A curiosity question

[lrrifleman]

I was wondering about high finance cash purchases. As a footnote, the most expensive item I ever purchased paying cash was my first truck, a 1974 Chevrolet C10 ... 33 $100 bills fresh from my savings account!

Today, if a person were to purchase an item, paying "cash", and the item is in the 5 or 6 digit price range, would they use a certified or cashier's check? Would either of these "checks" have a top end limit?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Onomea]

I think it would depend on which the customer wants to receive.

The certified check is one drawn on your bank account that you sign and the bank then puts a hold on that amount in your account until it clears. With a cashiers check, you transfer the cash to the bank, and the bank writes the check.

I've used both, the certified for purchasing firearms, and the cashiers for purchasing a house. (With the house, for whatever reason escrow called for a cashiers check rather than just wiring the money to them.)

Here's a write up, although nothing about limits: Cashier's Check vs Certified Check: What's the Difference? | KeyBank

Common sense tells me that a certified check would be limited by the amount in the bank account you are writing the check against, and a cashiers check by how much money you transfer to the bank for that purpose.

 

[Sandman4delta]

I once drove to another state to purchase a classic car.
I took 20,000 in C-notes with me.
Having the cash on hand to deal was definitely critical to my
success at haggling down the price and saving almost 5k.
Of course a multi-state drive with large $$$ needs the perfect ride-along partners...Model 19 2 1/2 and 36 backup.

The RV was a certified check.

In my experience, it seemed that the only time I used cashier's checks were when financing and the bank issues the check.
Car loan, Mortgage, etc.
Of course now that stuff usually goes by wire transfer.

 

[Muss Muggins]

I was wondering about high finance cash purchases. As a footnote, the most expensive item I ever purchased paying cash was my first truck, a 1974 Chevrolet C10 ... 33 $100 bills fresh from my savings account!

Today, if a person were to purchase an item, paying "cash", and the item is in the 5 or 6 digit price range, would they use a certified or cashier's check? Would either of these "checks" have a top end limit?

Thanks for your help!

I wrote a personal check last year for a new 2020 vehicle . . .

(Edit: It cleared . . . )

 

[Dave_n]

Never had a problem paying with my own check drawn on a local bank, Five digits without any problem, Mazda MX5 and a recent Subaru Impreza Sport. Dave_n

 

[Bekeart]

September - Bought a house - Paid with a Cashiers Check.
October - Sold 25 acres - Received a Cashiers Check

 

[GypsmJim]

In recent years I bought a car and a boat with a personal check. Beforehand I deposited the amount in my checking account. Both dealers didn't bat an eyelash...

I DID clear it with the dealers ahead of time.

 

[Onomea]

Never had a problem paying with my own check drawn on a local bank, Five digits without any problem, Mazda MX5 and a recent Subaru Impreza Sport. Dave_n

Yes, car dealers accept personal checks routinely.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

For those who have not yet experienced such things, there are plenty of forgeries moving around these days. Cashiers checks, certified checks, money orders (including USPS and others). Caution remains the best policy.

Fortunately, the financial markets move at close to the speed of light today. Clearance of checks used to take days or weeks as the documents moved through the reserve bank system, but today the funds can be available in a matter of minutes (during business hours). Likewise, questionable transactions can be stopped pending final clearance very quickly.

I'm sure there are scammers looking for new ways to rip people off every day.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Today, if a person were to purchase an item, paying "cash", and the item is in the 5 or 6 digit price range, would they use a certified or cashier's check?

Or sometimes just a big pile of plain old greenbacks.

 

[SMSgt]

I just use my no-fee CC that pays me cash back, and then pay off the balance when due. CC company pays me to spend its money.

 

[Robspeire]

All's I can say is "Cash is king" & it has always worked for me .
Coming & going.

 

[Smithboomer]

Last summer I took $6000 in cash to buy a used golf cart out-of-state.
The seller ended up taking my personal check.

 

[Old Arkansawyer]

One possible problem with traveling while in procession of large
amounts of cash is some over zealous LEO can claim it is drug
money and take it from you. You then have to prove it is not
drug related and wait a period of time for your moneys return.
It happens quite often in this area. It is not right but it happens.

 

[wood714]

For those who have not yet experienced such things, there are plenty of forgeries moving around these days. Cashiers checks, certified checks, money orders (including USPS and others). Caution remains the best policy.

I was selling a lot of stuff a couple years ago and was receiving a good amount of cash. Lady at the gas station showed me a fake 20 dollar bill. It was the right paper, ink color and even had the magnetic strip in it. I bought a few of those pens you can test cash with after that.

I traded in my Jeep and put $10K in cash down when I bought my 2018 Tacoma. Loan dude looked at me like I was nuts, said everyone used a check. He had to get 2 other people from the dealership to count it before finishing the paper work.

