certified funds

[AestheticDeath]

OK, call me stupid - but I have never dealt with certified funds.

Have a guy saying he will pay me with certified funds once he gets my address.

But what exactly are they? How do they work, and can I be scammed through someone using them?

[Sean of the Thread]

psinet steals your certified funds.

[Stanley Burrell]

Just pay off like ten credit cards with another and flee the country with a gigantic loan like everyone else.

[Stanley Burrell]

psinet steals your certified funds.

QFT.

[AestheticDeath]

I can feel the love, you guys are so helpful!

[Seran]

Essentially certified funds are a payment method gauranteed by a bank or other institution such as a cashier's check, or money order where money is typically held or paid up front to ensure it will clear.

A normal check, and in some instances credit cards are unsecured because they can stopped, or reversed in the latter instance.

Most places will cash a money order or certified check without holding funds, whereas a bank will typically hold a personal or business check for several days to gaurantee it will clear.

[AestheticDeath]

So it is a MO or something, gotcha.

[Gan]

Stick with a cashier's check or a wire for certified funds. Money orders can be shaky. If you go with a money order - only go with those drawn up by the US Postal Service (money orders are easier to forge/counterfeit).

[AestheticDeath]

cashiers check is from a bank? and I have to give him my bank account number or something for wire transfer right?

[Gan]

If you're sending him money - he needs to give you the destination account number. You send him nothing except the wire.

If its certified check - you get that from the bank... money is withdrawn from your account by the bank and then check is drafted directly from bank's primary account (not your personal account). You are the remitter but the check is backed by bank funds - not by your account (which might or might not be good (positive balanced)).

[Sean of the Thread]

Money orders are great imo.... especially WU or USPS. Just cash them... the money is in your hands. Kind of hard to take it out of your hands aftr that.

[AestheticDeath]

He is sending me money

[Gan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_order

[AestheticDeath]

Yeah I know what an MO is, just the term certified funds can cover a lot of different things, that linked me to cashiers checks though.

And it still doesn't make sense that they can cash it, then take the money back later.

[Sylvan Dreams]

A cerified check. It's like a bank-issued money order.

[The Ponzzz]

basically, the money is there, it won't bounce, it's better than a money order. However, if he's sending the money via the mail, you still have to worry about that. If he is wiring the money, then well, as Gan said. When dealing with online sales, I would never do it that way. Paypal or bust.

[AestheticDeath]

Except I am not sure I can do paypal. This is for the dirt bike my friend was selling. The bike is pick up only, how would I prove to paypal it was picked up/delivered?

AND, his paypal is unverified, only a confirmed shipping address.

I have my paypal set up so only verified people with confirmed shipping address can pay me, yet ebay/paypal allowed his deposit through even though he is not verified. Still wondering about that and kinda pissed.

[The Ponzzz]

Yea, I dunno man.

[diethx]

Um, just get a receipt? Make out one copy for you and one copy for him, and put on them - this is to acknowledge transfer of ownership of ... from so and so to so and so, sold as is, for the purchase price of ..., blah blah. It was delivered and accepted in person by the purchasing party on such and such date, etc etc. Then have you both sign, date, and print your names on each one. Just like when you sell a used car to someone local.

Edit: Then, if he tries to pull shit with PayPal, offer up a faxed or mailed copy of the receipt.

[Sylvan Dreams]

If he is picking up the bike, why can't he just pay you in cash or cashier's check when he comes to pick it up?

[AestheticDeath]

I dunno, he hasnt even responded to my emails so far. He paid $200 up front through paypal, and sent me an email asking for my address. HAven't heard from him since.

[Miscast]

Has anyone ever tried transfering money via online payment systems from a bank account in one country to an account in another?

[Skeeter]

Yes, that's how you have to do it now to gamble online.

[Gan]

Yeah I know what an MO is, just the term certified funds can cover a lot of different things, that linked me to cashiers checks though.

And it still doesn't make sense that they can cash it, then take the money back later.
From the Wiki site.


Drawbacks of money orders
Money orders have limited acceptance in the insurance and brokerage industry because of concerns over money laundering. Because of provisions within the USA Patriot Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA_Patriot_Act) and the Bank Secrecy Act (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Secrecy_Act), money orders require far more regulatory processing requirements than personal checks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_check), cashier’s checks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashier%27s_check), or certified checks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certified_check). Thus, most brokerage firms, insurance firms, and even many banks will not accept them as payment.

As of 2006 there has been a significant increase in counterfeit postal money orders. Often, such a counterfeit will be sent to an unwitting victim who is instructed, on some pretext, to deposit it at his/her bank and return some of the funds. The victim is more likely to trust an “official” money order than a regular check, for the reasons given above. However, because money orders are paid through the postal service rather than the usual check clearing system, they often take longer to “bounce” than an ordinary check. When this finally occurs it is charged back to the victim, who may already have sent back the funds [or delivered/exchanged items purchased], for which he or she must take the loss. For this reason banks are now applying increased security to incoming money orders, and are becoming more reluctant to accept them. A safer approach is to cash them at a post office. In this case, the authenticity of the item is immediately determined, and if deemed good, the holder is paid and absolved of further responsibility for the funds.

[diethx]

From the Wiki site.

Easy way to avoid shit like that, is to take it to your post office and cash it. If they say it's fake and won't cash it, don't transfer the item. Forget trying to deposit it in your bank account, it's a total waste of time.