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A certified cheque, in order to buy a house or secure a large purchase. Using a virtual bank, I would be able to request one, and have it mailed... the entire

A certified cheque, in order to buy a house or secure a large purchase. Using a virtual bank, I would be able to request one, and have it mailed... the entire time it's being mailed, I would be on pins and needles, because that certified cheque is literally cash, and that cash is no longer in my account. Should it get lost, you are SOL.

slang800 4y ago
Use a wire transfer. It's faster than mailing a cheque and only costs like $20.
- ricardobayes 4y ago
  In my neck of the woods wires when buying property are so uncommon my lawyer told me I was the second one ever in her twenty-year practice to do so.
  - s1artibartfast 4y ago
    That's funny, I made 5 wires into escrow during my purchase
  - the_only_law 4y ago
    An old coworker of mine once sold some property to a guy who paid in cash. I would be terribly paranoid the entire day.
- giomasce 4y ago
  Twenty dollars for a transfer? I think my bank is expensive because I pay transfers 0.25 euro...
s1artibartfast 4y ago
It isn't literally cash, and you aren't sol. You can cancel a certified check, and only the recipient can cash it.
toomuchtodo 4y ago
I ramble on about this frequently on HN [1], but the Fed's FedNow instant payment service is going live next year. Initially, $25k will be the limit for value transfer, quickly moving to $100k, and finally supporting up to $500k under certain circumstances. Anything else and you're using FedWire (which tops out around $50M per wire transfer). This should eliminate the need for certified checks and money orders over time, and the fraud that goes with them (although fraud controls around instant payments will still be a risk to be mitigated and accepted in various quantities; the first release of FedNow will supposedly have fraud prevention tooling available to system participants). [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31530010 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31530010
snotrockets 4y ago
Every modern financial system that isn't designed for fraud has an undo mechanism in it. Some are harder to trigger than others, but nothing is lost.
wharfjumper 4y ago
What country are you referring to? Surely there are hardly any countries where use of a cheque/check is common for any purpose?
- JonChesterfield 4y ago
  This level of financial insanity usually means the US
gabrielhidasy 4y ago
But that's just a terrible financial system, in Brazil you would just wire that money, possibly with a call to your manager to ensure the transaction is ok. But even if you want to use a literal antique like a cheque, you should be able to specify who will be able to cash it out and the money should not leave your account before that is done. (last time I got a cheque was 2 decades ago as an already semi-dead payment method)

slang800 4y ago

Use a wire transfer. It's faster than mailing a cheque and only costs like $20.

ricardobayes 4y ago
In my neck of the woods wires when buying property are so uncommon my lawyer told me I was the second one ever in her twenty-year practice to do so.
- s1artibartfast 4y ago
  That's funny, I made 5 wires into escrow during my purchase
- the_only_law 4y ago
  An old coworker of mine once sold some property to a guy who paid in cash. I would be terribly paranoid the entire day.
giomasce 4y ago
Twenty dollars for a transfer? I think my bank is expensive because I pay transfers 0.25 euro...

s1artibartfast 4y ago

It isn't literally cash, and you aren't sol. You can cancel a certified check, and only the recipient can cash it.

toomuchtodo 4y ago

I ramble on about this frequently on HN [1], but the Fed's FedNow instant payment service is going live next year. Initially, $25k will be the limit for value transfer, quickly moving to $100k, and finally supporting up to $500k under certain circumstances. Anything else and you're using FedWire (which tops out around $50M per wire transfer). This should eliminate the need for certified checks and money orders over time, and the fraud that goes with them (although fraud controls around instant payments will still be a risk to be mitigated and accepted in various quantities; the first release of FedNow will supposedly have fraud prevention tooling available to system participants). [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31530010 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31530010

snotrockets 4y ago

Every modern financial system that isn't designed for fraud has an undo mechanism in it. Some are harder to trigger than others, but nothing is lost.

wharfjumper 4y ago

What country are you referring to? Surely there are hardly any countries where use of a cheque/check is common for any purpose?

JonChesterfield 4y ago
This level of financial insanity usually means the US

gabrielhidasy 4y ago

But that's just a terrible financial system, in Brazil you would just wire that money, possibly with a call to your manager to ensure the transaction is ok. But even if you want to use a literal antique like a cheque, you should be able to specify who will be able to cash it out and the money should not leave your account before that is done. (last time I got a cheque was 2 decades ago as an already semi-dead payment method)