American adults,

Could you please clarify that two weeks hold on cashiers chack is a normal practice. Never heard of this before, and here is the pm I received from one of the sellers on this site:
I'm going to check with my bank, but it will not happen till monday, probably, so I'm asking here.
Any advice is much appreciated.

 

Yes, because of all the Nigerian scams, many banks are requiring a hold time.

 

I thought cashiers check is as good as cash
Thank you.

 

ya but if its a REAL cashiers check

i get emails all the time from scams wanting to send me cashiers checks for my stuff... i just wont do it....


i use paypal almost all the time..... realy quick and easy to send money! just dont believe those paypal fraud emails saying security alert asking for your info! those are scams.... best thing to do is never follow a paypal link from a email!!!!!! always type it in www.paypal.com

 

here's a popular scam since the more people that know it mean the fewer people get screwed:

I was selling my wife's 98 Saturn for bluebook ($2700) on cars.com

I got a call from a guy in canada saying he'll buy the car. no haggling, no inspection.

He then explains that he runs a business and will have a driver come and pick up the car and sign paperwork.

I recieve a cashiers check for $5200

The guy calls me and says sorry, he messed up on the paperwork, but I could cash that check and just give the driver the extra money to take back.

(another variation is that he gave me the extra money to pay the driver for him)

Of course the cashiers check was fake, but luckily I had already called the bank that supposedly issued the check (NOT the phone number on the check!) so I was working with the police to nab the guy.

The scam works because everybody assumes that a cashiers check is verified the instant they hand it to their banker. The truth is, your bank will give you the money and then call you a week or two later and say "Sorry, your problem"

btw... the guy was too slippery, I couldn't get ANY information that would help the police.

 

Thanks, guys

 

IIRC from my bank teller years, banks will release the first $5,000 of a cashier's check immediately (that is, it's available the next business day). The rest has to go through the regular hold process based on its routing number. I've seen plenty of fake cashier's checks, and banks have to protect themselves from all the losses. Unfortunately, the customer is inconvenienced in the meantime.

 

yeah its totaly normal for the bank to hold the check

 

+1 /\

Also if a check is over 10,000 they hold it for a long time. I have had it happen twice that a check for 28K and a check for 108K have been held for almost a month. These were check writtien to me, and it sucked waiting. So yeah, bank are very careful when it comes to checks.