Bankers Draft

Colonel Mustard Image
07/22/2010 - 19:18

The last time I sold a car in the UK to a private individual who was unknown to me, I insisted on being paid with a bankers draft instead of a personal cheque. You cannot be too careful when reasonable amounts of money are involved. When we bought our Italian home we paid the vendor, Notaio and agency all by bankers draft (assegno circolare) from our Italian Bank. We considered it business-like and, at least, good manners. Having recently bought a newer model from an Italian dealer that was unwilling to pay a realistic price for our old car we found a chap, unknown to us, willing to pay a fair price. While I have asked him for a bankers draft he claims that the type of cheque he intends to pay us with, from his Banco Posta account is the same as, & as secure as, an assegno circolare. A bankers draft or assegno circolare is, in fact, a cashiers cheque, signed by a bank employee & guaranteed by the bank. His cheque will apparently have only his signature on it so I am reluctant to accept it. Can anyone with a Banco Posta account throw any light on this? Does Banca Posta issue bankers drafts? If so, what do they call them & where will I find (presumably on-line) an example of one. My Italian is not marvelous yet, were I in Italy at the moment, I might try to extract some information from my own bank or even a Banco Posta. Regretfully, this is not the case & I need a rather quick reply.

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Hi, I don't have any specific information re Italy but I went into Bankers Drafts for receiving funds into a UK bsnk account via bankers draft a year o so ago and nakers drafts are not safe and can be rescinded by the issuing bank. Much safer is electronic funds transfer. Once in your account the money cannot be reclaimed, accrding to First Direct bank, whereas a bankers draft can be cancelled if there were no funds behind it. Hope that helps, David

in the uk going into an unauthorised overdraft is seen as a valid income line for most banks. In Italy going into an un-authorised o/d is illegal and going to get you in deep water. Chances are if someone issues a cheque the bank will probably honour it (unless its for a bonkers amount) but then send the local gendarmes around to collect the debt. You still have to be wary of stolen chq books etc. re bankers draft, they are drawn against the issuing bank, not the person, generally if you want a draft you have to put up the cash first unless your bank has agreed a limit with you. Totally agree with the point about electronic funds transfer.