Is a bank transfer 100% safe?

[Kiltie]

If I'm selling a car and the buyer is transferring the funds into my account via internet banking, am I safe to hand over the keys as soon as I can see the credit?

[Tonsko]

I think there's a grace period of about 4 days before it can't be returned.

[Kiltie]

So the person making the payment can reverse it without the approval of the recipient?

[Tonsko]

There are some forms of bank transfer that can be reversed I think - however, this thread seems to suggest the 'faster' method cannot be.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=1&a...

Having said that, I'm not certain on any of it, I was just going on some of the scam threads on here. Ask your bank, specifically about bank transfers and scams. That should be the definitive answer, providing you get a member of staff who knows what they're doing.

Edited by Tonsko on Sunday 31st May 01:25

[DBSV8]

Kiltie said:

If I'm selling a car and the buyer is transferring the funds into my account via internet banking, am I safe to hand over the keys as soon as I can see the credit?

CHAPS transfer guaranteed and once its in your bank it cant be reversed

[turbobloke]

DBSV8 said:

Kiltie said:

If I'm selling a car and the buyer is transferring the funds into my account via internet banking, am I safe to hand over the keys as soon as I can see the credit?

CHAPS transfer guaranteed and once its in your bank it cant be reversed

PH has all sorts of ideas on that score!

http://www.out-law.com/page-4731

http://www.pistonheads.com/GASSING/topic.asp?t=462...

With regard to the last two posts on the above 2008 thread, I've used two of the suggested methods and they worked OK. When selling a car to a buyer wanting to pay cash they had to agree to complete the sale over the counter at a bank local to me that knows me, otherwise no deal, and they agreed. Presumably any suspicious banknotes would be spotted at the count, and the bank would know where the cash came from. When buying a car I've agreed to go with the seller to a bank branch near their address so they could witness the production of a banker's draft. As above the transaction was completed in the bank. The first transaction was on a Saturday and the other on a weekday.

[btcc123]

Speak to your bank and tell them you are selling your car and want the safest way for the buyer to transfer the funds to your account.They will tell you the safest way as they are the experts.

[LukeST]

I recently sold my car using bank transfer.

If it is a faster payment (which most are) it cannot be recalled either.

[anonymous-user]

Tonsko said:

There are some forms of bank transfer that can be reversed I think - however, this thread seems to suggest the 'faster' method cannot be.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=1&a...

Having said that, I'm not certain on any of it, I was just going on some of the scam threads on here. Ask your bank, specifically about bank transfers and scams. That should be the definitive answer, providing you get a member of staff who knows what they're doing.

Edited by Tonsko on Sunday 31st May 01:25

Faster payments can't be cancelled once they are sent according to this, the onus is on the sending bank to validate before sending.

http://www.fasterpayments.org.uk/about-us/how-fast...

[anonymous-user]

Tonsko said:

There are some forms of bank transfer that can be reversed I think - however, this thread seems to suggest the 'faster' method cannot be.

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=1&a...

Having said that, I'm not certain on any of it, I was just going on some of the scam threads on here. Ask your bank, specifically about bank transfers and scams. That should be the definitive answer, providing you get a member of staff who knows what they're doing.

Edited by Tonsko on Sunday 31st May 01:25

Faster payments can't be cancelled once they are sent according to this, the onus is on the sending bank to validate before sending.

http://www.fasterpayments.org.uk/about-us/how-fast...

[turbobloke]

sugerbear said:

Faster payments can't be cancelled once they are sent according to this, the onus is on the sending bank to validate before sending.

http://www.fasterpayments.org.uk/about-us/how-fast...

Partly as a result, faster payments can be a bit slower as per "a few hours" sometimes. It can work well a lot of the time but instant transfer isn't definite.

http://www.rbs.co.uk/personal/ms/faster-payments/f...

Cash over the counter or a witnessed banker's draft take the time of the process, a matter of minutes.

[Slimbull]

I.ve had this selling a motorbike.
I called the bank, and they said once the money shows in my account, it's mine and cleared.

[technodup]

I used to work in a bank and the amount of misinformation out there around cheques and payments clearing is unbelievable.

It's not helped by new staff, confused staff or staff who will say anything to make their (or misguidedly the customers) lives easier.

It was years ago now so I'm not going to add to the confusion with partially remembered details. Check in person and don't rely on a call centre is my advice.

[DBSV8]

turbobloke said:

DBSV8 said:

Kiltie said:

If I'm selling a car and the buyer is transferring the funds into my account via internet banking, am I safe to hand over the keys as soon as I can see the credit?

CHAPS transfer guaranteed and once its in your bank it cant be reversed

PH has all sorts of ideas on that score!

http://www.out-law.com/page-4731

http://www.pistonheads.com/GASSING/topic.asp?t=462...

With regard to the last two posts on the above 2008 thread, I've used two of the suggested methods and they worked OK. When selling a car to a buyer wanting to pay cash they had to agree to complete the sale over the counter at a bank local to me that knows me, otherwise no deal, and they agreed. Presumably any suspicious banknotes would be spotted at the count, and the bank would know where the cash came from. When buying a car I've agreed to go with the seller to a bank branch near their address so they could witness the production of a banker's draft. As above the transaction was completed in the bank. The first transaction was on a Saturday and the other on a weekday.

The only issue as highlighted is suspicious activity ie opening a bank account and transferring nearly 1,000,000 pounds , that does look suspicious re: money laundering ? .

For all other transactions as long as you notify the bank prior to the transfer , there should be no issues and the person transferring the money can not back out once its cleared.

I sold a car by CHAPS ( 60k +) I arranged it before hand with the branch , the buyer did the same , Money went in on Wednesday , Thursday it was cleared .............Chap came and picked up the car on the Saturday , I was more nervous that I had the money in the bank the car in the garage for two days before the buyer came to collect it .....

He did comment at the time that he was nervous I might have second thoughts and bought a ticket to Rio .....must have an honest face !!

[WatchfulEye]

With both faster payments and CHAPS transfers, the onus is on the sending bank to ensure that the transfer is genuine before initiating the transfer, as a result, these transfers are not intended to be easily reversed.

CHAPS, in particular, is said to be irrevocable and usually arrives within a few hours - I have received several, but have never successfully got my bank to confirm that the payment has cleared until the next working day.

Technically, an erroneous payment by CHAPS or faster payment cannot be recovered except with the permission of the recipient. However, increasingly consumer bank account T&Cs specifically require that you give advance permission for the immediate return of any allegedly erroneous payment. In which case, payments can just disappear out of your account if the sender claims they made a typo in the online transfer, and then there is a difficult and protracted process to have the payment reinstated. (This is in response to the issue that an erroneous payment can be very difficult for a sender to recover).

There is also a separate issue where a transfer is fraudulent (e.g. online banking hacked). I'm aware of a few cases of faster payments being reversed after 24 hours in this way.

[NeilPot]

Use a CHAPS transfer, done the same day (or within minutes) - this is the same as used when buying / selling houses.