By: Jeremiah Jackson
In the olden days of TRID, buyers would have their final cash to close numbers at least 3 days in advance of closing, leaving them plenty of time to coordinate moving their funds around and send a wire to us for their final cash to close. These days, we are lucky to get final numbers from lenders more than 24 hours from closing. Too many times, the instructions we need to balance a closing disclosure and produce the ALTA settlement statement are sent after hours the evening before closing, leaving us to scramble the next morning (and only frustrating the buyer).
Only a year or two ago, you could walk into your bank and request a wire be sent to your friendly neighborhood closing attorney, and it was sent while you waited. Increasingly, we are seeing banks and credit unions take hours, or in some cases, a day to send your money, potentially jeopardizing your closing date. More and more institutions are creating new rules that delay their initiation of the wire transfer.
So, what can you do when you don’t know how much money to send, and you also want to close on time? We recommend that you call the bank from which you plan to send your wire transfer at least a week before closing to learn about their wiring procedures. We also recommend that you call your loan officer and ask for their best guess at your final cash to close figure a couple of days before closing. Then, if you can afford it, round that number up to the nearest thousand dollars (we will write a check to you for any overage). Next, send your wire at least one day before closing. We promise this will reduce the stress of having to coordinate a wire on what should otherwise be a happy and smooth closing day!
With this knowledge, now you can Rest Easy.
