A bank draft question

PenguinForce

Hi,

I plan to get a bank draft from AIB to purchase a car from a dealer.

I've never used bank draft before. So I got some questions which might be really silly.

Do I need the exact name of the dealer ship or it won't work?

Could anyone just lodge the amount if they have the bank draft? I guess this kind of tied to the first question.

Does the money go straight out of my bank as soon as I have the bank draft?

Thanks

phormium

Yes you need pretty much the exact name as it will need to be lodged to their bank account so best to ask them who they want the draft made out to.

The money leaves your account instantly as you are effectively buying a cheque same as buying a postal order.

Garage might prefer a bank transfer, cheaper for you as there is a charge for bank draft (varies between banks) plus instantly cleared funds from their side.

dotsman

Yes, you should have the correct name, but that would be an issue on the dealer's side when they go to cash it.

Can anyone lodge it? Technically - yes, a fraudulent person wouldn't need to be a criminal genius to do so. Ultimately, it is just cash in a different, cleaner format.

Yes, the money comes out of you account immediately. You are purchasing the draft (similar to purchasing dollars/sterling etc).

Does the dealer not accept EFT or other method of payment? At least that offers you some protection, while also more convenient for the dealer.

coylemj

EFT may or may not be an option - it's not necessarily more convenient for either party. For example, BoI now imposes a limit of €1,000 for an EFT within the first 48 hours after you add a payee to your 365online profile. So the OP would have to wait two days, then transfer the money. Which could take two days to reach the dealer. if the OP has an EBS Money Manager account and the money for the car is in a savings account, you'd be subject to the daily limit of €5,000 for all transfers, which includes transfers between your accounts. So if the car is costing €15,000, you'd need three days to move the money from a savings account to the MM account, then three additional days to transfer the money to the dealer.

So a bit of research would be required before going the EFT route. I'd say the dealer will accept a draft, it's a much smoother transaction. Risk on the dealer side is that it's a forgery, on the OP's side it's that he loses the draft before he hands it to the dealer but with the garage named as payee, that should not involved any monetary loss.

Henry Ford III

Drafts can be easily verified. The seller needs to simply call the issuing bank and give them the details - draft no, amount, payee and date.

The bank will confirm whether it's ok, or not.

PenguinForce

I'm with AIB so I can't do an online transaction for the price of the car. I think I would need to go into branch or maybe phone. But yeah the potential delay is the main reason I'm going with a bank draft.

Also this is really silly question. If I have like 100k in my bank. I can literally walk in and get a bank draft for that much and no question will be asked and they will give it to you on the spot?

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058230271/a-bank-draft-question

It depends if there are restrictions on the account where you have the money for a start. So accounts require prior notification others have maximum withdrawal limits etc… and some have no restrictions.

PenguinForce

Got the bank draft today from AIB. The process was slightly different to what I was expecting. Took about an hour with mostly waiting and the long queue.

I thought I only needed debit card and photo ID. But I needed to fill in my bank account number, sort code, and branch code. Then the branch need to contact the account holding branch to confirm my signature so they told me to take a seat and wait cos they can't see it on their system or something. I wasn't asked to use my debit card once.

I'm not sure if it's because the person was new or this is normal. I did overheard one of staff saying if they have photo ID it should be fine.

Henry Ford III

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118561076#Comment_118561076

It's your money so you can do whatever you like with it.

Posy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118565430#Comment_118565430

You can only use chip and pin for smaller amounts. For larger amounts (over 10k I think) you need photo ID and signature verification, because it's above the card limit. A draft for 5 or 6 grand though, would just be debit card only.

PenguinForce

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118568525#Comment_118568525

Ah ok thanks. That's good to know. I actually asked AIB before I went and they said bring photo ID and debit card but debit card was never asked.