any1 know how long a cashiers cheque takes to clear? and any potential problems?... i've never accepted payment via this method and am quite clueless about it.

ta..


dont know if makes a difference..but it will be coming from a foreign country.

http://www.surfingvancouverisland.com/ads/scam.htm

reading things like that seems there are lots of scammers around......hmmmm

A cashiers cheque will come from a foriegn bank and is similar to a building society cheque in the UK. It is basically a cheque issued by the bank on behalf of their customer.

The main danger is that you accept a counterfeit one. Foreign cheques never really clear, so it could be 6 months or more before you find out and the money is taken back from your account.

So i could accept this cashiers cheque then in upto 6months it could bounce or something and im left with no goods and no money?

yep can happen, don't know about 6 months but they do take a while.
also even after your bank shows a cheque cashed it can be reclaimed if the cheque is proved to be a forgery or stolen.

forgot ,safest is cash deposit into a bank account of yours,

Originally posted by willman
yep can happen, don't know about 6 months but they do take a while.

in theory it could be longer

well.....bugger!

what are better ways to accept cash from foreign countries?


well....the `safest' to ensure you get your money.

Direct bank transfer or International Money Order/International Bankers Draft - BUT the latter two could still in theory be forgeries.

:loopy: what great systems we have across the world!

shudunt be that hard to accept money from someone and for it to be genuine (you'd think)

so basically if someone says `im gonna send you 200 quid for this item.....' i have to just take it on trust that the money will go thru?, because there is no SAFE way of getting money? short of sending cash all round the world! (for royal mail to have a christmas party with)

direct banking is the only way, money goes into account in cash or by direct banking in 5 days it's cleared.or accept paypal by credit card, then your covered.

How about paypal? https://www.paypal.com/

But on the other hand..

http://www.paypalsucks.com/

I haven't had any problems with it, to be fair.

Western Union always worked pretty well for me. You need to know plenty about the person sending the money (lots of security stuff to answer) but the commission rate's not bad really, bearing in mind you come out with cash in your hand the day it's put in at the other end. It does take a bit more effort on your part- you have to visit an agent, but there's about 20 of them in Sheffield.

Failing that, set up a Paypal account.

I believe the scam works as follows:

You are offering a service to someone from abroad e.g. letting a holiday cottage. They send you a cheque to cover the rent and overpay. when you point this out to them they ask you to send a cheque to refund the difference.

The cheque which you deposit from them takes a long time to clear and you believe that it will clear, so refunsd them the money... and then find out that they've sent you a duff cheque.

Originally posted by MTheo
well.....bugger!

what are better ways to accept cash from foreign countries?


well....the `safest' to ensure you get your money.

I've accepted electonic funds transfer before, it's fast too.

Ask your bank about it.

Originally posted by Jamie
I've accepted electonic funds transfer before, it's fast too.

Ask your bank about it.

A risk with this is that you have to give your bank account details to someone you may not be sure about.

Ask your bank if they will allow you to have a separate account and number solely for the purpose of these foreign transactions.
You should move the funds out as soon as they are credited and in this way if any fraud is attempted, there will be no funds to get at.

Originally posted by cgksheff
A risk with this is that you have to give your bank account details to someone you may not be sure about.

Ask your bank if they will allow you to have a separate account and number solely for the purpose of these foreign transactions.
You should move the funds out as soon as they are credited and in this way if any fraud is attempted, there will be no funds to get at.

Sure, but I was dealing with a reputable software development company, I felt pretty safe.

I did actually use an account, not with my main bank, but pretty much an inactive one, with something like £3.52 in it !!

If someone did have my account number, sort code, international bank account number etc ... can they withdraw finds ? how so ?

Don't forget if you're being truly paranoid, that cheques in this country can "bounce" well after they have appeared to clear. I remember asking my bank about this once and they were very cagy and refused to admit it until I asked very careful questions - wish I could remember the details! ;) The reason I checked with them was that a friend of mine had the money taken back off him after he'd been told a cheque had cleared... which was nice!

Originally posted by Jamie

If someone did have my account number, sort code, international bank account number etc ... can they withdraw finds ? how so ?

I also use bank transfers on a regular basis ..... with known companies and individuals.

When dealing with unknown contacts, the risk is that, in the course of dealing with them, they may accumulate enough personal information in addition to your account details to produce a realistic transfer request letter to your bank, in your name, with your (forged) signature.

I actually had an employee of an overseas bank, where I held an account, try it on with one of my UK accounts! At that time, due to the known risk, I had a list of (non re-usable) passwords set up to control any transfer out of that account.

Originally posted by rich951
Don't forget if you're being truly paranoid, that cheques in this country can "bounce" well after they have appeared to clear. I remember asking my bank about this once and they were very cagy and refused to admit it until I asked very careful questions - wish I could remember the details! ;) The reason I checked with them was that a friend of mine had the money taken back off him after he'd been told a cheque had cleared... which was nice!

"Cleared" doesn't really mean anything useful - only that your own bank are going to let you take the money. The question you need to ask is "Has the cheque been paid?". However, unless you've had the cheque specially presented, your bank can't really answer that.