Completion Day nightmare - solicitors and banks beware

LCK73

Why oh Why does completion day on a purchase have to be so stress inducing?

My solicitor had my money yesterday.
They were supposed to action an immediate transfer to the vendor solicitor today to alllow us to complete and then pick up keys (there is only me and vendor in the 'chain').
Why, at 14:40pm am I still waiting for a call to say it has all gone through?

Why, after me calling the solicitor at 10:40am today to ask if they had instigated the transfer did they say "yes, all in progress" and I then discover at 12:30 that they only actually faxed their bank at 12:05 to instruct them to transfer..........

I'm furious :mad: . Any calming words from kind folk to ease the pain in my chest?

:eek:

AJ1982

Sorry, no calming words, you would assume they have done this soo many times its like clockwork... assuming they are using CHAPS, its normally in by end of day. My bank HBOS require its sent by 2pm... (looks at clock, eek), to be guaranteed by 5. Dont know what happened to the money once it got to the solicitors, I sent my "amount" same day and I completed around 11am.

Ahh, yes i have some calming words... be thankful its midweek, you have tmmw/Thurs/Fri to get the funds accross, less of course you are homeless atm, eek. Thankfully you arent on Friday, by the time its all failed and you realised, its 5pm and EVERYONE has sodded off home.

Deep breath, and complete tmmw. Good luck

AJ1982

Tell a lie, i was a day before, as I was paying SDLT too. Long as you have CHAPS'ed the monies, I dont forsee any problems, so assuming not today, if its not tmmw, i would kick some fuss, but dont worry about it too much, just some minor error, that has a major impact on your life. Im sure you will be fine tmmw.

LCK73

Okay, at least I won't be homeless and can wait until tomorrow.
Worse things happening out there to people.
Damn my impatience.........but don't you hate it when so called professionals 'lie' "oh yes, its all been actioned" Fibbers. And they have my money so it's not like I can make them wait for their fee with me saying "oh yes, it's all been actioned for you today"

:rolleyes:

summerday

I can fully sympathise, as we are in almost exactly the same position. We were meant to exchange today, complete tomorrow, our solicitor has all our deposit, but found out that the money was only requested from the mortgage lender this morning! Then we found out that Halifax, the mortgage lender, didn't release the money and queryed it because the solicitors gave different account details from normal. So, our solicitor promises to ring Halifax tomorrow morning to clarify the details and get them to send them the money and she said she still hopes to be able to exchange and complete simulateously tomorrow but it's really pushing it. I feel awful that it's our solicitor caused all the problems, and there have been many, to be fair our actual solicitor is ok, but she just got back from 2 weeks holiday and the ones covering her were useless. The vendors were apparently in the estate agents all afternoon today in tears as they have moving van booked for tomorrow and twin toddlers, I really feel for them. Please pray for us that exchange and completion somehow happens tomorrow, and I'll send you lucky vibes that your move happens as quickly as possible. Also try and remember that it all feels horrible now but one day you will look back and it will just be a couple of days of inconvenience, not the end of the world. Trying to keep it in perspective as they say.

Richard_Webster

and I then discover at 12:30 that they only actually faxed their bank at 12:05 to instruct them to transfer.........

Banks have centralised their CHAPs ("instant" electronic) payments so a fax to the bank means it goes to a centre somewhere and sits in queue and is dealt with by some faceless person. Banks only guarantee transfer by close of business.

Very old-fashioned to still be doing that by fax! I have a small practice with only 3 staff but even I have my CHAPs connection to Lloyds TSB. This means we can connect to the central system and see when money has come in on a sale, and do the data entry and comply with the security requirements ourselves so the money gets sent quickly. On odd occasions when my computer system/bank connection has broken down I have been exceedingly frustrated at the time it has taken my bank to send the money using their normal system.

The problems should not have arisen because:
(a) it should have been actioned earlier; and
(b) if they had their own terminal it would have got to the other solicitor's bank within about a minute of sending, if less.

Moral:
If you are looking for a solcitor to do conveyancing, ask if they have a computer connection to their bank to make CHAPs transfers easier.

LCK73

Best of luck Saraht - your good luck vibes worked as we completed at 15:45pm on 1st July - phew.
Hope yours is sorted today?

FraudBuster

It would be interesting to know where the delay was as you must have been one the few people in the country actually using CHAPS on Tuesday 1st July.

There will be heavy usage on a Friday and on the last day of the month/quarter/half year.

SquatNow

FraudBuster wrote: »

It would be interesting to know where the delay was as you must have been one the few people in the country actually using CHAPS on Tuesday 1st July.

Especially since no-one with a brain is actually BUYING a house...

LCK73

SquatNow wrote: »

Especially since no-one with a brain is actually BUYING a house...

Thanks, I can confirm that I have a brain and it works rather well apart from the odd typo on here. You must use special parts of your brain to fully understand people's individual circumstances without even knowing them. Well done you.

danilou21

[quote=FraudBuster;12181993
There will be heavy usage on a Friday and on the last day of the month/quarter/half year.[/quote]

Oh great, I am completing tomorrow, I hope it doesn't take to long!