Zelle

Got someone who wants to purchase my car. They are planning to pay with cashier's check. Says "we can go to my bank to verify". I know there is a possibility of cashier's check's being bad paper. I am thinking Zelle is a good option. Any other thoughts besides cash exchange?

When I bought my 911 the seller and I went to my bank. The bank officer presented the cashier/certified check to me. I signed it, turned it over to the seller, filled out the required states sales document, bank officer notarized it and seller handed me the title. No question that the check was real. I have no idea what "Zelle" is!

You are safe if the buyer’s check is drawn from the same bank you go to for verification. Also, if it is a valid cashiers check the buyer will have a paper trail showing the account the funds were drawn from, and a receipt for the check. Ask to see those documents if you are concerned.

I forgot to add: there are some real concerns with Zelle https://www.nbcnews.com/business/con...-scam-n1015736

Great info thx. BTW I have used Zelle for other transactions. It is pretty good, very efficient and supposes to be safer. Zelle cannot be used internationally. Read the link and that is really good information to know. Caveat emptor as always

If you establish that the bank actually issued its cashier's check, the paper trail on which it relied should be irrelevant.

I�m guessing Zelle has limits? I did a bank wire for a $30 cost when I bought my car. Easy. I called my bank after to confirm.

If you're skeeved - offer to pay the wire fee? Cheap insurance.

If using zelle the person can put a claim on it and have the money taken back. Same as a wire transfer. The safest was is to go to the persons bank branch of your choice and have them generate the check in front of you and take it to your bank if you do not bank at the same bank. There is no way for the person to reverse that transaction.

A cashiers check can be reversed as long as the receiving bank member has not moved the funds a second time. If the bank check goes from Chase bank to B of A, and the Chase bank wants it back, there is a period of time when it can be reversed. (that's why there are funds avail wait even on a bank check). Believe it or not, I went to buy a plane from out of state. The seller agreed to take a cashiers check, right up until I got there to take the plane. Then, he wanted cash. We spent a full day going from bank branch, to bank branch pulling cash out of my acct. I was pretty pissed. Zelle requires a person to provide an SSN for large amounts(and maybe now for any amount) There is just NO WAY I'm giving zelle or any other online service my SSN. Just, no, way. But - that's my problem. For now, large purchases by me are done at a bank, with a bank officer. If it's cash, then we do cash, if it's a bank check, then the bank officer generates it, and I give it to them. Would be rare for my bank to take it back when I stood in the bank officer ofc and told him I wanted it drawn.

I worked on making online payments software for a few years. There is no reason to fear Zelle, PayPal, or Venmo. In general, they are some of the safest ways to transact, as there is a lot of fraud monitoring built in to the networks, along with strong incentives and ability for the companies that run them to reverse bad transactions. That being said, they really aren�t designed for purchases over $10k, and if you don�t have a history of large purchases, you�re going to immediately get frozen by their fraud monitoring for multi-thousand dollar payments even below $10k. Wire transfers are attractive to sellers but are a terrible risk for buyers. They are essentially a money cannon, and once you fire it off, there is no way for your bank to undo the transaction. If you accidentally key in the wrong account number, the money may be gone forever. For that reason, some banks will try to talk their customers out of sending them. The best protection for both parties is to meet at the purchaser�s bank, so the seller can get a cashier�s check directly from the bank employee. As a plus, most banks will have a notary for the exchange. If you can�t meet at the seller�s bank due to geography, you can still transact safely at the seller�s bank. Just have the buyer get a certified check from their bank, and then have the seller�s bank call the issuing bank to confirm the cashier�s check is legitimate. If your bank can�t verify the check, don�t do the transaction.

Good to know Doc. It sounds like every payment type has a small flaw. Some larger than the other. I guess it would be safe to say if you have reservations about a person then don’t do it even know they have what you’ve been looking for for years on end. It truly sucks being the seller as the buyer is usually protected a lot more when it should be equal.

When I sold my Boxster a few months ago, the purchaser, older gentleman in AK, did a wire transfer. so at one point I had the money, the car and the title....something I NEVER would have done.... Worked out, he tells me he is happy with the car.... When I bought my BMW Touring 2 years ago (later model ones are rare, from a dealer in UTAH) I had a contract, wired the money and they arranged to ship the car to me in Fort Lauderdale, I had NEVER bought a car "sight unseen" before....turned out nicer than described and nicer than what I could see in the pictures... So that's my story...

When I bought mine I showed up with a bunch of 100 Bills. I told him I was only coming for a test drive and if I liked it I would come back another day to finalize the transaction. After we test drove it, went over all maintenance records and chatted for a while I said "I actually showed up with X amount, you take it now or I leave and I won't be back" He took it... Just recently bought a boat in Florida. I went down, went through the same scenario except I didn't bring cash. I feel that cost me money on the deal but it is what it is. We arranged for me to go back and pick it up, we met at Bank Of America, sat with the notary, he signed the title to me, we went to the teller and I transferred the money from my BOA account to his. Both were very simple transactions.