Closing Thursday at 9: The Wire That Never Arrived

Wire instructions must always be verified by an independent, previously known channel - never by the contact information in the email.

• The red flags: a change of instructions close to closing, an unexplained new bank, a phone number supplied inside the suspicious email, and a request made by email rather than through the settlement agent's portal or a known direct line.
• Correct protocol: call the settlement agent at the number printed on the original engagement documents, confirm the account, and consider requiring a callback or in-person verification. Never forward the email to the buyer with the instructions intact; the agent's own email being spoofed is a common vector.
• Now: immediately contact the sending bank and the receiving bank to request a recall or freeze, notify the settlement agent and the lender in writing, and report the fraud to the FBI's IC3 and local police. Speed determines recovery - funds moved to a fraud account are often withdrawn within hours.
• The loss typically falls on the buyer unless the receiving bank can freeze or recall the funds. That is why the agent's prevention duty matters; the brokerage should document exactly what instructions it gave the buyer and when.
• Do not attempt to 'solve' the shortfall by closing with an unfunded file.

No. The earliest permissible consummation is Friday the 15th, and the fee increase may push it further.

• The buyer must receive the Closing Disclosure no later than three business days before consummation. For this rule, business days are all days except Sundays and federal holidays - Saturday counts.
• Received Monday the 11th: Tuesday (1), Wednesday (2), Thursday (3). All three days must be complete before consummation, so a Thursday 9:00 a.m. closing is short. Friday is the earliest.
• Separately, the origination fee is a zero-tolerance charge. A half-point increase requires a valid changed circumstance, a revised Closing Disclosure, and a new three-business-day waiting period (four if the APR becomes inaccurate). Prepaid interest changes with the closing date itself and must be re-figured.
• The agent's job is to flag this to the lender and title company immediately, notify all parties in writing that the closing date must move, and not let anyone pressure the buyer to sign early or waive the waiting period.

The earnest money is not the seller's until the closing statement says so, and the seller's agent's demand is not authority.

• The broker holds the earnest money in trust. At closing it is credited to the buyer's side of the transaction per the settlement statement - a written authorization the buyer signs. It may be released earlier only on the buyer's written direction or a written agreement signed by both parties, or a court order.
• Pressure to release it early to fund the seller's closing is exactly the situation trust rules exist to prevent; releasing it would expose the broker to a claim if the closing fails.
• Post-closing duties that are not optional: confirm the deed (and, if registered Torrens land, the certificate of title) is recorded, confirm the well disclosure certificate and Certificate of Real Estate Value are filed and that deed tax and mortgage registry tax were paid, deliver the final Closing Disclosure and closing package to the buyer, transfer keys and utilities, close out the trust ledger to zero, and retain the complete transaction file for the required retention period. A file is not finished when the keys change hands; it is finished when the recording and the trust ledger are confirmed.