Transferring money to seller

W.Ford

Hi, first of all i apologise for whats probably a basic question. Im a first time buyer, approaching exchange of contracts in about 3 weeks time.

M y question is whats the best way to get my money to my solicitor to pay the depost, I have 12k in an ISA and 7k in another online savings account with the same back. My other half is also contributing another 3k from an ISA with a different bank.

We have already been quoted £25 CHAPS fee on our list of fees from the mortgage broker, will I have to pay an additional CHAPS fee for each of the 3 payments I will be making to get the deposit over, or is there a better wya to do it, perhaps BACS?

Thanks - Will

Typhoon2000

Backs or a cheque ( once you have transfered it to your current account). I have always paid deposits to solicitors by cheque. Need to hand it in a week before its due of course so it has time to clear.

Crashandburn

I personally would be transferring all of the savings into the respective current accounts i.e. your current account and your partners savings into their current account.

Leading up to the exchange of contracts, I would then send the money across using the faster payments service which has no fees involved. This can go direct into the solicitors client's account but you are limited with some providers to a maximum of £5000 per transfer so you would have to do it over a few days.

If you're quite happy to pay the Chaps fee, then you could combine the money altogether and send it on the one payment to the solicitor. Chaps is more secure but I am unaware of any FPS horror stories.

hillcats

Crashandburn wrote: »

.... but I am unaware of any FPS horror stories.

Faster Payments should be fine, however...
When setting up a new transfer, I ALWAYS send a small test amount first to ensure I've entered the correct details of the receiving bank. When the recipient confirms the small amount in their account you are good to send the larger amount - slight inconvenience but it would be minimal loss and grief if you entered a wrong digit.
If then for any reason the larger payment failed to arrive then you have taken reasonable care and could be asking questions like "how come my small test amount arrived in the account"

Don't forget to minus your "small" amount from the total owed...