why must i accept and pay for bankers draft when i am happy to receive a cheque?

gentlepurr

Asking for a friend please, and not sure where to put this but it is essentially a banking question.

My friend is due to receive a small inheritance and he has requested from his sister, the executor that he would like a cheque as he is refusing to put his bank details on facebook (yes you have read that right, the executor has insisted it all ONLY being done via facebook although my friend doesnt have his own access to the internet) and he doesnt want to give his sister his bank details. She has replied to say he will have to pay for a bankers draft and will have to pay recorded delivery charges. Having dealt with a similar situation myself quite recently i dont understand why she has to do a bankers draft if the cash is in the account, surely she can either write a cheque or ask for the amount to be withdrawn in a cheque made payable to him? Or am i missing something?

I also fail to see why she should insist on sending it recorded delivery when even in my very recent experience, solicitors have sent me cheques for much more (not my money, sadly!!) via normal first class post.

I feel she is just being awkward as there have been many obstacles along the way but would appreciate any thoughts as to any bank that would charge you to withdraw money from your own account by cheque??

tia!

MarkFromCornwall

I suggest a compromise. Your friend sends his sister a cheque for one penny. She then sends him his inheritance by FP. That way he doesn't put his details on Facebook and doesn't have to pay for a bankers' draft.

Goldiegirl

Any bank will make a charge for issuing a bankers draft.

Maybe she doesn't have a cheque book - many current accounts don't have a cheque book these days.

DCFC79

Could your friend not meet the sister, they go to the bank and she arranges for a transfer of money into her brothers account.

PaulW922

Recorded delivery is ultimately no different to ordinary post - it just has a signature at the end. If she were that concerned about security of a draft she would be sending it by special delivery.

I would not post my bank details onto Facebook for everyone to see but I think it is important not to get too worked up about them. We provide our bank account details all the time. They are on cheques, on our debit cards (in whole or part depending on the bank) and we give them all the time for direct debit payments.

Cant your friend not phone the details through?

p00hsticks

PaulW922 wrote: »

I would not post my bank details onto Facebook for everyone to see but I think it is important not to get too worked up about them.

I wouldn't think that the sister was inviting him to post the details onto his facebook wall "for everyone to see" - it's more likely that she intended for him to use the 'chat' function to send the details to her via a one-to-one personal message.

[Deleted User]

Couldn't your friend open a savings account, give those details over Facebook, receive the payment, transfer it out, then close the account?

I have a savings account that I use for incoming payments, which doesn't accept direct debits, the only way of getting money out is through my online banking, and it constantly has a nil balance.

agrinnall

MarkFromMullion wrote: »

I suggest a compromise. Your friend sends his sister a cheque for one penny. She then sends him his inheritance by FP. That way he doesn't put his details on Facebook and doesn't have to pay for a bankers' draft.

gentlepurr wrote: »

...and he doesnt want to give his sister his bank details.

OP, how much are we talking about for the inheritance and the cost of the cheque? If your friend doesn't want to make his account details available to his sister (although I think Bill's suggestion is a good compromise) then as long as the former is a bigger sum than the latter then he's still making some money that he wouldn't otherwise have had.

xHannahx

The only use of a sort code and account number is paying in money, they aren't enough on their own to make a withdrawal. A private message on Facebook would only mean him and sister seeing the details.

Biggles

Yes, he's being unnecessarily paranoid in refusing to give his own sister his banking details. As has already been pointed out, they appear on all his cheques anyway and she can't do anything with them apart from make payments to him.

He should really get over this but should ask that she sends a small (1p or £1) payment initially just to ensure she has keyed the details in correctly.

Problem solved.

Millie_Millsters

xHannahx wrote: »

The only use of a sort code and account number is paying in money, they aren't enough on their own to make a withdrawal.

Tell that to Clarkson :rotfl:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7174760.stm