House sale: How is residual payment paid?

[Owain]

"RichardS" wrote | Even a day I could cope with as cheque clearance and BACS processing | is AAUI a daily batch process. Three is taking the proverbial, and | of course this is just for the core clearing banks.

Bank of Scotland take 5 days to clear English cheques. However many years it's been since the Act of Union ...

| Many outside this system take even longer - I think it's Abbey | that can take 6 days routinely.

Just wait till Santander take over.[1]

Owain

[1] And if you are an Abbey shareholder you will receive Santander shares and have to complete a Spanish tax return.

[Peter Twydell]

My online bank won't let me transfer more than GBP 2000 per day to a third-party account, even if it's mine (at another bank).

[Peter Twydell]

Something similar happened at a company I once worked at (before I worked there). Woman in the accounts department opened a bank account with the same name as that of the company and paid several cheques in before she was caught. Probably not all that uncommon a trick.

[Tony Bryer]

Sometimes yes, sometimes no. When they first opened they really were a rip-off place - like RRP £499, our price £399 - save £100. Pity that most of their customers knew that the going rate was £249. Now on many things they can be very competitive especially when you factor in P&P on mail orders - but you have to be selective: like supermarkets they hope you'll buy the offer of the week *and* several other less than cheap things while you're there.

And as the Isleworth branch is 3 miles from home I can go there, buy something and be home within the hour - much better than waiting for non delivered mail orders.

[N. Thornton]

I think its much more: 5% is common for smaller businesses, so 2.5% sounds probably about right for large ones. Most businesses eat the cost, you dont pay more.

NT

[Owain]

"Peter Twydell" wrote | Something similar happened at a company I once worked at | (before I worked there). Woman in the accounts department | opened a bank account with the same name as that of the | company and paid several cheques in before she was caught. | Probably not all that uncommon a trick.

I expect BT get lots of cheques payable to "BT " without the space ruled through, which makes them very vulnerable to minor amendment and paying into an account in the name of B Timms or whatever.

Owain

[Robert]

That's nothing: In Norway (in 1985 anyway) the paying bank removed the money from your account retrospectively using the date written on the cheque rather than the date of presentation.

R

[MM]

Well, I was planning - if I were to decide on the cheque method - to take the cheque in my hot little hands, cross the High Street to the Nationwide and pay it in, beating off muggers and other ne-er-do-wells in the process.

My real question is, which is the absolute SAFEST method available to guarantee* that the payment reaches my account?

• Yes, I know NOthing in life is guaranteed 100%, but let's say, as near as dammit!

MM

[MM]

This would not be going to a Swiss bank account, but to my High Street clearing bank branch.

MM

[MM]

But a residual payment from the sale of a house could be tens of thousands of pounds, or even more. Are you saying there is no way to transfer it from the solicitor's client account because it is a large amount?

MM

[Andy Hall]

Give the solicitor the sort code of Nationwide plus your account number and ask the to do a direct transfer - BACS if you don't mind it disappearing for a couple of days or CHAPS for same day.

You might want to look around for other short term money homes which pay a better interest rate. 1% more on (£180k was it?) for a couple of months is a few more hundred quid for you....

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Tim]

Definately an interbank transfer. Provided you check and double check your account details and hand them in writing to your solicitor it's safe.

If he transfers the money to the cat's home, it's his fault...

It's certainly been the standard method whenever I've bought/sold houses.

Tim

[Andy Hall]

Richard's talking about online banking. The limits are there with that to make money laundering difficult.

It's not an issue when you are a known client on transactions like this. The solicitor can quite easily transfer hundreds of thousands to your account on a fast CHAPS transfer if you want. You pay about £20 for that.

One other point is that if you were planning to have liquid money for a long time before making a purchase, it would be prudent to check into the level of indemnity provided for an account and carve it up into separate accounts of no more than (e.g.) £25k at different banks or building societies.

It's unlikely that this would happen, of course, but on a large amount which is so critical it makes sense to be prudent.

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Peter Twydell]

In article , MM writes

Not on line. I don't know if certain people have exemptions to the 2k rule. Depends on who the bank thinks is trustworthy. You can go to the bank in person and do it by CHAPS if it's urgent and waiting for a cheque to be cleared is unacceptable. Probably need gawd knows what in the way of ID, though.

[Owain]

"MM" wrote | Well, I was planning - if I were to decide on the cheque method | - to take the cheque in my hot little hands, cross the High | Street to the Nationwide and pay it in, beating off muggers | and other ne-er-do-wells in the process.

The solicitor will probably not give you a cheque in your hot little hands. He will want to post it out to you, along with a covering letter for which you can be billed :-)

Owain

[MM]

Nationwide is only a safe haven for the first few days while I catch my breath.

MM

[MM]

If 20 quid will buy me peace of mind, it's well worth it. I'm not going to quibble about £20 as a one-off, since I will definitely not be selling/buying houses any time soon, once this one goes through. I cannot put myself through this again.

MM

[Pete C]

Hi,

See:

like CHAPS is safest.

cheers, Pete.

[RichardS]

Mike,

take a deep breath and chill a little over it - I realise that it's a huge sum of money and represents your future financial security, but it's a routine transaction & its played out hundreds of times every week over the lenght and breadth of the country.

Your solicitor ought to be advising you on this stuff, and if they don't your bank manager will probably be falling over him/herself to advise you on the safest and fastest route to get all of they money into your account in their bank...

If I were you, I'd go CHAPS. Anything else is insecure (potentially) and adds a couple of days delay, which is madness.

Oh, and with appropriate prior arrangement, you can generally transfer ANY amount of money (how do you think that big companies get bought/sold?).

[MM]

Okay, CHAPS it is, then!

MM