Bank Mis-processes Solicitor's Payment for Sale

HobgoblinBT

The longest that I ever saw a payment delayed was 12 months.  A payment was made into one of our customer’s accounts, but the originating bank forward dated the value date by a year and a day in error, instead of one day.

Time4T_Accounts

In reply to mrschaucer - in this case the solicitor would not appear to have done anything wrong; and while, yes, I am sure that they will be very keen to take care of the client, I don’t think they would be liable - legally or morally - in these circumstances to make payment. 

In reply to badger09, some context ... I worked in Finance in a law practice that did 750 to 1,000 sales and purchases across England and Wales each month - so, not massive, but not small either.  This sort of problem cropped up 4 or 5 times a year.  In other words, not a widespread problem. Difficult for the few affected - but they were very, very few.
I don’t think it would make a difference if the solicitor is an existing payee as it’s not the solicitor who would be under investigation. I think that in your case, the payments to your solicitor wouldn’t be an issue.  Unrelated to this subject, though: I would be pretty sure that the solicitor would be relieved to have cleared funds ahead of completion date - one fewer potential complication.  Oh, and please include their reference in the payment details.  It never failed to amaze me, the number of payments received where the details were simply  “house purchase”.  ‘Whose money is this?’ on a busy Friday is not a law firm’s favourite game!!

In reply to naedanger, it is almost 3 years since I retired, and I haven’t kept bang up to date with any changes to the law (very happy for others to bring me up to date)  : however, given the purpose of the law - to protect the population from terrorism and crime - I wouldn’t imagine the law has been watered down. In tipping off, the liability rests with the individual, and not with the firm : so, the person doesn’t have to be a partner or a business owner; it could be a very junior employee who would be criminally liable if they tipped off the suspect.  That is a big incentive to comply with the law.  As a result, all financial and legal businesses spend a lot of time training and educating their staff about money laundering.  If the solicitor (or any other member of staff) ‘suspects’ there might be criminal intent, then they must report it to their designated Money Laundering Reporting Officer.  As long as they do that then they will have met their obligation under the law.  The MLRO will then make their report to the police as and if appropriate.

The rules are there to protect us (the general public), and, frustrating as it may be at times, I think they are aimed at countering terrorism as much as drugs.

Hope this helps.

ps It would be very interesting if there are any bankers reading this thread who might let us know their perspective.

Ballard

As a current banker I can advise that Steve’s experience is still correct. I don’t work in Anti money laundering but we all have to do an annual online course. Something that seems to have been promoted more in recent years is anti bribery and corruption.

There always seem to be a few people moaning about delays in receiving funds when they’re investigated and I can completely understand why but banks are compelled to run these checks. As has already been said, these checks are there to make it very difficult for serious criminals to get hold of their laundered cash.

jimjames

Ballard said:

As a current banker I can advise that Steve’s experience is still correct. I don’t work in Anti money laundering but we all have to do an annual online course. Something that seems to have been promoted more in recent years is anti bribery and corruption.

That's certainly not unique to banking, even in the utilities industry the anti-bribery & corruption course is mandatory these days

Ballard

jimjames said:

Ballard said:

As a current banker I can advise that Steve’s experience is still correct. I don’t work in Anti money laundering but we all have to do an annual online course. Something that seems to have been promoted more in recent years is anti bribery and corruption.

That's certainly not unique to banking, even in the utilities industry the anti-bribery & corruption course is mandatory these days

I find it fairly interesting (as banking goes). What might constitute a bribe and what additional checks are needed for a Politically Exposed Person (PEP). I've moved position recently and am no longer involved in movement of cash of any sort but I still need to keep up to date with training.

born_again

Ballard said:

I find it fairly interesting (as banking goes). What might constitute a bribe and what additional checks are needed for a Politically Exposed Person (PEP). I've moved position recently and am no longer involved in movement of cash of any sort but I still need to keep up to date with training.

Agree. over 50% of the online packages we do have no relevance to my role. Despite many people pointing this out and saying that it is a waste of time. We still have to do them.

Retiredwelshman

I think it is 4 days since the OP last posted - so either the situation has been resolved and the money has been received or..........?

Steves2

This has now happened to me - same scenario - solicitor sending money to me on completion of a sale.  Solicitor banks with Lloyds I bank with M&S.  All account details were correct and the money was sent by CHAPS.  M&S have been very difficult to deal with - I have raised a complaint but they really do not seem to care.  They state they are investigating.

Thrugelmir

Steves2 said:

This has now happened to me - same scenario - solicitor sending money to me on completion of a sale.  Solicitor banks with Lloyds I bank with M&S.  All account details were correct and the money was sent by CHAPS.  M&S have been very difficult to deal with - I have raised a complaint but they really do not seem to care.  They state they are investigating.

Always worth notifying the bank in advance if there's a large transfer pending. Accelerates the process. 

born_again

Steves2 said:I have raised a complaint but they really do not seem to care.  They state they are investigating.

Well without investigating the problem, they can not offer a solution.
Complaint will not get a answer any quicker as you now have 2 teams involved. One looking for the money, and one dealing with the complaint.