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Payment for private sale

8160 Views 29 Replies 22 Participants Last post by  raynipper
If you were selling your Motorhome, which payment method would you prefer? and what is the safest?
If you take the prospective private buyer to the Building Society of their choice and a cheque is issued there and then by the Building society, is this 100% safe?
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imo yes....but i would still want cleared funds.
Hello,

I am unsure if a Building Society Cheque can be stopped once issued (though I think not). I am almost certain that a Bankers Draft comes out of the account as soon as it is issued. This is how I received payment when I sold our Lunar 786 a few months ago, and it is how I intend to pay for our new van.

I certainly wouldn't release the van off any Draft or Cheque that I hadn't seen issued. I would wait until the funds had cleared.
Grath said:
If you were selling your Motorhome, which payment method would you prefer? and what is the safest?
If you take the prospective private buyer to the Building Society of their choice and a cheque is issued there and then by the Building society, is this 100% safe?
Yes - I would say so as it will be a Bank Draft, not a cheque - better than cash as it wouldn't - couldn't - be a forgery if you were actually given it by the bank employee in Bank premises. As cast iron as you could get !
recently sold a car for 20k went with buyer to his bank and watched him get bankers draft and then took him to my bank to deposit it spoke to cashier who said was better than cash as it was like getting a cheque written by the bank not the purchaser
a CHAPS transfer before 1 pm is as foolproof as you can get and is within

a couple of hours complete. Take the buyer to the bank and leave someone

from the buyer's side and the seller's side with the motorhome giving them

a last minute tour of how things work. Costs about £ 25 but so what ?

That's what I would do...............
Bankers drafts are no longer safe as some have been forged.

Go with the purchaser to the local branch of their Bank and get a BACS transfer done direct to your bank acount for immediate clearance. The go into your bank and get them to comfirm that the funds are recieved and have been cleared. Then give them the keys.

C.
Chaps

billym said:
a CHAPS transfer before 1 pm is as foolproof as you can get and is within

a couple of hours complete. Take the buyer to the bank and leave someone

from the buyer's side and the seller's side with the motorhome giving them

a last minute tour of how things work. Costs about £ 25 but so what ?

That's what I would do...............
Agree,

Done the same recently, buyer gave cheque, Due to having internet account I bottled out and withdrew from sale. He then did a chaps and everything was 100%.

Cash is good but only withing banking hours and meet buyer at bank.

Trev.
Grath said:
If you were selling your Motorhome, which payment method would you prefer? and what is the safest?
If you take the prospective private buyer to the Building Society of their choice and a cheque is issued there and then by the Building society, is this 100% safe?
If the cheque/draft is issued in your presence at the branch and is payable to you, then its 100%

(Just like my cheque, you sold it then Graham!)

Peter
If the cheque/draft is issued in your presence at the branch and is payable to you, then its 100%

Peter[/quote]

BUT

......... can be cancelled..............

The trouble is that there is a general reluctance to trust anyone. The Bankers Draft takes time to clear. I would be reluctat to let something
of value go without the money actually in my bank.........cleared

NO system is 100% safe and to say so is ridiculous.
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The only methods of payment which are 'safe' are cash, preferably at your bank, or CHAPS, not BACS which takes 3 days to clear. If taking payment by CHAPS always contact your bank to ensure funds are in your account before handing over keys, it normally takes about 2 hours.
Thanks for the replies folks.
I do have a prospective buyer, however he lives far away in Sussex (we are in Stoke on Trent) and obviously does not want to make the journey twice. He has not seen the M/H but has seen many photographs and seems to want it subject to the condition as per the photo's (which it is)
He wants to view & pay and take away at the same time.
The other problem is that our Hymer is still in use with us & fully loaded with our stuff which would take ages & ages to remove. We would have preferred someone to view and if buying we would then remove our clobber and then give a good clean.
To remove & clean would probably take the best part of a day and he wants it this week and we work.
Maybe I will ask if he can wait until next week, giving us time to remove our bits & clean out.
Don't get me wrong, it is not dirty, but we would like to make sure it is spotless for the next owner.
By the way, I didn't know that Bankers Drafts & Building Society cheques could be stopped!
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Sold

Hi

My thought reference payment for motorhomes - given in good faith based on 11 years working in a bank and changes to the banking system since.

