WIRE TRANSFER? What I learned. Long post.

[Rick Bradd]

We just sold a rental property, made some good money and were planning our next investment near the end of the year. I was wondering what to do with the money we made while we did our due diligence, when a business associate reached out to me and offered a deal, they needed a short term loan for 45 days and would secure it with a property. And best of all they were willing to pay me a very good return. This was perfect for us, all the planets aligned and since we had just left the escrow office and knew we would have the funds the next day so we agreed.

Here is what I learned about having funds wired to you, and in turn wiring them back out again. For most of you this is probably old hat, but it was a new experience for me.

Wires usually go out at the end of the day, and had to be in place by 2pm Central time in my case.

Wire MUST match the name on the account exactly, Mine had both my name and wife's name, but only my name on the account being wired to, not good.

I was told the wire would "hit" the next day after it was sent and to be patient, the escrow officer told me this about three times, she was making a point to be patient. She probably had nervous sellers calling all the time so she was pre warning me. I did ask for Ask the sender for a copy via email of the "Outgoing Wire Transfer Report". It lists;

the amount of the wire,

account number,

date and time sent,

beneficiary information, Account number, ABA number

federal Reference numbers, Global Ref number and who approved the wire.

After the first day I started getting worried it had not deposited, but, I did not want to look like a rookie and start calling, plus I still had two days to finish the deal before I left on business out of the country, no problem.

The middle of the second day I finally figured out something was not right here, this was a lot of money to me, over 200k, and it was floating around out there in the either, not in my control. I did not like this feeling, so I called my bank and asked them if they had it, they did, but it had been "Held" awaiting further instructions from the sender. What this means is, If there is a problem with the wire on the receiving end a "Service note" is "sent" to the originator. In my case the wire instruction had my wifes name and mine on the wire, but the account was in my name. So I followed up with the ESCROW Officer Right away, I got my bank on the phone with me, the escrow officer and a rep from the escrow officer companies bank. AND, my escrow officer got the accountant on her cell phone while we conferenced. My escrow companies bank rep. claimed there was no service note.....WHAT? My banks rep insisted they sent it and called the wire department on his cell phone and relayed to us to tell them to "Look closer". Apparently these wire transfer types are a little snooty with each other.

My Escrow Officer pushed her accountant to look again and lo and behold a service note was found, corrected and sent. But, it was now after two PM and to late for the wire to go out.

Meanwhile I had been communicating with the business that I was loaning the money to, and they were getting worried too about the deadline, they were locked in with me and had no time to make other arrangements. My reputation was taking a major hit here, stress level for both of us was going through the roof. now I had to wait til the next morning, check to see if the money "hit" my bank, and then turn around and send out the outgoing wire. Oh yes, and I had to do it all while changing planes in Toronto Canada, hour and half with a customs transfer too. My blood pressure was off the charts. I did get the wire done over the phone, but again, it was after two in the afternoon and would not go til Monday. I made the phone call to let them know it had been delayed again. to his credit he took it well, but I think he may have secretly been wanting to bash my face in, probably thinking what a rookie, why did I do any business with him?

Part of the wire transfer process with my bank is to ask a few test questions to prove I am who I am , even though I had to login with my account number, enter my secret code, put in my SS number AND describe to them the icon I used on my login page. So all was good, just way late, the wire would finally go on Monday, Right?

That Monday at 1pm I get a call from my bank, they wanted to ask some test questions. it seemed the original Tester did not note in the record that he had tested me, we had to do it all again. Now I am getting really ticked off, if this is delayed again I am probably getting my A$$ Kicked by my associate.

Finally something went right, it made it. I got a simple text message an hour or so later saying they got the wire.

Lesson Learned, no one cares as much about your money as you do. I should have been more aggressive in following up, not patently waiting and "Hoping" it worked. We all know or should know "HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY!"

Call your bank and speak to a rep, let them know a large wire is coming. This is important, they may get 50 wires at the end of the day in the normal course of business, if you want yours processed right away Let them know.

If the wire does not "hit" by the next morning Call your bank and ask for a status. They can tell you if they have a wire pending or if they are rejecting it.

When sending a wire make sure the person helping you is doing all the updates in the system so id does not get delayed again.

I have finally calmed down, I hope this helps someone else if they find them selves in a rush for wired funds, dot your T's and cross your I's ( joke)