Cheque clearance

[forestertwo]

I've sold an item on ebay which the buyer needs asap.  She's paid by personal cheque and whilst I'm sure she is genuine, someone has suggested I contact her bank to check that she has funds in her account.  Can I do this?

[khana]

It is possible for your Bank to telephone the drawers Bank and ask them if the cheque was in their hands today would it be paid, however, this has fallen out of practice because it does not guarantee payment (funds could be taken out after the phone call in the time it takes for the cheque to be presented or the cheque could be stopped during this period).

Special Presentation of the cheque does not ensure the funds are received any quicker, however, it does guarantee payment - your Bank will probably make a nominal charge for this (�10).

[Mrs_Pegasus]

I would bank the cheque and wait for the funds to clear.  I appreciate that the lady wants the goods asap but she should have sent postal orders for a quick turnaround.

I recently asked about expressing a cheque and the bank said very similar to what khana has said, special presentation will only look to see if the funds are there today and not for the cheque to be cleared.

[MargeB]

Don't just wait for it to clear, wait until funds are available, which could be 2 days after cheque clearance. Ebay now stress not sending items before funds availability. Lots of scams going on.

[MargeB]

However if it's a UK buyer, you can force them to pay up on a dishonoured cheque.

[kazza12345]

how much is the cheque for?

[forestertwo]

�135

[stevie21]

MargeB, you've got it back to front. The cheque being made available comes first and it clearing comes second.
The first one means that the bank lets you spend it even though there's a tiny chance it may still bounce.
The second means that the cheque is done with and cannot bounce. This can take, at most, weeks or even months.

I'd agree with your 2 day wait after the cheque is made available though. That'll make it MUCH less likely to bounce. Much less likely than "not at all likely".

Anyway, to answer the original question : no you cannot. Not unless we abolish the Data Protection Act and banks are happy to give out details of their account to anyone that calls them.

[kempie]

In the banking world there is a phrase called 'given value'. This is the official phrase, and the only phrase that counts, for when your money is absolutely guaranteed to be there.

As a result, if you are told by your bank that a cheque has 'cleared' this does not technically mean that your funds are safe, since a cheque being returned by the drawing bank because of insufficient funds etc. can take several days to reach your bank, at which point the funds are removed from your account.

[jean88]

pay the cheque in and it should take 5-7 working days. wait till the funds are available. Checking her funds doesnt guarantee the cheque would clear. She just have to wait for her goods, just on the safe side. Too much scam on ebay, so be careful. But mostly are seller that are dishonest, I saw a lot of fake good up for sale as real, very misleading. Goods not arriving, faulty...etc..on the news...

[Tim Baxter]

As I understand it, and I may be wrong, you can 'Transax' a cheque.  This is a commercial operation and will cost you a percentage but it guarantees payment within minutes.

[kempie]

Transax is run by Certegy and they effectively take the financial risk for you for a 1.5% commission.

They will authorise (or not) the cheque based on the payer's history of not bouncing cheques. Once authorisation is given the money is yours.

If the payer defaults worry not that Transax will lose their money - they will send the heavies round... sorry, meant to say they are a debt recovery agency.

[MargeB]

That's pretty good value, I would say. Lots of people need the money faster than the banks' current joke.

[stevie21]

Lots of such policies at the bank are painfully slow but, as I've said before, without such cumbersome methods which take a minimum of 3 working days, the UK would suffer infinitely more fraud losses than it currently does.
Banks would be out of pocket MUCH more than they currently are and they'd pass the cost of this onto you and me. I can't emphasise this enough, they would lose loads more money.

This is possibly the main reason for sticking with current (outdated) methods of transacting. Well, that and the cost of devising and implementing new ones.

[forestertwo]

Thanks for all those replies!!  I'm now much more educated in the world of banking, have contacted the buyer and told her she'll have to wait unless she wants to send me postal orders.  Thanks again :)