Bankers draft not acceptable !?

[Raas]

Hi All,

I just wanted to get some opinions on this.

I have recently agreed a private car purchase ('07 GTi, nice) but the owner is not prepared to accept a bankers draft as payment due to it taking 7 days to clear. His bank is telling him a BD does not guarrantee cleared funds, but I have never heard of anyone not accepting this as payment. Even my bank manager sympathised with my situation as she had never heard of such a problem.

I have been asked for cash or personal cheque (cleared before arranged pickup) but this is extrememly high risk for me.

Has anyone been in a similar situation, and if so I would be interested to hear how the purchase was conducted to de-risk for both parties.

Thanks,

Raas

[Vesuvius 996]

Do an electronic transfer.

Bank drafts can bevery dodgy, and they are NOT cleared funds. You can only trust one IF you SEE IT BEING WRITTEN OUT at the Bank.

The seller is right to be cagey.

Do a CHAPS payment.

[Dr G]

Do a CHAPS transfer at the branch and bring with you a copy of the intrsuction and number for the branch so he can verify on the phone. Go with him to his branch to verify clearance.

[Maxf]

I wouldnt take a bank draft these days unless I was 100% sure of the buyer. I paid by BD but waited for it to clear before I was able to pick the car up - I trusted the seller not to do a runner though.

Chaps transfer is almost instant - but CHECK with your bank if they accept chaps at all times of the day. For example some may not show a chaps transfer as being cleared after a certain time.

I had a problem when I sold one of my cars. The bank released his money to me, but held it in limbo pending money laundering checks! Obviously he had lost the money but I hadnt received it - sorted in the end but sticky for a while.

[Paul V]

When I bought the Tuscan the I got the seller to meet me at his local branch of my bank and they made out the bankers draft in front of him, easiest way would be to ask him to come to the bank with you so he knows there isn't a problem.

[Raas]

Thanks all for the information, CHAPS does sound like the way forward.

Because of the amount involved I have to do this from a branch apparently. So it seems a good opportunity to take the seller along so he can formally oversee the process and give his account details there and then. It can then take up to the end of the day to appear in their account (or maybe even the next working day if done at the weekend!)

But hopefully being present at transfer time will be acceptable.

Cheers,

Raas

[Vee]

He wants you to give him the money and let it clear, ie trust him, but he doesn't trust you.
When I bought my last car by draft I showed the seller my bank statement showing the funds sitting there before being withdrawn.
It gave him confidence the draft wasn't dodgy.

At the end of the day, you can only do so much.
If any seller wanted to wait for the draft to clear I'd pull out of the purchase personally, especially on a car which is readily available.

[wildoliver]

well i wouldn't sell a car and let someone take it on promise of paying me in a week, which is exactly what a bankers draft is, not the hardest thing in the world to fake, especially if it is a stolen or altered one. Then your left with no car and no money. Any buyer that was cagey about not paying by bankers draft would be told to go forth.....

Just pay cash, or as mentioned take him to your bank with you, or tt/chaps it. Personally for me cash is king.

[2 sMoKiN bArReLs]

wildoliver said:

Just pay cash, or as mentioned take him to your bank with you, or tt/chaps it. Personally for me cash is king.

You didn't read the thread about the guy who sold his Scooby for a quantity of duds.

[Deva Link]

A friend who works in a bank told me the best thing to do is to go to the buyers bank where he will have pre-arranged to draw the cash. He then hands it the seller who immediately deposits it (doesn't matter if it's not the sellers bank).

The problem with a bankers draft, even one written out while you're both in the bank, is that if it turns out the buyer has illegally accessed the account then it can be stopped (although apparently in theory it's supposed to be unstoppable as the bank is guaranteeing the payment). An electronic transfer can be reversed. The cash effectively isolates the transactions but even that could be recovered if the money turned out to be stolen although the bank can't simply take it back.

[P700DEE]

"A friend who works in a bank told me the best thing to do is to go to the buyers bank where he will have pre-arranged to draw the cash."

I arranged with the seller to take the test drive to his local branch of my Bank where I had arranged the cash to be waiting, Had the cashier count out the cash to him. Worked great.

[red tasmin]

I'd have to agree with P700DEE,sounds like the best way.

[Raas]

Unfortunately with banks these days not all can organise this amount of cash. Plus, 7 days notice is required, I daren't even consider how much grief it would be to get the money passed to the other bank awaiting a signature. Banks just don't seem set up for these types of transactions.

Its really not like Bond.

[Deva Link]

Raas said:

Unfortunately with banks these days not all can organise this amount of cash.

I was told they could arrange to have *any* amount of cash that your account could support, within 24hrs.

The person I dealt with seemed almost insulted that I queried this - maybe there's some banking requirement to have the money available on demand?

[Raas]

I will double check with the branch in question, as I too would have thought if any organisation can get a few g's together quickly, it should be the bank!

[matt3001]

Deva Link said:

Raas said:

Unfortunately with banks these days not all can organise this amount of cash.

I was told they could arrange to have *any* amount of cash that your account could support, within 24hrs.

The person I dealt with seemed almost insulted that I queried this - maybe there's some banking requirement to have the money available on demand?

if you make a request (in person) then the bank can get 100% of your money in 24 hours.


what i have done in the past, get the BD number off the seller before he arrives to collect the car, then phone his bank and just verify the number off the BD and the amount its for. they will answer yes or no to the questions you ask.

extra security is to open a basic account at the same branch they bank with, and both of you go to the branch and the funds transfer immediately. (this can be hassle if you live apart but worth it if you are selling something 50k plus private)

[clived]

If you want to do a "cash" trasfer from one account to another, and both are with the same bank, they don't actually need the cash... they literally just pretend, so long as the cash doesn't need to cross the counter. Did this just this weekend gone, no notice provided to the branch (of course, why would they need notice for virtual cash :-) ).