Sending money UK to US via intermediary bank, which details to use?

[Feteaccompli]

Can anyone help me with a daft question? I am trying to send money from UK to US. The bank in the US is a community bank so they don't have their own SWIFT code. They use an intermediary bank for international transfers.

My UK bank is saying I have to contact the intermediary bank and check the details of the onwards credit on their end because the UK bank is only responsible for the initial transfer to the intermediary. Does this sound right?

I've looked up the intermediary and its a business bank so they don't list any customer service phone numbers. Is there anyone with experience of doing wire transfers to the US who can help me understand the process here? I am happy to.phone the intermediary bank and the community bank but I'm not sure what I'm asking them.

I have been given 3 sets of account details by the community bank (intermediary, further credit and final credit) but I don't know which details to use for the transfer. I went into a branch and they could only guarantee a transfer to the intermediary bank.

Any help appreciated!

That sounds complicated. I use 'wise' for payments outside the uk. Will this work? They must have an iban number

Its a real estate transaction so too big for Wise I think.

Afaik the US don't use IBAN numbers, its SWIFT only.

My bank seems quite confused about the whole thing which isn't exactly helpful when I've never done this before.

The individual/organisation you are sending the money to should be doing all this checking from their end, surely?

Your bank can send the funds to the intermediary bank, but how is the intermediary bank going to know who to send it to after that? And your bank is right - they are only responsible for the payment they send, not what happens to it after that.

I'm helping out an elderly family member who moved to the US many years ago but has only now decided to liquidate all their UK assets. They have already spent weeks speaking to various UK banks who would not help them unless they went into a branch in person. Travelling back to the UK isn't possible for them at the moment due to ill-health.