Transferring money to solicitors

TrixA

We're about ready to exchange so need to transfer the deposit funds to our solicitors. Is it safe to do this via standard internet banking? I know you can do it via a manual transfer in the branch, but my bank will charge a fee for this, which is going to add up given we'll be doing several subsequent transfers for the balance of the deposit, stamp duty etc. What do people normally do?

amtech

We did ours through CHAPS - fee was about £25.00. I pretty sure CHAPS is the normal route to take. Went in branch @9am, funds cleared just after 12pm. Took soooo long to save up our deposit, I coundnt stop twitching until it all wen through!!!

WestonDave

Internet banking is fine - depending on the amount you may not be able to send it all in one go, and you'll need to be aware that it may not arrive until the end of the day, but as long as you allow the time there is no real need to pay the CHAPS fee unless its such a big amount that it becomes virtually irrelevant. Just check what the limit your bank has on internet transfers - and do remember to quote a reference when you send it to make it easier to allocate at the other end. Solicitors account departments have a lot of transactions coming in each day - amounts which are unidentifiable get delayed whilst they are tracked down.

G_M

Internet banking transfer to a solicitor is no or more risky than any other internet transfer.

Check the amount involved does not exced your bank's transfer limits, and mak sure you have the correct destination bank details.
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Note that if the solicitor gave you his CHAPS details these are not the same as for internet tranfers

TrixA

G_M wrote: »

Internet banking transfer to a solicitor is no or more risky than any other internet transfer.

Check the amount involved does not exced your bank's transfer limits, and mak sure you have the correct destination bank details.
.
Note that if the solicitor gave you his CHAPS details these are not the same as for internet tranfers

I know it's no more risky than a normal internet transfer, I'm just slightly paranoid given the sums involved and was wondering what would happen if something went wrong.

Flashmanchop

Please make sure that if you do end up using the banks phoneto do it, the call centre on the other end understand clearly, exactly what thefunds are for.



I made the mistake of using the HSBC in branch phone to do aCHAPS (the branch coudlnt do it…. – read, couldn’t be bothered) and the niceman in India did it as a bill payment….

TBagpuss

TrixA wrote: »

I know it's no more risky than a normal internet transfer, I'm just slightly paranoid given the sums involved and was wondering what would happen if something went wrong.

send a small amount first and call to check it has been received, then send the rest. if you do it a few days ahead of time then there is time to verify, and also to ensure that it is received in time.

Worst case scenario would be if there was a delay in the funds reaching your solicitor, and they would then delay exchanging

benjus

G_M wrote: »

Note that if the solicitor gave you his CHAPS details these are not the same as for internet tranfers

Bit confused by this.

Whenever I've made a CHAPS payment it's been to a standard account number/sort code that could also be used to make a BACS or Faster Payments transfer. Some banks allow you to do a CHAPS transfer using online banking.

Are you saying that you can also make a CHAPS transfer to an account identified by these "CHAPS details"? What do they look like?

eddddy

TrixA wrote: »

I know it's no more risky than a normal internet transfer, I'm just slightly paranoid given the sums involved and was wondering what would happen if something went wrong.

A problem could arise... if you type the sort code and/or account number wrong, and the money ends up in someone else's account, and that person is uncooperative in returning the money.

But that would be the same if you gave the wrong details to 'a real person' at the bank.

(Very very occasionally there are banking system failures which delay transfers - but that is likely to have the same effect on chaps transfers as 'internet transfers')

If you're really concerned, you could ask the solicitor's accounts dept if it's ok to transfer a nominal amount first (e.g. a £1) and check it has arrived. (But that will give them extra work in reconciling the account.)

davidmcn

G_M wrote: »

Note that if the solicitor gave you his CHAPS details these are not the same as for internet tranfers

Not sure what you mean by this - the only necessary details are account number and sort code, whether it's a CHAPS or Faster Payment. Doesn't matter whether you instruct it over the phone, over the internet, or over the counter.

TrixA

Turns out that my bank's daily limit is £10k, but my partner banks with a different bank with a higher limit of £50k. For the initial deposit bit we need to transfer a little over £40k. So the plan is that I send my half of the funds to him in three payments, then he adds his half and sends it to the solicitor in one go. Guess we'll have to do the same thing with the additional funds due on completion, but we're leaving two weeks between exchange and completion so there should be plenty of time.

We could go the CHAPS route, but I dislike unnecessary bank fees, and if we did all four transfers that way we'd be looking at £100.