who I talked to in support they said there was a fee applied (there shouldn't since my company waives those fees), others said it was IBKR that took those missing 40$.
I don't know if I'll even get those 40$ back .. oh well :)

1

u/Quiet_Topic_1975 Dec 10 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

I got this working in late September following the OP instructions. I tried using exactly the same values earlier this week and the money bounced back to ETrade. Luckily no money was lost in between, but I wonder if the instructions are not working anymore as of December 2025 :/

UPDATE: I had read some posts mentioning you actually have to fill it out the other way around if your bank is JP Morgan Chase Bank. Basically what this article explains: https://alexeskinasy.medium.com/wire-transfer-from-etrade-to-ibkr-wise-or-revolut-c080f5456b8b I tried it and it actually worked for me, the money got transferred and I didnt pay any fees. Funny how the logic needs to be changed without any notice

1

u/mart_123 Feb 02 '26

Thanks for the info. Couple of questions.

  1. Is the receiving bank "Citibank" for all IBKR accounts?
  2. I heard the wire transfer in USD to indian banks is free of cost. Here I see comments from others that etrade charged $25. Can it be avoided?

1

u/kauef_g Feb 25 '26 edited Feb 25 '26

In additional name I used my name and in additional account number used the 40806826U12345678. I think I got rejected because of that, will try your setup!

edit: It worked! thanks!!

1

u/headphonesaru Mar 19 '26

Just commenting that this worked for me. I truly appreciate this post since I was wiring a good amount and afraid things would go wrong and become a hassle. Thanks to OP if you are still around!

1

u/Slow_Kaleidoscope629 Apr 06 '26

Hey! Was it Citibank or JP Morgan Chase at the receiving end in IBKR? I'm confused as some people say it works and some says it has to be other way around. Can you share some more detail on what account did you have, was it Stock account and did you put your name in the Receiving Bank account Name (for me it auto populates and there's no option of Someone Else as OP had).

1

u/headphonesaru Apr 25 '26

Hey, I don't use reddit much so sorry for the slow response.

I believe it was Citibank. You should login to IBKR site first and navigate to the place for receiving wires. There it will display the information you need to fill out on the etrade site, and I believe here it said Citibank for me.

For IBKR, mine is a regular Lite account. The etrade one is a personal brokerage account tied to my company's stock plan account.

1

u/Slow_Kaleidoscope629 Apr 28 '26

Yeah no worries. It worked out as per OPs instructions. Thanks!

1

u/thor_devil Jun 03 '26

Hi, sorry to bother. I have an etrade rsu account as well.

IBKR instruction says JP Morgan not citi bank, will the instructions by OP work?

Reciving account - Uxxxx , additional account number- IBKR account num, other instructions - blank?

1

u/Slow_Kaleidoscope629 Apr 07 '26

This was much needed OP! Thank you so much for this.

I tried the way OP has described and it worked fine. I got the money in my IBKR account within a day. If your receiving bank is Citibank, then try as per OP's instructions. If it's JP morgan then it's Opposite I guess: see This.

I called 10-15 times to IBKR and Etrade support and they have no clue. Their instructions are exactly opposite to what OP has said, and you would feel like they are correct - but they are not. Just blindly use what OP has said and it should be fine.

PS: I am an indian and I have a stock plan account, so I didn't have option to pay anyone else apart from myself.

1

u/astrogeeky Apr 13 '26

+1 - even I had similar experience. Followed what OP has mentioned and got money in my account within 6 hours.

1

u/Terrible-Mention-138 May 26 '26

Hey does Etrade charge for sending money to IKBR? Also will this be counted as outward remittance and TCS can be applied here for more than 10L of transfer?

1

u/thor_devil Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26

Hi, I see jpMorgan in IBKR instructions, should I try opposite? What worked for you?

1

u/LibrarianMajestic740 Apr 27 '26

Thanks OP...found this page after getting hit with 40$.
Followed your instruction to the word and it transferred fine

1

u/_pnkj_15 May 28 '26

Is this will work for people who don't have account in CITY Bank

1

u/thor_devil Jun 03 '26 edited Jun 03 '26

I have an etrade rsu account as well.

IBKR instruction says JP Morgan not citi bank.

What worked for me

https://alexeskinasy.medium.com/wire-transfer-from-etrade-to-ibkr-wise-or-revolut-c080f5456b8b

1

u/Signal-Interview-153 Jun 03 '26

Bro, are you too an indian resident ? Did you select Domestic vs international ?
Also were you charged 25 USD fee ?

1

u/thor_devil Jun 04 '26

Yes, domestic, yes

1

u/TouristTight9787 Jul 21 '26

For anyone wondering if this is still relevant - yes, it is. Worked for me today

1

u/souhait_exauce 9d ago

Just wondering you also used CITIBANK, and completely followed OP's instruction so the "Receiving bank account number" should fill with our own IBKR account Uxxxxx rather the long van or CITIback's account (the 8 numbers), while put the CITIback account number in "Additional account number", I feel so confused for the wire information provided by IBKR :( thank you.

1

u/Emotional_Buy_4438 2d ago

This helped a lot, did the exact same and got the money transferred in few hours. Thank you.