You mean you cannot trust prospective purchasers. It's no surprise that when you have so many vendors insisting on cash buyers who are not in a chain. that you have prospective buyers who don't meet one or more criteria pretending they do.You cannot trust auctioneers.
In an era of online statements and free editing tools, agents are unable to verify any proof of funds provided to them. Anyone semi-competent with a computer could whip up a bank statement showing they had a billion on deposit in a few minutes.Someone who has demonstrated proof of cash funds to an EA could easily switch to a mix of mortgage and cash once it goes sale agreed.
In an era of online statements and free editing tools, agents are unable to verify any proof of funds provided to them. Anyone semi-competent with a computer could whip up a bank statement showing they had a billion on deposit in a few minutes.
Our EA suggested a solicitor's letter, but our solicitor (how would he know our financial state anyway?) said just email screenshots/scan of statements. It was easy to redact account numbers leaving just our name(s) and the amounts. There wer at least 6 banks involved so letters from them were out of the question. It did occur to me that you could fake the docs, but everyone knows everyone here so that would have been a bad move! The EA was happy anyway and we bought the property four weeks ago.It was a while ago, but for us the EA mentioned that they'd sometimes look for a letter from a bank or solicitor of having cash to cover the offer, they can then ring the bank or solicitor to confirm the letter was sent by them. A print out of a bank statement might be too much info to handover and less useful than the simple letter because the EA wouldn't be able to get the bank to confirm whether the balance is genuine.
They may only ring up to see confirm a letter is genuine if something doesn't add up about a buyer, but the option is there to authenticate the letter. It's not foolproof - but the EA will have done as much as they can at that stage.
It's illegal for any financial institution to confirm or deny that information. I remember a Sherry Fitz agent going off on a rant a few years ago about the number of sales they had delayed or falling through after receiving solicitors and bank letters confirming availability of funds that turned out not to be true.It was a while ago, but for us the EA mentioned that they'd sometimes look for a letter from a bank or solicitor of having cash to cover the offer, they can then ring the bank or solicitor to confirm the letter was sent by them.
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