Bank Transfers

RAJ9

I'm selling a car and the buyer would like to pay via bank transfer, is this safe? and how long does it take to transfer into my bank? I have an app on my phone which will tell me my bank account balance, if this says the money is in there, is that guaranteed?

grumbler

RAJ9 wrote: »

I'm selling a car and the buyer would like to pay via bank transfer, is this safe?

I don't think so: Santander trying to steal £14,200 from me

and how long does it take to transfer into my bank?

Faster payments are free and almost instant nowadays, although the deadline is the end of the next business day.

I have an app on my phone which will tell me my bank account balance, if this says the money is in there, is that guaranteed?

It is guaranteed that the money is there. It is not guaranteed that it will remain there.

You-kip

RAJ9 wrote: »

I'm selling a car and the buyer would like to pay via bank transfer, is this safe? and how long does it take to transfer into my bank? I have an app on my phone which will tell me my bank account balance, if this says the money is in there, is that guaranteed?

Silly question but has the buyer seen the car in the flesh?

RAJ9

You-kip wrote: »

Silly question but has the buyer seen the car in the flesh?

yes the buyer has seen the car

agrinnall

Do you know who the buyer banks with? If so, is it the same bank as you? If it is then a transfer should be complete within a few minutes. If it's a different bank then you are at the mercy of FPS, and while it could be fast it might take a few hours or even be next day. I think the thread grumbler linked to is an extreme situation that you should only worry about if you're particularly paranoid (which of course doesn't mean they're not out to get you....).

jonesMUFCforever

Insist on a CHAPS payment even if it means sweetning him with the £30 fee.
If he says no it would raise very loud alarm bells.

JuicyJesus

agrinnall wrote: »

Do you know who the buyer banks with? If so, is it the same bank as you? If it is then a transfer should be complete within a few minutes. If it's a different bank then you are at the mercy of FPS, and while it could be fast it might take a few hours or even be next day. I think the thread grumbler linked to is an extreme situation that you should only worry about if you're particularly paranoid (which of course doesn't mean they're not out to get you....).

The thread grumbler linked to is a very different situation where the OP of it received the proceeds of fraud from a virtually anonymous person in exchange for untraceable Bitcoins and insisted that he should be able to keep the money.

The fact that the buyer has met the OP of this thread in the flesh and obviously has the opportunity to inspect ID and such makes this a very different situation.

Wonder how the bloke in that thread got on, incidentally. Wonder if he managed to buy some food with his Bitcoins in the end.

Caladan

In my opinion, a faster payment that your bank can confirm is cleared into your account shouldn't be subsequently recalled (unless you are suspected of fraud).

Members of this forum have suggested these payments should be able to be called back, but at present, as far as I am aware, they cannot be.

Nevertheless, a CHAPS payment is indeed safer, even though the sender has to pay a fee of £20-£50.

pqrdef

Unfortunately there's no way of knowing that the buyer owns the account he's paying from. If it turns out that he doesn't, and the rightful owner wants his money back, the bank could easily make out that you were complicit in the fraud.

At least with a cheque you could ask to see ID that matched the name in the cheque book. But they want to foist yet another hopelessly inadequate system on us.

JuicyJesus

pqrdef wrote: »

Unfortunately there's no way of knowing that the buyer owns the account he's paying from. If it turns out that he doesn't, and the rightful owner wants his money back, the bank could easily make out that you were complicit in the fraud.

Check name on ID against name on received bank transfer. If it doesn't match, ask your bank to return it to sender. Job's a good'un.

At least with a cheque you could ask to see ID that matched the name in the cheque book. But they want to foist yet another hopelessly inadequate system on us.

And then the cheque would bounce and you'd be just as b*ggered.

jonesMUFCforever

Don't know how a bank will be able to know if a FP is free of fraud or not - it will show as cleared funds and OP can withdraw the funds.
However if OP insists on CHAPS as I suggested they will physically have to go into their bank with ID before the payment is sent - making it safer for OP.