1) Cash - note however - your bank or building society may want to see "proof" of the transaction. Also, the cash could be fake notes. Could you tell? You could also be fiven the twenty grand and a mugger be waiting to nobble you. Therefore, if you do settle with cash.....

a) Check with your bank that they are willing to accept such a large deposit over the counter

b) Take the motorhome buyer with you to your bank, pay the cash in and wait until every note has been checked.

c) Do not leave the motorhome unattended.

2) Bank draft - THIS IS NOT CLEARED FUNDS. NORMAL CLEARING TIMES APPLY. A bank draft is technically the bank's money as they have "sold" the draft to their customer. If you take a bank draft, insist on a clearance time with your bank. Also, the cheque book may have been stolen. You can however go with your buyer to their bank, watch them collect the draft from the counter staff etc.

3) BACS - avoid - this takes three working days and CAN be recalled. RECALLED means the senders bank can do just that - RECALL it, leaving you without money. (There are limited timscales for recalling - not three weeks on Tuesday etc)

4) Fasterpayments - avoid - this can be recalled like a BACS. Payment is received the same day but AS FAR AS I KNOW, it can be recalled upto 12.00 lunch time the next day (I am checking this today as last time I enquired, no bank knew he answer)

5) CHAPS - use this method as used by solicitors in property deals. This payment can be recalled but only when proved that a fraud was involved. There is a time scale though. The senders bank may need the full instruction by 11.00 (example only - and varies from bank to bank). The funds may leave his account at 11.05 and not land with you until 16.45. Do not accept a receipt saying funds are on the way.

This is not advice - but my experiences. Talk to your bank for advice.

DO NOT CONFUSE THE NEW FASTER PAYMENTS SERVICE WITH A CHAPS.

Russell
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Yes, I did think about the cash route and as said, would I recognize dud notes?? I doubt it!
Another thought that I have had is to open up an account in the same Building Society/Bank as the prospective buyer. Then the money would go straight to me with maybe the same cashier. Cash would be ok with this route, but maybe the buyer would not like it.
Would this be advantageous?
off to work now, speak later and thanks again for replies.
Morning all

I'm not sure but isn't there a limit these days on the amount of cash anyone is allowed to accept in payment for anything (around £8,000 - to do with money laundering), or does that rule just apply to business accounts?

Sue
Re: Sold

Rapide561 said:
3) BACS - avoid - this takes three working days and CAN be recalled. RECALLED means the senders bank can do just that - RECALL it, leaving you without money. (There are limited timscales for recalling - not three weeks on Tuesday etc)
I processed a Bacs payment yesterday which will not arrive in recipients account until tomorrow. I want to cancel but my bank says that this is not possible!
Some of you seem to be taking for granted that the Buyer MUST trust you with his money AND the item - yet no trust is coming the other way.

i.e - Pay me with a Draft, and when it clears x amount of days later you can have the item - sod that, how does the buyer know it isn't the seller that is pulling the scam? Isn't the saying "Buyer Beware "?

It cuts both ways and is sure to result in lost deals - I think alot of commoin sense needs to be used and if somehting seems to good to be true or looks dodgy then it probably is.
one point...

Many of the replies here state "and then go to your bank and cheque it has cleared..."

I personally would only accept that it had, if the bank were prepared to confirm this in writing.

Numerous times I have asked the Halifax things like "what interest rate if I open an ISA" only to find later that they have given me a lower interest rate, and "as I dont have it in writing" they arent interested. This sort of thing has happened a number of times now and I trust nothing that they say.

I sure wouldnt want to risk motorhome sort of figures to a verbal "yes it has cleared"!!
Grath said:
Yes, I did think about the cash route and as said, would I recognize dud notes?? I doubt it!
Another thought that I have had is to open up an account in the same Building Society/Bank as the prospective buyer. Then the money would go straight to me with maybe the same cashier. Cash would be ok with this route, but maybe the buyer would not like it.
Would this be advantageous?
off to work now, speak later and thanks again for replies.
Hi Graham,

Easy answer, sit in our office and actually watch Gill transfer the money into your account whilst you drink your coffee :D instant payment!

I am still actively looking to buy good MH's for no hassle cash.

Peter
Perhaps a dullard reply from a non banking savvy person, but here goes.

What if you took the buyer to your bank & had them "switch" the money from their account into yours :idea: Is this possible & or safe :?:

I paid for my MH at the dealer & neither he nor the bank had any problems with this. It raised a few security questions but I was done & dusted in less than ten minutes & there were no bank charges for doing things this way.

D.
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