Delay in transfer of large funds between banks and settlement now delayed

Hi all,

I did a same day transfer of large funds in 2 lots amounting to nearly $1 million dollars for a settlement due the following day. I paid Macquarie Bank for the same day transfer on Wednesday , Macquarie released the funds that morning and ANZ have only released one part of the funds to my lawyers trust acount late Friday afternoon. From Wednesday morrning to Friday afternoon ANZ denied that funds were received at all. Even though a team (that according to anz staff dont exist) from ANZ sent a swift message to Macquarie requesting more personal details about the transaction, ANZ still denied to my lawyer that the funds were received. Another large portion was then located in ANZ Friday evening and we are still waiting for these funds to be cleared. ANZ will again request personal details from Macquarie on Monday before they even release the funds.
I am OUTRAGED that this can happen in todays world. Not to mention my settlement is delayed and now being charged a penalty an I'm paying interest the moment the money left my account and we are yet to settle. Not even sure were my lawyers fees sit with this as she spent 2 days on the phone with ANZ about where these funds were.
Has anyone experienced this before ? Who is responsible for this delay and penalties associated ? Surely ANZ has some answering to do. I actully thought my funds were stolen. This IMHO is unacceptable. What would you do ?

 

Others can talk about whose responsibility. What were the alternatives?

ask the mortgagee to directly debit your account on settlement
Transfer the money to the solicitor 2-3 days earlier.
Bank cheque (and a couple of days earlier)?

 

There are probably contractual terms stating a transfers will take up to x days so probably not a breach of contract.

I would just wait for it to all settle, work out your loss, and then ask the incoming mortgagee for reimbursement.

 

Was the reason why you did not transfer the funds direct from ANZ to the solicitors trust account yourself due to the funds not being cleared on that day or due to wanting to have same day clearance ?
You said you ask Macquarie for same day clearance . Did you ask ANZ too?
For large amounts the banks can temporarily increase the limit you can transfer (through the NAB I have transferred $1.6m to solicitors via the Internet banking).

 

Hi Beano, I transferred my money from Macquarie to my solicitor’s trust account who is with ANZ and paid $30 for the same day transfer. I don’t understand why ANZ did not release the funds to my solicitor’s account. On top of that ANZ denied they had the funds. We are not an ANZ customer.

 

Hi Terry, there is no incoming mortgagee.

 

Sorry, not in answer to the OP's question. I have found NAB quite clunky to deal with. Most of my funds are with Westpac & had no issues at all with large withdrawals, however I have a couple of loans with NAB that are fully offset. When trying to obtain money in the offset accounts I had some difficulty because the accounts were "dormant". Well, yes, that's the idea dumbo!

 

It seems like in circumstances like this you really need a dedicated manager who can follow up rather than duck for cover :-(

 

ANZ has a complaints section, which I have used a few times, so just make a complaint about the money not showing up but they will probably blame Macquarie so complain to them too.

If no luck tell them you will make a complaint to the ombudsman

 

Thanks Terry. That's what we plan to do. I now have confirmation that Macquarie definitely transferred the funds within 1 hour of the request. This is a complaint for ANZ and then the ombudsman.