Building society cheques: How secure?

There was a time when a cashiers cheque at a BS was almost treated like cash when you paid it in. That isn't the case now. Insist on cash for that sum or if you can't walk the money to a bank easily, a CHAPS payment.

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see the cheque drawn at the b/soc itself, before handing over any keys!

Building society cheques are very safe. However, stolen or forged ones aren't. This also obviously applies to bank drafts. Go into the BS or bank with the cheque, person gets the money and hands it to you, you hand over keys.

In message , Drake writes

No.

These are more secure so long as it is a *real* bank draft drawn on its head office, not a cheque drawn on a branch.

Yes, so long as it isnt counterfeit.

Thanks to all for the replies. Yes, the above seems to make sense.

Drake

When I bought a car by BS cheque the dealer simply phoned the BS branch to confirm the cheque was genuine.

Why not? As long as you check with the BS that the cheque is genuine?

And don't forget to have your mate outside with a spare set of keys to drive away the car after you've got the money ;-)

In message , Andy Pandy writes

It doesnt prevent the cheque being bounced though.

In message , Andy Pandy writes

How does that prove the chap who gives it to you is the person the b/soc gave it to? If stolen a b/soc cheque will be stopped.

Because the cheque will be made payable to me.

It would be a pretty impressive crime for the buyer to steal a cheque which happens to be made payable to someone with the same name as me for exactly the right amount!

Nor does it prevent the bank/BS discovering a fraud >6months later and re-claiming the money from your account.

In message , snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk writes

This has only happened in cases of organised fraud and will not happen to a normal punter.

In message , Andy Pandy writes

I take your point. The underlying principle though is that a b/soc cheque can be stopped.

Unless the thief has changed the name to match yours, any check with the building society is unlikely to check the name, just the cheque number.

Its irelevant anyway, the APACS advise says don't accept cheques or bank drafts unless you totally trust the person giving it you.

"John Boyle" wrote

So if the dodgy car buyer was out to diddle you, he could simply get a genuine b/soc cheque (you could even be at the branch and see them hand it to him!), he could give you the genuine b/soc cheque, you could even check and discover that it is genuine, but then later (after he's driven off in your car!) he'd report it as stolen....

Ouch!

I think the concept of stolen BS checques referrs to the blanks.

A BS will not stop a genuine cheque written out to a third party only on the say so of the second party.

tim

In message , Tim writes

Potentially.

Yeah right - if he was that skilled a forger he'd put his talents to far better use than changing the name on stolen cheques, that could easily have been reported stolen before I check with the BS.

Yeah, and better never accept cash either because that might be forged.

I'd wager that far fewer people have lost money as a result of accepting a BS cheque verified with the BS. Large organisations are happy to take them, I've paid for very large purchases using BS cheques including a new car and large amounts in foreign currency. If big companies are happy to take them then the risk must be very low.