How fast can a bank transfer in Greece be made?

[GlennB]

Negotiations on the sale of our house are progressing and, when the day comes, we'd prefer electronic payment rather than be pottering over to the bank to deposit a banker's draft.

https://www.bankofgreece.gr/en/main-tas ... t-payments

suggests 'instant' (a matter of seconds in reality) but this is a new one on me.

Any advice gratefully received.

[Kilkis]

If you look to the bottom of the web page that you linked there is a pdf document whose title is "Eurosystem expectations for clearing infrastructures to support pan-European instant payments in euro", my emphasis in red. Transfers in the UK are now often virtually instantaneous, with a specification of less than 2 hours. In Greece this seems not to be the case.

As an example, if I log onto my Greek internet banking web site at any time during the day and initiate a payment of any sort it will inform me that the payment will be processed after 17:00 on that day. That means the earliest that the payee will receive it is the following working day. I also think it is highly likely, but not certain, that the payees account will be consolidated after 17:00 on the day they receive the payment so it will probably not appear on their statement until the second working day after the transfer was initiated. When it does appear it will probably show it as credited to the account on the first working day after the transfer was initiated, i.e. it was received on the first working day after the transfer was initiated but you could not see it until the second working day. It is also possible for a second date to be attached to the line entry showing when the funds are available and that may be a day or so later, i.e. it has arrived but it has not necessarily cleared so you can't draw it out.

That is my experience.

Warwick

[Houmeri91]

Someone on here previously recommended Transferwise for changing currency and sending cash over in Euro's . Been using them ever since have to say they are quick if I order transfer early in day often there the same day . Really easy to use off an app on my phone . They maybe worth a look at .

[GlennB]

OK, cheers. Looks like it'll have to be the good old banker's draft method.

[Kathleen]

As posted in an earlier thread on this subject, I opened a TransferWise borderless account. This was a simple process, completed online.

After my buyer paid his money in for the purchase of my house to the Bank of Greece for which he presented documentation, I was able to pass it to my UK bank account via TransferWise very quickly. I have just checked, I actually did it the same day, within a couple of hours of leaving the Notary's office! Very satisfied with the process.

Kathleen

[Kilkis]

I could be wrong but I think Glenn is talking about the movement of money electronically between one Greek bank account and another Greek bank account, not movement of money in/out of Greece from/to abroad.

If the person buying his house gets his bank to issue a bankers draft then that draft is guaranteed, unlike a cheque. The bank will not issue it unless the funds are there and those funds become locked when the draft is issued. Thus the buyer could hand over the draft at the same time as they all sign the contract for transfer of ownership and the seller is certain they will get the money, even if it takes a couple of days for the draft to clear. If electronic transfers were almost instant then they could do the same thing with an electronic transfer. The buyer could log onto his account in the Notary's office and make the transfer and the seller could check a few minutes later that it had arrived and they could all sign the contract. If however there is a 24/48 hour lag then you introduce risk. Does the seller sign the contract when the buyer says he has transferred it and the seller has no proof that it has arrived, in which case the seller runs the risk that the money never comes. On the other hand if the seller refuses to sing the contract until the money arrives the buyer is at risk that the seller pockets the money and refuses to sign. In the UK the money goes into lawyers' client accounts so you are relying on the trust between lawyers rather than trust between complete strangers.

I don't think the risk is particularly high but the sums involved are large so I can understand why people wish to minimise them.

Warwick

[GlennB]

I could be wrong but I think Glenn is talking about the movement of money electronically between one Greek bank account and another Greek bank account, not movement of money in/out of Greece from/to abroad.
Warwick

That's correct, although subsequent developments left us scratching ours heads, to say the very least

The 'buyers' were a German couple and our agent proposed a deal where we would complete the signing, at which point the buyers would have 30 days to transfer the money to our account. A contractual condition ('lien'?) would give us the right to reclaim the house if they didn't pay. We took advice in a few experienced places and were warned not to touch this with a bargepole, leading to my question here about very fast electronic payment.

This morning we learned that the buyers don't even have a Greek bank account, and that the lengthy proposed payment delay was to allow them to transfer money to an account that they would open when they come over for the signing. Given that their lawyer has power-of-attorney this has become more than mysterious and is well into disturbing. It's a 'name' agency in these parts so what the hell their game is we have no idea. All we can think of is that it's a quick commission grab, as our commission to them is payable upon receipt of the deposit. If the deal is so flaky it's likely to fall through then I suppose it's an easy earner for them.

Anyway, we fired them today and will make our expected sale terms crystal clear in advance to any agents in future.

[GlennB]

I could be wrong but I think Glenn is talking about the movement of money electronically between one Greek bank account and another Greek bank account, not movement of money in/out of Greece from/to abroad.
Warwick

That's correct, although subsequent developments left us scratching our heads, to say the very least

The 'buyers' were a German couple and our agent proposed a deal where we would complete the signing, at which point the buyers would have 30 days to transfer the money to our account. A contractual condition ('lien'?) would give us the right to reclaim the house if they didn't pay. We took advice in a few experienced places and were warned not to touch this with a bargepole, leading to my question here about very fast electronic payment.

This morning we learned that the buyers don't even have a Greek bank account, and that the lengthy proposed payment delay was to allow them to transfer money to an account that they would open when they come over for the signing. Given that their lawyer has power-of-attorney this has become more than mysterious and is well into disturbing. It's a 'name' agency in these parts so what the hell their game is we have no idea. All we can think of is that it's a quick commission grab, as our commission to them is payable upon receipt of the deposit. If the deal is so flaky it's likely to fall through then I suppose it's an easy earner for them.

Anyway, we fired them today and will make our expected sale terms crystal clear in advance to any agents in future.