cheques now guarenteed?

Brooke_Daver

"All the changes will come into effect in November 2007 – and the key changes will be recommended for inclusion in the next edition of the Banking Code due out in March 2008.
The key benefit is for customers who accept cheques. For the first time a customer can be sure that after six working days funds cannot be reclaimed as may have happened in the past – typically if the cheque turns out to be fraudulent or if it turns out there are insufficient funds in the payer’s account."

http://www.apacs.org.uk/media_centre/press/06_14_11.html

So after 6 working days the funds are safe?

MarkyMarkD

Yes, that's what it means. It's certainly a plus for anyone selling things by post and relying on a cheque.

Be careful about when the six working days count from - it won't always be the day you bank the cheque!

E.g. if you bank with A&L, I would be pretty certain that the six working days will count from the day the cheque starts the clearance process which is usually (but not 100% reliably) the day after you bank it at a Post Office or A&L branch.

Brooke_Daver

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

Yes, that's what it means. It's certainly a plus for anyone selling things by post and relying on a cheque.

So realistically cheques are now far safer than paypal for use on ebay.

durham_girl

Yep, at least we wouldn't have to keep awful buyers sweet, just in case they did a chargeback!!!

bradc

PayPal is a unsafe method for sellers however buyers love it, quick and easy.

Cheques would be great however eBay offer no buyer protection on any other method apart from PayPal so this understandably puts buyers off.

Back the subject of this post, yes these new rules are great news and many people think that cheques can't be reversed at the moment. The new rules will cut lots of scams for sure, including sending large cheques for services and then requesting you send change through western union to their 'agent' in Africa!

Regards
Brad

golddustmedia

Right, now nobody tell the Nigerians this news and with any luck we can all cash those dodgy overpayment cheques and make some money back!

Alfie_E

bradc wrote: »

The new rules will cut lots of scams for sure…

It could actually make things worse. I’ve not seen anywhere where it says whether this applies to cheques drawn in sterling on a foreign bank. I can’t see how it can possibly apply to those cheques. At one time, at least, these scams relied on fake cheques with a value given in pounds, but claiming to be drawn on a foreign bank. It was only weeks later, when this bank finally received the cheque, that it would be realised that it was a fake. If people get it into their heads that after six working days the money is always guaranteed, they are even more likely to fall for such scams.

soolin

Also note the throw away line towards the end of the article:

The cheque working group concluded that there is no case for a complete rebuild of the central cheque system particularly as their use continues to decline year-on-year, and many customers write cheques to benefit from the few days delay before money is taken from their accounts. The decline in cheque usage is expected to accelerate from November 2007