Cheque or CHAPS less scary for large transfers?

Ben8282

How about going in person to the solicitor with a cheque, handing it over and requesting a receipt.
Keep a copy of the cheque and who it was payable to. An old fashioned way of doing things I agree, but a very safe one. There can never be a 100% guarantee that nothing will go wrong, but the chances of anything going wrong in this scenario are very remote indeed

sausage_time

CHAPS would get my vote. I did this a few years ago in a branch. I had made absolutely sure of the account details (don't rely on an e-mail because there are sophisticated hacks that can intercept and change the details). I had the details in a letter, and just in case I called the recipient on the number I'd been using and asked them to verify. In any case, the bank were able to confirm that the account did indeed belong to the solicitors - still did not stop me and the teller checking multiple times!

Chino

sausage_time wrote: »

the teller

You've been watching too many American cowboy films.

pinkteapot

The £17 is definitely inconsequential - that was a tongue-in-cheek comment about the MSE-ness of saving it.

We're moving best part of £400k and will be leaving ourselves with about £20k so it's pretty much all our life savings and I'm just getting irrationally anxious about something going wrong. So the question was just around whether cheque or CHAPS is safer. And for some reassurance that I'm being an idiot. For being nervous, not for buying the house. :rotfl:

Thanks for the advice, all! There will be time to do it by cheque but, allowing the full six working days to clear, it would only clear two days before completion - if that makes a difference to the answer.

I'm not worried about fraud - we met our solicitor last week and she handed me the piece of paper with their account details. We've already used that to transfer the deposit for exchange of contracts and that was safely received. My fears are (1) some sort of catastrophic banking system failure while our money's in the ether (!), (2) mis-keying the account number on the CHAPs, (3) money being frozen for deeper money-laundering checks.

Flo2108

CHAPS would be your best option.

Depending on who you bank with, some require you to request the payment over the phone and ALSO email written instruction too, ensuring both sets of details match.

The majority of the time a CHAPS processor will make sure the account names match before processing the payment.

Socajam

Get a certified cheque from the bank and hand over to the solicitor, getting a receipt to prove that the money was handed over amount/date/time.

When I transfer funds to a new account, I always transfer a small amount first to ensure that the account etc is correct. Once the funds are received, then I do the full transfer

But in this case, I would be more inclined to get a cashier's cheque.

verybigchris

I did CHAPS in-branch with HSBC. Took ages, as they are meticulous with it. For example, the guy putting the payment through telephoned my solicitor to confirm they were expecting the payment, confirm the amount, confirm my reference and confirm the account details.


Not my most efficient banking experience, but if you're worried about it then it's probably the safest way to move the money.

20SmthngSver

I sent my conveyancer a cheque for my exchange deposit. They had no issue. They didn't stipulate a method preferred. One of my friends though was insisted to use CHAPS, she said no and sent Faster Payments instead so it saved her multiple charges to send via CHAPS. Some banks charge a lot more than £17 to make a payment.

Law firm cyber fraud is absolutely rife. Never send money electronically if you are emailed their bank details as it can be impersonated. Always call them to verbally say it out loud back to you to check. If it goes offshore you'll never get it back.

I personally didn't didn't feel comfortable sending money electronically to them. I felt more comfortable sending a cheque with their name on it, they received it and they banked it. I felt like some of the responsibility was on them as well that way. It also gave me a few days to cancel in case it went wrong. Online, once you press send, that's it.

Btw, a bankers draft incurs a fee. Only a building society will issue a cheque for free. A bank won't. You could also make multiple Faster Payments payments in one day, avoiding a solo CHAPS fee. Banks have different limits for branch, online and phone. However, TSB told me that the limit is £25,000 a day, period (not tested though) Nationwide though you can make as many transaction per day up to their limits as you wish.

The 6 working days to clear is just internal policy. I was told 8 days, even though they received the cheque on the Monday and by Tuesday morning it had left my account. Everyone does next day clearing now, they just haven't updated their policy of clearing timetables.

It's completely up to you though.