Best Way to Make a Payment When Buying a Boat?

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Baddox

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I’m buying a boat privately without a broker and have paid a 10% deposit by bank transfer.

Now I need to arrange the final payment and am looking for advice on how to do this.

The payment is too large to be sent in one go via my online bank transfer and I don’t plan on involving a 3rd party such as via broker or Escrow.

The seller is very trusting (naïve?) and would probably accept a cheque from me. However, if I were the one receiving the money, I’d be a little concerned about this and would prefer a more guaranteed means of payment. What alternatives are there that can be done on the day? If we walk into a branch of my bank to draw a cheque is that more secure, or could they organise a CHAPS payment over the counter?
 
A rubber cheque, the boat won't cost you anything. It's what happened to my terminally ill father when he sold his boat.
 
Baddox said:
I’m buying a boat privately without a broker and have paid a 10% deposit by bank transfer.

Now I need to arrange the final payment and am looking for advice on how to do this.

The payment is too large to be sent in one go via my online bank transfer and I don’t plan on involving a 3rd party such as via broker or Escrow.

The seller is very trusting (naïve?) and would probably accept a cheque from me. However, if I were the one receiving the money, I’d be a little concerned about this and would prefer a more guaranteed means of payment. What alternatives are there that can be done on the day? If we walk into a branch of my bank to draw a cheque is that more secure, or could they organise a CHAPS payment over the counter?
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I had this issue when paying for a car once. You can break the payment into chunks that fall within the rules, and pay them on successive days.
 
Gladys said:
I had this issue when paying for a car once. You can break the payment into chunks that fall within the rules, and pay them on successive days.
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That's what I did, but there was a broker in the chain. Banker's draft seems like the most secure method from the POV of the seller; your bank will charge a small fee (around £20) to issue you one, but once issued they are as good as cash.
 
Gladys said:
I had this issue when paying for a car once. You can break the payment into chunks that fall within the rules, and pay them on successive days.
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And if the vendor disappears after you've made the first payment?

CHAPS is the best solution. You will need to speak to your bank in advance to confirm timescales / cutoffs / processes and remember it's only same day. They can not guarantee the time it will arrive.

I would arrange to meet at a branch of your bank - near the boat before lunch - give the CHAPS instruction and ensure the vendor sees that the instruction is going to his ( or her) account details. you are then going to need to kill time for potentially 4-5 hours. That is a good opportunity for the two of you to go over the boat and for him to hand over, walking you through all the foibles. After about 3 hour it should be fine for him to ring his bank. He must ask to confirm receipt of a CHAPS payment as although it may have been received, it may not have been processed to show as cleared funds in his account. The balance may therefore be inaccurate for the operator on the phone.
 
Remember the days before banking went self service? It was always a Banker's Draft or Building Society Cheque.

As a seller I was on two occasions happy to accept Building Society Cheques for the balance. It used to be that Building Societies didn't charge for writing a cheque to a third party, whereas the "proper banks" charged for drafts.

I don't know if that's still the same, now there's less difference between BSs and other banks, but I'd think it probably is. (i.e. I think if you have (or put) the funds in a BS account that supports over the counter withdrawals, you will be able to go in and walk out with a cheque drawn to your seller with no fuss and without paying anything)
 
AntarcticPilot said:
That's what I did, but there was a broker in the chain. Banker's draft seems like the most secure method from the POV of the seller; your bank will charge a small fee (around £20) to issue you one, but once issued they are as good as cash.
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Take care if receiving a bankers draft or building society cheque.

Whilst a genuine one is as good as cash - do you receive enough drafts from different banks to know a fake from a genuine one? If you do recognise a genuine one, can you tell which one may have come from a stolen draft book and which was actually issued by the bank?

You used to be able to ring a bank and ask for confirmation of a draft - they would confirm that they had written a draft for a certain amount to a certain payee but i'm not sure if that service is still available. One to check with your own bank.