 

[TX-Dennis]

I purchased my most recent vehicle with a personal check. No issues, although I imagine they called the bank to make sure it would clear before they gave me the keys.

 

[hsguy]

I just use my no-fee CC that pays me cash back, and then pay off the balance when due. CC company pays me to spend its money.

The only issue with that is the seller may limit the amount they will accept as it costs them money. The last car I bought I was limited to $10,000 by them on my credit card for the purchase so I just wrote a check to keep it simple.

 

[Sevens]

The NEXT problem with the credit card is that the CC companies are dinging the merchants for 3-5% and that really stinks. I am bummed when they want to pass that fee on to me but I understand why they are forced in to this position.

I’d love to see the credit card companies survive only on the absolute BLEEDING of the fools who keep a balance… and there are millions of those fools.

 

[Golddollar]

Yes, car dealers accept personal checks routinely.

When I bought one of the Batmobiles, I had been saving a lot of cash to try to reduce the debt. So when I went to pay for the car I pulled $1400 in $20 bills and several hundred dollars worth of Golden Dollars from a bank bag. The Golden Dollars were all in wrappers but the cashier about had a cow because she said she would have to unwrap and count all of them. She said to just write a check.

 

[Golddollar]

Or sometimes just a big pile of plain old greenbacks.

Or a big stack of Golden Dollars. One time at the local Lincoln dealership I have a big repair bill that I didn't want to put on a credit card. I had a substantial number of Golden Dollars in wrappers that I used to help pay my bill. I figured it wouldn't be an inconvenience since the dealership could take them to the bank in the wrapper. Some people thought I was a little nuts for doing that, but the manager of the dealership said to me I could pay for anything there with Golden Dollars any time I wanted.

 

[Ole Joe Clark]

Sometimes you see funny videos about bumbling crooks trying to rob a bank or an individual and just can't do anything right.

If I had a video of me and our Pastor trying to put a large amount of cash in the bank night deposit after hours, we might have gotten a million hits on it. The church sold a van to a guy for about 8 grand, and he paid in cash. Since I was handy, the Pastor called me to ride shotgun and be a witness to all the counting and recounting before the deposit.

After the deal was done and all that remained was getting the money safely in the bank, the fun started.
Neither of us had made a night deposit in years, when we had, it was just a check or something small. But, in this case the deposit bag was bulging with paper money and it wouldn't go through the door of the night deposit window. We tried a couple of times to force the bag through the opening, no luck. During this time, we had to bail out a couple of times to allow folks waiting in line to make their deposit. We finally figured out what the key attached to the bag, and the keyhole in the wall was for, to open the deposit window further, to accept larger bags. During all of this, there is a camera just above the window recording all of our bumblings.

We laugh about it now, but it wasn't funny then. My blood pressure, and his, was probably through the roof. We weren't trying to take care of our money, it's was God's.

We never heard from the bank, or anybody making jokes about the two guys trying to break into the bank to leave money. But, I could hardly wait until the next morning for the MBH to check the account on line to make sure the money was safely in the church account.

Have a blessed day,

Leon

 

[The Big D]

I recently ordered a rather expensive car…

…via a dealership 110 miles from my home. Paperwork, except for payment, was completed in person 11 days before actual delivery of the car.

The car was a delivered at a location far from the dealership so to avoid another trip a wire transfer securely conveyed the ‘cash’ directly to the dealership. A very easy and very secure process.

Hope this is useful.

Be safe.

 

[H Richard]

The biggest personal check I wrote was the final payment on my Condo when it was finished. Something over $160,000. They had no problem with a personal check.

 

[mmb617]

My son and I once drove to a dealer a couple hours from home to test drive a vehicle which I then decided to buy. As we were filling out the paperwork the salesman said I'd have to come back on Monday to pick it up as the bank wasn't open on Saturday to verify a check. I told him I had cash and asked if that was a problem. He was surprised but I drove the vehicle home that day.

 

[old bear]

Now that we have had the expected thread drift. It is my turn.

Over the last 3 years I have had to have some extensive dental surgery performed. Every time I got the price then returned with a big stack of $100.00 bills. It is amazing how people’s eyes light up when you start dropping C-Notes on their desk. All three times I received a “nice” cash discount.

 

[gregintenn]

I’ll pay with cash or a personal check unless the seller prefers something else. If they demand a postal money order, I usually decline unless it’s something I really want badly. I just detest going to the post office.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

Most places that sell big ticket items have the "Reader" that scans your check. Before you walked out of the building your check had cleared!

18 months ago, when I bought my pick up, I transferred money into my personal checking account, on the way to the dealer ship. When I handed them the check I told them I had just transferred the money, they went to the cashiers booth and ran the check, and it cleared. (I Doubt I would have driven the new truck away if it hadn't cleared!)

Ivan