Cheques through the post.

StevieJ

Is it safe to send cheques in the post made out to yourself? can these not be cashed? building society requesting cheque in lieu of ISA subscription. I must say I would much prefer to make an electronic payment but there is no facility.

VT82

It's still relatively standard practise.

It would only be dangerous if someone intercepted the post, and tried to pass themselves off as you to open an account, and then withdraw the funds once it had cleared (or if they happened to have the same name as you!).

There should be enough money laundering checks in place at banks to make sure people don't do this. But if you ARE the victim of this kind of fraud, you will usually be indemnified for your loss quite easily.

If it puts your mind at rest, sending it recorded delivery is still under a quid extra. And although it's annoying paying for this instead of making an electronic transfer as desired, getting your money in the best paying account should make up for it.

cing0

Posted cheques made out to yourself as just as secure or insecure as cheques made out to anyone else!
I can understand the initial amount being required by cheque for ID purposes etc but you can usually pay in the minimum by cheque and the balance by BACS ?
If not, I'd walk away. Building societies are a dying breed. Come next month, there will be one less.

barak

StevieJ wrote: »

Is it safe to send cheques in the post made out to yourself? can these not be cashed? building society requesting cheque in lieu of ISA subscription. I must say I would much prefer to make an electronic payment but there is no facility.

If you want to make it more foolproof, make the cheque payable to "nnnnnnnn Building Society re. Stevie Jnnnn".

That will work - some Building Societies actually ask you to do it

alanq

If you know your account number the Building Society Association suggests "XYZ Bank, re J Jones, account number xxxxxx." but one would have to write very small to fit all that in.
http://www.bsa.org.uk/mediacentre/press/cheque_sept.htm

StevieJ

Thanks, I have already sent in the post, I decided I will give them a ring after a couple of days to check they have received.

StevieJ

I rang today, they confirmed that they had received cheque and opened the account yesterday, also sent out a welcome pack. I am pretty impressed with that.