Also bear in mind that a draft is still technically a cheque and will have to go through clearing. It is dissimilar in that it can't be returned RD or RDPR but CAN be sent back for technical reasons. So whilst a draft is secure - you will still need to wait several days for your money.

Where possible, get a CHAPS payments- Don't mess around with 19th century money transmission channels.
 
Went in to the branch (BoS) asked them to transfer balance of purchase to brokers account, clerk said the amount being transferred (about £35k) would incur a charge so recommended splitting it into two equal transfers, agreed to that, signed two forms, all the money was transferred that afternoon.
 
For larger values CHAPS payment is the most secure for the recipient, gives immediate value. So certainly what you want as a seller.

Ignore suggestions about bankers drafts etc. From a previous era

As a buyer, just make sure you have as much security over getting title and possession of the boat in return
 
Quandary said:
Went in to the branch (BoS) asked them to transfer balance of purchase to brokers account, clerk said the amount being transferred (about £35k) would incur a charge so recommended splitting it into two equal transfers, agreed to that, signed two forms, all the money was transferred that afternoon.
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That was using Faster Payments - similar to CHAPS but subject to lower value limits (vary by Bank but often max £20k, hence why they split it). Most internet banking capabilities allow us to make these payments directly without visiting a branch.
 
Used Transferwise for when I bought the current boat. Could transfer all the money into their account in stages and when the correct amount was there it could be transferred to the relevant account. With Nationwide, my own Bank Account, if I remember it was a 10,000 limit on each transfer but could transfer another 10,000 immediately so all done within 20 minutes. Very easy and very good rates.
 
Can't recall how I paid for my boat but my brother paid for his by bank transfer (CHAPS). He arranged it in branch before the funds from his house sale hit the bank: as soon as the funds arrived in his account, the bank transferred the money to the sellers account. The actual transfer took less than an hour IIRC. So the answer is talk to your bank about it.
 
dunedin said:
That was using Faster Payments - similar to CHAPS but subject to lower value limits (vary by Bank but often max £20k, hence why they split it). Most internet banking capabilities allow us to make these payments directly without visiting a branch.
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My RBS Internet Banking is limited to £20,000 per transaction, which may reflect a background limit with faster payments. When I recently had to send a lot more than that I used CHAPS. It cost me £20, but got to the destination (Barclays) in around half an hour.

In these days of fast and easily verifiable payments there really is no need to involve a broker in the transfer of money, even if one is doing the sale paperwork for you.
 
Go to your own bank with their details Name, Account Number, Sort Code and pay direct into their account.
Will clear and be abailable to them in a couple of hours.
Paid for the Longbow that way

Never Ever Give Out Your Security Card Code To Anyone (Three Numbers On The Back) especially if someone wants to pay you they dont ever need it to pay you!!!!
 
thesaintlyone said:
Go to your own bank with their details Name, Account Number, Sort Code and pay direct into their account.
Will clear and be abailable to them in a couple of hours.
Paid for the Longbow that way

Never Ever Give Out Your Security Card Code To Anyone (Three Numbers On The Back) especially if someone wants to pay you they dont ever need it to pay you!!!!
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That will be a CHAPS or Faster payment if sent electronically.
 
CHAPS is the best way - your local bank branch should be able to arrange that for you.

Tends to take a couple of hours to go through so arrange it in the morning to ensure it is transferred on the same day. I think you will probably be charged for the process too.
 
jac said:
Whilst cash is secure payment - do you really want to walk round town with tens of thousands of pounds. If some low level scrote mugs you, at best you will lose 10's of thousands of £. At worst, you will be badly hurt and maybe killed.
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The trick is not to advertise the fact and dont tell anyone your doing it. Just take it in a unnasuming bag and go straight to the bank parking in public areas not some shabby backstreet. And dont leave it in the car unnatended as that will be the day a car theif gets more than he bargained for
 
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