Mr. Old Man’s Note: For exporters using Letters of Credit (L/Cs), document checking fees are a recurring cost—and often a point of frustration. What happens when your own bank says your documents are complying, but the issuing bank still finds discrepancies? In this piece, I share a real question from an exporter and a practical response from yours truly. Sometimes …

 QUESTION Dear Sir, Good day and hope you’re doing well! Today marks a rather special occasion as our country prepares to enter a new phase with significant changes ahead. On this occasion, I have an interesting question that I hope you could kindly take some time to help clarify. According to Resolution No. 1682/NQ-UBTVQH15 regarding the reorganization of administrative units, …

 QUESTION  Dear Mr. Old Man, Thank you so much for your swift response — your explanation has clarified the previous issue for us. We are now facing another matter and would greatly appreciate your guidance: As the Confirming Bank, we received a set of documents that appear to be compliant, including a CMR document printed on white paper with an …

QUESTION Dear Mr. Old Man, I’ve heard of your name for years and now would like to trouble you with a question, hoping you might spare a moment for some expert advice. Are documents required under fields 46A and 47A of an LC treated equally? For example: The issuing bank and applicant agree to state the requirement for a Phytosanitary …

QUESTION Hi, LC contains the following clause: “ARTICLES 7(c) AND 12(b) OF UCP 600 REVISION 2007 ARE EXCLUDED IN THIS L/C.” By simply excluding these articles without further elaboration, does it mean that the opposite is true? For instance, by excluding Article 7(c), does it mean that an issuing bank does not undertake to reimburse a nominated bank that has …

QUESTION Good afternoon, Sir. Could you please explain the differences between a Surrendered Bill of Lading, a Telex Release, and an Express Release? Regards, Priya ——- ANSWER Hi Priya, Thanks for your thoughtful question. These terms are often used interchangeably, but they refer to distinct practices in maritime logistics. Here’s a breakdown: Surrendered Bill of Lading A Surrendered Bill of …

QUESTION Hi Sir, Good day. I have read many of your responses that clarify our queries. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with us. I request you to clarify the following: 1. The LC states the applicant as ABC Co., Ltd. The invoice is made out to “To the order of ABC Co., Ltd.” Is the above acceptable, …

QUESTION Dear Mr. Old Man, I would like to present an interesting case for your expert opinion: LC requires “Full set of on board Ocean Bills of lading made out to oder and blank endorsed..” B/L were presented comform with L/C requirements, except for the following: “Consignee: To order, European VAT number (Tax ID) NL 12345678” and B/L was endorsed by …

QUESTION Hi, I’d like to seek your advice on the request to “skip document checking” as described below: The LC is available with any bank by negotiation. The beneficiary submitted the documents to Bank A. At the beneficiary’s instruction, Bank A forwarded the documents to the issuing bank, stating in the covering schedule that it had not checked the documents. …

QUESTION Hello Mr Old Man, I hope you are well! I have a question regarding endorsement. LC is available by negotiation, we are the exporting bank, drawee is the issuing bank and the draft is been presented by the beneficiary as to the order of theirselves(to the order of beneficiary). So, is there necessary to endorse the draft to the …