ikea alicante

My solicitor has just told me that it can take a banker's draft up to 5 weeks to clear. Is that right? I thought a bankers draft was like cash? Anyone know any more on this? We don't want to be paying interest on money that is just sitting in a solicitor's account while she messes around.  We were meant to complete July 1st. Well, THAT hasn't happened.  But if we'd put the money in her account for that date, we would now be paying interest on it. That would be costing us nearly 400 quid a month! What have other people done?

Hi Margo
if the draft is drawn on a UK Bank and is lodged to credit of an account in another jurisdiction then it can take a number of weeks to get cleared value on it.This applies in any situation where the draft is being presented for payment cross border. This is because there is no pan -european clearing system and even though it is a Bank Draft it gets treated the same way as a cheque would.Also, because bank drafts are now easily forged, the Spainish Bank is not going to risk paying out against it until they are sure they are in funds.So in short a bank draft ,while much better than a cheque , is not cash. At any rate if you purchase a bank draft you must pay for it up front so it is the same as sending on the funds directly to her account.When the time comes for me to close I will be sending an urgent money tranfer which takes 24 hours and costs approx  £10 stg .You can do this online if you are internet banking enabled.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for all the previous updates and hopefully we  will all get to  sip a g&t on the balcony soon though I still think September is more likely for me even though I have been told July.
Limar

Cheers Limar. That's very helpful indeed. Margo

Hi Margo
We transferred the money direct from our account in a uk bank into our solicitor's account. We went into the bank and filled in the form- it cost us £20.00 and took about 3 days- you can do it in 1 day for a slightly higher fee- but a bankers draft sounds like hassle. Though we're all used to hassle on this development!

Yeah, you are right there. Although I must admit, it really cheers me that eveyone who has completed seems to be happy . Even my solicitor (not the cheeriest bulb on the Christmas tree) has said that all her other clients who have completed are over the moon. She thinks we are very lucky, because not all developments turn out so well. Margo