Gifting a large amount of money - banker’s draft?

[Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area]

Would a banker’s draft be the best way for my parents to transfer £100k to me? The only alternative I can think of is a cheque but I can’t see a significant amount like this being credited to my account without some hassle especially as we use different banks.

[Bluesgirl]

You can transfer £25,000 daily via the faster payments service, ie electronically.

Edited by Bluesgirl on Friday 21st August 05:56

[anonymous-user]

Chaps payment the whole lot electronically. A cheque would also be fine.

[valiant]

Depending on your bank, faster payments will suffice although you’re over the online limit so will have to phone or visit a branch.

CHAPS is the alternate choice but will carry a fee (around £25 if I remember correctly)

[GT03ROB]

Yeah easiest is have them go into a branch of their bank with your details & have them sort it there & then. Should be in your account within an hour or 2

[anonymous-user]

Bluesgirl said:

You can transfer £25,000 daily via the faster payments service, ie electronically.

That's by far the easiest way IMO.

As it's a gift make sure a proper record is kept by the folks for potential IHT purposes. Even if no IHT becomes payable (i.e. survive 7 years) it's useful to be able to demonstrate that "yes" a gift was made and "no" there's no tax payable.

[Sheepshanks]

Bluesgirl said:

You can transfer £25,000 daily via the faster payments service, ie electronically.

It must vary by bank. We've just done it for a similar total between two NatWest accounts and it's £20K (confirms that on the Faster Payments site too). They say Premier account holders can do £50K but it would only let us do £20K. Was a right pain as each transaction got referred for a fraud check and the last one (an odd amount) got duplicated.

Would have been easier to use Chaps and swallow the cost, or send a cheque.

[Blackpuddin]

Sheepshanks said:

It must vary by bank. We've just done it for a similar total between two NatWest accounts and it's £20K (confirms that on the Faster Payments site too). They say Premier account holders can do £50K but it would only let us do £20K. Was a right pain as each transaction got referred for a fraud check and the last one (an odd amount) got duplicated.

Would have been easier to use Chaps and swallow the cost, or send a cheque.

£10k a day at Lloyds but no fraud checks every time.

[theaxe]

I would do it via CHAPS in branch. However if you do a number of electronic transfers I'd do something like £25001, £25002, £25003 etc.. in case there's a problem so you know which one is which. I'd also send £10 first just to check 100% that the account details are correct!

[LooneyTunes]

FPS scheme limit is £250k, but limits do vary by banks. Most set their online limits quite low, but usually possible to go higher by speaking to them. Wouldn’t mess around with CHAPS / bankers drafts!

[Sheepshanks]

Blackpuddin said:

£10k a day at Lloyds but no fraud checks every time.

It was annoying, particularly because as we missed their call getting through to the right department took ages 'due to Coronavirus' but checks like that saved my FIL from having his account emptied by scammers.

[The Moose]

Unless you need the funds immediately, check or telephone banking. Nothing wrong with a check - just take a couple of days to clear.

[Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area]

Thanks for the replies, they’re all very useful. We’ll do it by cheque then especially as my parents are in their 80s and visiting their bank isn’t ideal at the moment. It looks as though it will be straight forward.

[Far Cough]

Cheque all day long. Your parents may get a call to confirm the amount and that it is a legitimate cheque but thats all.