Banks are not taking this seriously!

[catemccubbincomau]

Yes, banks are shoving responsibility for the satisfaction of clients on to conveyancers and solicitors - not good enough

[Nien]

I am having trouble with the other side of things and Banks, constantly when acting for the vendor the incoming mortgagee is the one holding it up every time causing roll over after roll over.

[catemccubbincomau]

Once again a settlement has been delayed due to the CBA.    On telephoning them and inquiring why this happened, and why there were no respect or courtesy shown to anyone else in the workspace I was advised that the delay was caused by me making a last minute change to the matter!   Totally untrue and shows a distinct lack of integrity!   Is this within the guidelines as well?

[ally1]

We keep having the same problems.    PEXA needs to do something about the banks.  The bank delays are causing more costs, time and inconvenience to all practitioners trying to settle on time.   Yes, it is fun explaining to a client that settlement fell through because the bank didn't do their job online in time.

[Beth]

Cannot agree more. I had St George (or should I say Bank of Melbourne, Westpac or Bank of SA? as they all seem to transact under St George and it depends which day as to who you are supposed to speak with) muck up a settlement the other week.  Settlement was booked for 2:00pm.  The CBA (mortgagee on title) only signed the Withdrawal of Paper Nomination 2 minutes before settlement which unsigned things and meant it rolled settlement forward 90 minutes.  Workspace went into ready mode, but then in the title activity check the hour before settlement it showed a positive title activity check. Despite trying to telephone for over 45 minutes (why is it that no one on the phones can access PEXA, know who can access PEXA and the bank staff who can use PEXA are harder to speak to than someone under witness protection?), sending conversations and emails to bankers, St George failed to tick the box saying proceed with settlement (the irony is that is a 1 minute task).  It got to 4:00pm and everything stopped.  As it was a Friday afternoon client got charged penalty interest for 3 days, couldn't access the property with people she had arranged to come and do fencing so she could get animals into the property and also got lumped with additional legal fees for the hours spent trying to contact the bank.  St George has decided that they aren't at fault. Firstly they blamed our office (because our funds weren't available after 4:00pm which is when the system removes funds authorised on trust if settlement has not taken place) or if we won't take the blame it is the CBA's fault.  It is a complete and utter joke.  They aren't the people telephoning the client to let them know they don't have anywhere to move or that they will be the one paying the cost.  PEXA cannot or won't help and basically all the client has is the option to go to FOS - which is quite scary for people who don't want to have to argue about these types of things.  Probably should send the client to the Age or Herald Sun and see if that gets some movement.  You'd think with the banking royal commission they might actually do something positive and do what they are supposed to do when it is due.  

[Beth]

The guidelines are a joke. Just spent 30 minutes on hold to the PEXA helpdesk to see if they can get the ANZ to actually respond to a message and get the source funds and destination funds balancing for settlement due in an hour (they are supposed to do this 2 hours prior).  I gave them total funds required to settle on 15 August - so they have had plenty of time. Instead I am now on the telephone waiting in queue to try and speak to someone, but knowing historically you cannot speak with anyone at a bank who actually has access to PEXA, I am not holding my breath.  

[Beth]

Just access the history tab - it shows exactly what went down.  The banks seem to forget this exists or that electronic conveyancing leaves electronic records.

[catemccubbincomau]

It is such a shame that the opportunity to get banks into line and give efficient and responsible service went past.    When electronic conveyancing was first mooted there should have been RULES not GUIDELINES for members to follow.  Of course there will always be the unusual matter where things are done at the last minute, but the majority should not be this way.   Once again the banks are shelving their responsibility to the detriment of solicitors and conveyancers who spend so much time harrassing the banks!

[Beth]

The problem is that there are no ramifications if the banks don't do what they are supposed to do. We feel it because we would lose clients if we continually acted like banks do, but banks are such that they are needed even if the clients purport to hate them.  They need a fine system or something in PEXA - they cause a roll over then they get fined $ - I don't care if the money goes to feeding homeless people or funds government programs or gets split between the Vendor and Purchaser.  There needs to be a monetary penalty to banks if they keep acting like this because nothing bad happens to them. Most clients just pay the money and get on with their lives as they don't want the stress of dealing with the bank after settlement.  It is rubbish.  I like the idea of electronic conveyancing as there are advantages, but I think I have spent nearly 2 hours trying to get a settlement through today in trying to get in touch with a bank that is refusing to respond to conversations (one banker told me that lawyers/conveyancers are just sending too many conversations - well how about the banks respond and we won't need to send 5 conversations about the same matter.)  They will end up doing something 2 minutes prior to settlement and the other participants will be expected to be sitting around waiting for that to happen and if we are lucky we will have time to sign the financial statement.

[catemccubbincomau]

You remind me of myself when I have a full head of steam.    I also think that one of the problems is that the banks do not have the communication with the clients which we do, and we are always left to explain and advise the client.  We have a relationship with the client and the bank does not.  It is absolutely frightening, particularly when you come up against some one in a bank with little or no training and no expertise who has no actual understanding of even how to read a title, let alone anything else!