"When Should I Wire My Closing Funds, and How Do I Verify the Instructions?"

You're close to getting the keys, and a message arrives telling you where to send your closing money. Before you act on it, I'd want you to know exactly who supplied those instructions and how you've verified them.

Use the closing company's confirmed funding deadline, verify the amount and wiring instructions through a trusted contact, and confirm receipt directly after sending the funds.

I'm Jeff Moran, a mortgage broker in Bluffton, South Carolina, originating since 1996, licensed in fifteen states, NMLS #483943, through C2 Financial Corporation.

The office handling your closing might be an attorney, title company or escrow company, depending on the state and transaction. Please confirm which office is handling yours. The contract-to-closing timeline helps place that conversation beside the other dates. The title review article explains separate questions about the property's title.

When does my closing money need to arrive?

In my South Carolina closings, this is how I handle funding:

Money must reach the attorney's office. I usually like the client to send it there a few days before their actual signing appointment and the actual closing on the recording of title.

That's my practice, not a statewide funding rule or a promise about your transaction. When I can, I also like to arrange signing before the actual closing date. Your closing office's instructions and deadline are the final word on when your money must arrive.

Please ask that office for the required arrival date, the confirmed amount and its accepted payment method. Ask your bank about its requirements and timing too. I'd like us to work backward from those answers rather than assume sending money on the closing date will be enough.

The purchase-fund paper trail guide covers an earlier step: reviewing the accounts and money you'll use. Please discuss proposed transfers with me before moving those funds around.

Verify the instructions before sending money

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's mortgage closing scam guidance recommends agreeing on trusted contacts and saving their phone numbers ahead of time. It says to verify closing instructions, including the account name and number, in person or through a previously agreed phone number.

Please make that verification a separate step from opening the message. Use the number you've already established for the closing office. A phone number included in the same new message doesn't independently confirm who sent it.

I've given this warning as part of my closing process:

Make sure that you only wire funds directly to the person that is handling your closing, and make sure you verify that with them: that they're the ones that provided those wiring instructions.

The National Association of REALTORS' wire fraud guide says to verify any last-minute request by calling a number you already know, not one in the suspicious email or voicemail. It notes that title companies and lenders have processes that shouldn't suddenly change.

Keep the amount and the destination separate

You need to confirm both. The amount should be the closing office's confirmed figure, rather than an old estimate. The destination should be the instructions you've independently verified with that office.

The closing cost explanation helps you understand the charges, and the closing estimate comparison article explains questions to raise about changed figures. Neither is an instruction to wire a particular amount.

I'd also ask you to confirm receipt directly with the closing office. The NAR guide recommends calling within a few hours of sending the wire to confirm the money arrived, using a number you trust. A bank confirmation that you sent a wire is different from the closing office confirming it received your funds.

An invented last-minute message

This example is invented, not an actual client experience.

You have already verified instructions with the closing office. A new email says the account changed and asks you to send the wire immediately. Before doing anything, you call the trusted number you saved earlier and ask the office to verify the request.

I'd want that same separate verification even if the email uses a familiar name or includes details about your purchase. The urgency doesn't remove the need to confirm the destination.

Common questions

Do all clients have to wire funds three days before closing?

No universal deadline is established here. My preference for preparing ahead describes my South Carolina practice. Please follow the confirmed funding deadline from the office handling your closing.

Can I verify instructions by replying to the email?

Please use a separate trusted contact method. The CFPB recommends verifying in person or through a previously agreed phone number, including the account name and number.

What should I do if wiring instructions change?

Please stop before sending money and independently verify the change with the closing office through your trusted contact. The CFPB and NAR both say to confirm changed instructions through a number you agreed on or already know.

What if I suspect I sent money to a scammer?

The CFPB says to contact your bank or wire-transfer company immediately to try to stop or reverse the wire, and to file a complaint with the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center, IC3. Please notify the real closing office too. Recovery isn't guaranteed, so don't wait for an email reply before contacting your bank.

Please ask me to review the funding plan with you before your closing appointment so we can confirm who is providing the final amount and instructions.

Estimates and educational information are not a loan approval or commitment to lend.