Question about bankers draft

jackie_w

Hi,

Does anyone know how long it takes for a bankers draft to clear? Or is it as good as cash?

I sold my car yesterday, and the seller (whom I know) gave me a bankers draft. I was with him when he got the cheque, and the girl at the BofS said it was as good as cash.

I wasnt able to go to my own bank yesterday, but I went in today and RBS have told me a bankers draft is just treated like a normal cheque, and willl take 6 working days to clear? Is this correct?

Cheers

book12

I thought it was 3 working days to clear a cheque?

bengal-stripe

jackie_w wrote: »

....the girl at the BofS said it was as good as cash.

It's as good as cash, as the money comes from the bank, not an individual account.

jackie_w wrote: »

treated like a normal cheque, and willl take 6 working days to clear?

It's as bad as a cheque, as it needs the same time to clear.

rb10

It is "as good as cash" in that (provided that the draft is genuine) it cannot bounce for lack of funds.

However, it does need to go through exactly the same clearance purposes as any other cheque, so will not clear (i.e. absolute guarantee that it cannot be returned) until the end of the sixth working day.

If you pay it into a current account at RBS, the funds should be available to withdraw by the fourth working day. If you pay it into a current account at Bank of Scotland, you can withdraw the funds from 9am on the third working day.

jackie_w

Thanks for your replies.

the reason I was asking was because as I said, I was selling my car (privately, but I know the person I sold it to).

Before I got a bankers draft, I called telephone banking to ask if it would clear straight away, and the gentleman there said it was as good as cash, the funds would be available the same day (this was on Friday). I didnt manage to get to the bank on Friday, so I again called telephone banking to check if a local branch to my home was open on Saturday morning, I asked the girl if the cash would be available that day, or would it be available on Monday because Saturday wouldnt be classed as a working day, she said the funds are available straight away.
Lo and behold after Ive put the funds in my account, checked with the cashier at the branch and she then tells me I have to wait 6 clear working days before its clear!!!!!!! I exlained what telephone banking had told me, she said I had been misinformed.

I have called telephone banking to lodge a complaint becasue if I had been told at the time that I would take 6 days to clear, I would have asked for a BACS transfer, I would have had my money in my account Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest.

MY friend (who I sold my car to), called me yesterday to ask if I had gotten a new car, and i told him what happened, he said the money has already left his account, and he had to pay £15 fee for the bankers draft to be issued.

really annoyed that ive been told the wrong infomation, and although ive lodged a complaint, probably nothing will be done, because im just little Joe Bloggs :mad:

concerned43

I am with RBS and a bankers draft cleared straight away

natweststaffmember

jackie_w wrote: »

Thanks for your replies.

the reason I was asking was because as I said, I was selling my car (privately, but I know the person I sold it to).

Before I got a bankers draft, I called telephone banking to ask if it would clear straight away, and the gentleman there said it was as good as cash, the funds would be available the same day (this was on Friday). I didnt manage to get to the bank on Friday, so I again called telephone banking to check if a local branch to my home was open on Saturday morning, I asked the girl if the cash would be available that day, or would it be available on Monday because Saturday wouldnt be classed as a working day, she said the funds are available straight away.
Lo and behold after Ive put the funds in my account, checked with the cashier at the branch and she then tells me I have to wait 6 clear working days before its clear!!!!!!! I exlained what telephone banking had told me, she said I had been misinformed.

I have called telephone banking to lodge a complaint becasue if I had been told at the time that I would take 6 days to clear, I would have asked for a BACS transfer, I would have had my money in my account Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest.

MY friend (who I sold my car to), called me yesterday to ask if I had gotten a new car, and i told him what happened, he said the money has already left his account, and he had to pay £15 fee for the bankers draft to be issued.

really annoyed that ive been told the wrong infomation, and although ive lodged a complaint, probably nothing will be done, because im just little Joe Bloggs :mad:

The funds would leave his account the same day the draft is handed to him since it is transferred into one of the banks internal accounts which would deal with the payment of the draft. Unfortunately, that part of the transaction is not relevant as to how quickly the funds will go into the account. Can I ask why you didn't ask for direct payment, ie bank account to bank account or cash?

Mikeyorks

jackie_w wrote: »

really annoyed that ive been told the wrong infomation, and although ive lodged a complaint, probably nothing will be done

It's normally a mistake to rely on banking information from someone who works in a Bank, I find.
But the clearance data on Drafts is freely available with minimum research :-

http://www.chequeandcredit.co.uk/faqs/-/page/how_long_does_it_currently_take_to_process_a_banker%27s_draft/

jackie_w

natweststaffmember wrote: »

Can I ask why you didn't ask for direct payment, ie bank account to bank account or cash?

I could have had cash, but the amount involved was for £17,000, I didnt fancy carrying that amount of cash around. If I knew it would take 6 working dats for the bankers draft to clear, I would have asked for a BACs payment.

Starrystarrynight

Bankers drafts are probably useful when accepting payments from people you don't know, as you can be sure it's not a forged or stolen cheque and can release the goods you are selling, but they take as long to clear as any other cheque.

Mikeyorks

jackie_w wrote: »

If I knew it would take 6 working dats for the bankers draft to clear,

It doesn't. It takes a max of 4 (working) days (the 2-4-6 process) if you pay it into a current account ..... but it's 6 if you pay into a Savings account :-

http://www.chequeandcredit.co.uk/246/-/page/113/