Bankers draft

Marks-leon

Hi, im looking at selling my car tomorrow and the the lad wants to pay via bankers draft. He has offered to take me to his santander bank and draw the cheque in front of me. Is this the safeest way to do this?? Also he is saying santander is telling him it could take upto 16 hours for an instant transfer to take place even though it could be instant, they just need to make him aware it could take that long.
Advise needed asap. Thanks

jonesMUFCforever

How much are we looking at?
Faster payments SHOULD go from A to B in 2 hours.
CHAPS payment costing around £30 should be same day but no time guarantee.

Any cheque I would make the drawer wait until it has cleared.

Agricolae

Marks-leon wrote: »

Hi, im looking at selling my car tomorrow and the the lad wants to pay via bankers draft. He has offered to take me to his santander bank and draw the cheque in front of me. Is this the safeest way to do this?? Also he is saying santander is telling him it could take upto 16 hours for an instant transfer to take place even though it could be instant, they just need to make him aware it could take that long.
Advise needed asap. Thanks

A banker's draft is safe so long as it is a genuine draft. The fact that he is giving you the opportunity to go with him when he fills it out is a good sign.

Once you have the completed draft in your hand it is guaranteed by the bank's head office. Just need to warn you that it will take 4 working days for the funds to clear and become available in your account, like any other cheque.

In the circumstances a bank to bank transfer might be quicker but it's p to you how you want to play it.

madgagoo

Correct, the only risks with a Bankers draft are:

a) The drawing bank goes bust before you clear it or
b) It is a fradulent draft

a) will be highly unlikely
b) It will not be fraudulent if you go to the bank and observe the bank issuing it.

However as others have said a faster payment will get the funds to your account more quickly.

Marks-leon

He has offered to get me the cash but i doubt santander will give him that abount of cash on the day.

jonesMUFCforever

Marks-leon wrote: »

He has offered to get me the cash but i doubt santander will give him that abount of cash on the day.

That is his problem not yours.

waynedance

cash or transfer, I would IMO not have it any other way.

jonesMUFCforever

How did the transaction go?

jspeed1991

i recently took a bankers draft out from santander and paid it into my solicitors lloyds account in order to pay my deposit for my first home. Lloyds said that because i didnt hand it in other the counter they send it away to a "mail processing centre" which means that the draft could take up to 5 working days to clear.

the alloted time has lapsed now but the solicitors havent received the money. I asked lloyds branch to track it but they said they dont keep a record of what they send to this centre. is this correct and how do i find out what is going on?

jonesMUFCforever

jspeed1991 wrote: »

i recently took a bankers draft out from santander and paid it into my solicitors lloyds account in order to pay my deposit for my first home. Lloyds said that because i didnt hand it in other the counter they send it away to a "mail processing centre" which means that the draft could take up to 5 working days to clear.

the alloted time has lapsed now but the solicitors havent received the money. I asked lloyds branch to track it but they said they dont keep a record of what they send to this centre. is this correct and how do i find out what is going on?

If you just popped a letter in the postbox addressed to the bank they are correct - I understand they do not open mail just send it on in the overnight bag.
As they don't open the mail they have no idea of what is inside the envelope and therefore cannot help you trace it.

Why did you not give the draft to the solicitor?

Any cheque paid over the counter whether a draft or not still has to go through the clearing cycle and would not clear for 5 days. Immediate clearance would have to be done by faster payments or CHAPS.

I would contact the solicitors to see if the cheque has been credited to their account and take it from there.