There has been a lot of cashier's check fraud in recent years. But as others in this thread have said it's very easily preventable. All the seller has to do is call the issuing bank and they'll verify the check. That's it. Of course, never trust the phone number listed on the check itself. Look up the bank online, make sure it's a legitimate bank, and call them.

Cashier's checks are not subject to stop payments. The second you get the check issued, the money is taken out of your account. The only way to reverse it is to show up with the reciept and file a lost check report. There's a time window where they will make you wait (up to 30 days I believe) before they'll put the money back in your account. If the check is cashed during that hold and research window then the check wasn't lost and was spent by the party it was issued to.

The people who are scared of cashier's checks have watched too many episodes of Dateline and 60 Minutes.

 

Contrary to the other posts, Cashier's Checks CAN have stop payments placed on them. I have had a mid five figure Cashier's Check issued by Wells Fargo Bank cancelled by the bank after I received it from a vendor. Their reasoning was that the person whose account the check was drawn against used fraudulent funds in the form of a bad check to acquire it from them. The cashier's check was in their system and verified telephonically by their own branch manager; it was issued by/ drawn on them 100% and it was not a forgery. I too was under the impression that Cashier's Checks were as good as cash and not able to be cancelled. Simply put, that is not true.

Regards, TDK

 

i have used https://www.escrow.com/index.asp

very safe!!

 

Tdk, first I've heard of this. When I purchased, PNC was dead set on their bank checks needing to be cancelled by BOTH parties, buyer and seller (the seller of my 911 had voiced some initial concern) in order to be voided. The money went from my account, into theirs, cleared, then a check was issued from PNC to the seller. Wells Fargo's "oops, we didn't dot our i's and cross our T's" cancellation justification defense is BS, IMHO.

 

Cmer, that's just gangster. Too funny.

 

certified check?

 

Did the exact same thing as you for both my 911's, bought them off ebay and flew from Canada to US and just paid in cash as the dealer would not take anything else

 

Bank Drafts are bought and paid for..... confirm the Bank Draft is genuine and you are good to go..... however.... I prefer Wire Transfers.... no argument there....

 

I bot Pcar on Ebay, they provide up to $50k in lemon insurance if consummated on their platform, sent $1000 deposit via PayPal. Had seller deliver to local Pcar dealership for inspection, wired him the balance, and the dealer handled some minor service items and the pickup logistics in a closed trailer. Have repeated process 4 times now with variety of Ebay vehicles. Very easy and less headache than actually being there. Everybody is happy and covered.

 

cmer- that is awesome, but I wonder what would happen if they inspected your carryon and found the money, probably they would assume the worst.

 

Coming from Canada, I had to declare the money at customs when entering the USA. I had proof that I was buying a car so I doubt this would have been a problem.