Meridian Title Corporation

Effective July 1, 2009, The Indiana House Enrolled Act 1374 requires that the money funding a real estate purchase and refinance transaction in Indiana is secure or “Good Funds”. The Act primarily requires the following:

• Closing agents must deposit all funds received in connection with a real estate transaction into an escrow account unless all the parties involved agree to another arrangement.
• All funds in the amount of $10,000 or more, in the aggregate, received from any party to a real estate transaction must be wired funds unconditionally held and irrevocably credited to the closing agent’s escrow account. Checks for $10,000 or more are prohibited; this guarantees that money is immediately available for disbursement at closing to all parties involved.
• Funds less than $10,000, in the aggregate, received from any party to the transaction, must be in the form of “good funds” as defined by the Act.
• Closing agents are permitted to advance up to $500 from an escrow account to pay off specified incidental fees to facilitate the real estate transaction.
• A lender whose mortgage is being paid off at closing may request that its payoff be in the form of wired funds as long as wired funds are deposited in the closing agent’s escrow account in an amount sufficient to cover the payoff.