We’re Sorry, the System is Down.
Posted on | September 18, 2008 | No Comments
I was at the bank today, trying to make a deposit. They took my money, which made me a little nervous (as their system was down), but they assured me that my account would get credited, so I went ahead with the transaction. There was a young couple talking to the teller next to me, and they said they needed a certified check. The teller told them they couldn’t withdraw any money at that moment, because the system was down. The poor girl almost started crying, and said that they needed it for a real estate closing, and that this was their first house. She was really upset and I felt badly for her. And there was absolutely nothing the bank could do, as all branches had their systems down as well.
I finished my transaction and went outside, and I lingered until they came out (okay, I know that may sound a little creepy, but I really wanted to help them). I told them I was a real estate agent, and asked who their closing attorney was. They said it was a local Mt. Pleasant attorney. I told them not to worry, the systems would be back up eventually, and that the closing couldn’t happen without them. I don’t know if it really did them much good, but there isn’t much I could do, since they most likely have an agent helping them. I hope it eased their minds a bit, though.
This isn’t to negate the importance of sticking to important dates and times in the contract. The “time is of the essence” clause is definitely there for a reason. However, I sincerely doubt this situation was the fault of that young couple. If they had received the HUD, or settlement statement, from the attorney yesterday afternoon, I suppose the argument could have been made that they should have gotten their certified funds yesterday. However, even if they DID get the HUD yesterday, who wants to carry around that kind of money? Not me, not for any longer than I have to. And, it’s more likely than not that they received the HUD less than 30 minutes before they arrived at the bank. That’s just how if often happens with closings.
Anyway, 9.9 times out of 10, unless you have a seller who has changed their mind (and even if they have, we have an extension in the contract that allows you to extend the contract for an agreed upon number of days if it can’t close, through no fault of buyer or seller, and this definitely was not the buyer’s fault), the seller still wants to sell, and the buyer still wants to buy, and the closing will still occur even if it is a few hours late. Please don’t take this to mean that time frames are not important. I just seriously doubt that nice young couple was going to lose out on their first home due to the bank’s system being down for a few hours.
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