On Full Fat RR today someone asked if it was safe to sell a car with a bank transfer, the short answer is no. One of the most common scams is when someone doesn’t wire money but instead deposits a check in another branch, or deposits an echeck those both can later bounce. In fact you can withdraw the whole amount and put it into another account, but if it’s a bad check you will be responsible to repay that even out of another account (in the USA).
The best way to do this is with a cashiers check at a bank. A wire transfer should be positively confirmed a wire transfer as they can electronic check can appear the same way.
Take-Aways:
- Keep the title, but release car, until the echeck, deposit to another branch, or “wire” clears or until you can positviely verify the transaction was a wire and not a deposit or e check.
- Internet escrow and wiring payment to pay for a car is almost always a scam.
- The more you can do at the bank the better, from meeting, cashing the check of the buyer (out of their account) and taking cash directly from bank, the better in my opinion.