Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Does this sound kosher?

I got a call from our realtor today and he told me that the house (that we almost bought) was sold. Not only was it sold but it went for $10,000 above our offer price. Add to that, the new owners foolishly went ahead and bought it without a home inspection. Good luck...

I've got a question for all of you, in case you might know...

When we put our deposit down with a certified cheque, he told us on Thursday that we wouldn't get our money back until Monday. When I called him on Monday he told me that he never promised to get it back that day...but we would get it back. We finally got it back this evening.

I asked him why it took a day extra and he said that they have to deposit it and then write a new cheque. Does this sound kosher? Does anyone have any experience with putting an offer down on a house and then (for whatever reason) you back out...how long did it take you to get your cheque back? He also said that if we wrote a personal cheque it would have taken 3-4 weeks to get the money back. It just sounds a bit fishy to me.

Then when I got home from work today I got my Visa bill and the bank is charging me an annual fee of $120. ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY DOLLARS! I'm going to call the bank tomorrow and have the fee dropped...I have an account that doesn't charge me for fees, so I was kind of taken aback when I opened the envelope and read that. Geez. The only reason I have this Visa card at all is because you collect (travel) points which I'm hoping to use for whenever we get to China...

11 comments:

Sugar Cookies And Hope said...

Isn't it sad how utterly careful we all have to be in looking over our statements and in conducting business. If we don't study every single freaking thing, we stand to be swindled. I have no knowledge on the whole deposit issue, but it sounds as though it might just be the way things are done.

Donna said...

I backed out of an offer on a townhouse last fall and a check had to be issued from the realty company.

crazylady said...

Not sure about the house thing. We bought ours in a bidding war.
Though just call VISA and threaten to change companies. They'll drop the charges. Gee hope that's the first time you hear that.
Ask Visa to reduce the interest rate while you're at it,also by saying you'll take your business elsewhere. They'll do that too. With the money you save, you can mail me Timmy's coupons.
And gee you're serious about moving just cause I work for CB?
:o)
Sen

redmaryjanes said...

It sounds tacky to me that you didn't get your check back right away. The Visa stuff is a total rip off. I would threaten to cancel my card.

Red Sand said...

it sounds a bit odd... on our first back-out, the realtor gave us our original cheque back the next time she saw us, which was a few days or weeks later (can't quite remember), but she had torn it to shreds and handed it to us loose - many of the shreds took off in the wind...

4D said...

If they have deposited the cheque, then they would have to reissue. If it was being held in a file, they should have just handed it back to you. Might be different then what I am used to.

Call Visa and def ask for the fee to be removed. They may only do it for one year. If it is a Gold card, there is that annual fee. Perhaps try a regular Mastercard but with Air Miles (BMO has that).

Keep smilin!

Jill and Jaap said...

I hate money...

love it...but hate it...it always complicated things.

C's Mom said...

I have no foggy clue about the deposit.

But, I'd have none of that VISA fee gig. Yowza.

D & S said...

When we backed out of a house years ago, the realty company had to issue a new cheque. It took them a while to get it to us as well.

"M2" said...

Yeah, it sounds right
they hung on to our money for a month or so.
did you want this house?? badly??

"M2" said...

oh.... my mortgage is with Chase
as well as the visa....... which we will NEVER use again.
They charged me a late fee when I had paid the balance in full on time the prior month.
apparently a 5 dollar charge didn't make it to the old/last billing cycle. I thought we owed nothing so the following month when I did NOT receive a bill, I thought nothing of it.
They claim they mailed the bill with the $5 balance and I never paid it so I have a late fee.

I threatened them and they did NOT appease me. I spoke to management and nothing!!!! over 5 bucks they lost my business.
Chase SUCKS
hopefully yours is not Chase and can behave decently