Charge for a bankers draft?

SystemFan

Hello, I need either a Bankers draft or building society cheque ready for thursday (apparantly they are one and the same thing?) and have the money ready in my current account for this but.....
they (halifax) want to charge me £10 for the privilege :mad:

Is this correct, as in the past I have used a building society cheque to buy a car and not been charged. I know it's only a tenner but this doesnt seem right to me at all.

grumbler

This is an additional service and the cost vary from bank/BS to bank/BS. For example, Nationwide desn't offer this service ATM, although I recall they offered it for free a few years ago. Now they offer the same day CHAPS transfer as an alternative that costs £20...

regularsaver1

The reason Halifax charge £10 is because you would have your own cheque book

if you were drawing the cheque on a savings account then it would be free

maybe be worth finding out if they accept a personal cheque , or even debit to your account anyhow

realaledrinker

If you're buying a car ask the garage if they'll take a debit card instead. I bought a used car in the summer & this was the garage's preferred method of payment.

johnofhertford

It is common practice to incur a charge for a banker's draft, but not for a building society cheque.

The debit card suggestion is a good one if you're buying a car from a dealer, but if it's a large sum then be prepared for a long wait and lots of phone calls while you get put through security checks.

morg_monster

grumbler wrote:

This is an additional service and the cost vary from bank/BS to bank/BS. For example, Nationwide desn't offer this service ATM, although I recall they offered it for free a few years ago. Now they offer the same day CHAPS transfer as an alternative that costs £20...

Actually I don't think this is correct about Nationwide - I got a free building society cheque from Nationwide in July, for £2000. They were so helpful, I had just found out that with my premier direct account A&L policy is to issue a bankers draft by post, but I had to pay our deposit on our newly rented flat in 2 days time ... disaster but nationwide let me take out £2000 cash from A&L, bring it to a branch, and get a BS cheque immediately issued from my flexaccount. Phew, they really saved my bacon! another bonus of having lots of accounts strewn around the place!

grumbler

I just qouted what I found on their website:

Question Can I order a bankers draft from my FlexAccount?
Answer Currently, Nationwide does not offer this service. If you wish to transfer a large sum of money immediately, please view the question and answer: How do I transfer money using a CHAPS payment (priority one off payment)?

Probably, they don't do bankers drafts and do building societies cheques, but I always thought that it is the same thing with different names.

regularsaver1

Yeah as Halifax is not a building society - it has bankers drafts

i think they are the same things really - they still have to clear when they are paid to someone, just means they will not bounce