Selling a car long distance? Worried about money transfer?
Given the high rate of fraudulent financial transactions going on, who wouldn't be.
I am selling a car (thank goodness not an A) to a party in Michigan, and we are in Texas.
I would always prefer a face-to-face cash-in-hand transaction, but in this case that is not possible. As the seller, I needed to protect myself.
After a lengthy discussion with my banker, here is what we came up with. My bank is BOA but the methods she described would apply at any bank.
1. Forget all about cashier's checks and money orders, any of that could be fraudulent.
2. Forget about wire transfers. They ain't what you think. The wire can be stopped after it partially goes thru; or, worse yet, it can be reversed any time within the following 90 days. To me this is a banking industry weak point, but that is how it is.
3. Here is what I was told to be foolproof:
a. Buyer finds a branch of YOUR bank. He brings CASH to the counter and asks that it be deposited to YOUR account. Of course you have supplied your routing number and account number, which is info you freely give out each and every time you write a check, anyway.
b. Have the buyer text you a copy of the deposit slip that was used that he gets back from the teller.
c. The next day, you physically go to your bank, ask for a banker, not a teller, and have them check the deposit. They can tell from their end if the deposit was cash or check. If check, that is not acceptable, since that can later be determined to be fraudulent. The deposit HAD to be CASH. This type of transaction cannot be undone.
You can text, or fax, or USPS a receipt, whatever the buyer wants.
Now, with all this, YOU are protected, and some could argue that the Buyer is possibly out in the cold. That may be, but if the buyer chooses to not show up in person, and he wants the car, so be it.
The Buyer and I have just concluded the $500 deposit part of the transaction, and he is trying to figure out what to do next. Having said that, he knows these are the only rules I will play by, and the ball is in his court.
I turned down an offer from Australia because I would not have been able to follow this procedure.
The bottom line is, get a good consult from your own banker if this ever applies to you.
Given the high rate of fraudulent financial transactions going on, who wouldn't be.
I am selling a car (thank goodness not an A) to a party in Michigan, and we are in Texas.
I would always prefer a face-to-face cash-in-hand transaction, but in this case that is not possible. As the seller, I needed to protect myself.
After a lengthy discussion with my banker, here is what we came up with. My bank is BOA but the methods she described would apply at any bank.
1. Forget all about cashier's checks and money orders, any of that could be fraudulent.
2. Forget about wire transfers. They ain't what you think. The wire can be stopped after it partially goes thru; or, worse yet, it can be reversed any time within the following 90 days. To me this is a banking industry weak point, but that is how it is.
3. Here is what I was told to be foolproof:
a. Buyer finds a branch of YOUR bank. He brings CASH to the counter and asks that it be deposited to YOUR account. Of course you have supplied your routing number and account number, which is info you freely give out each and every time you write a check, anyway.
b. Have the buyer text you a copy of the deposit slip that was used that he gets back from the teller.
c. The next day, you physically go to your bank, ask for a banker, not a teller, and have them check the deposit. They can tell from their end if the deposit was cash or check. If check, that is not acceptable, since that can later be determined to be fraudulent. The deposit HAD to be CASH. This type of transaction cannot be undone.
You can text, or fax, or USPS a receipt, whatever the buyer wants.
Now, with all this, YOU are protected, and some could argue that the Buyer is possibly out in the cold. That may be, but if the buyer chooses to not show up in person, and he wants the car, so be it.
The Buyer and I have just concluded the $500 deposit part of the transaction, and he is trying to figure out what to do next. Having said that, he knows these are the only rules I will play by, and the ball is in his court.
I turned down an offer from Australia because I would not have been able to follow this procedure.
The bottom line is, get a good consult from your own banker if this ever applies to you.
Comment