Personal checks are worth the value and honesty of the person who wrote them.
Certified checks are worth the value and honesty of the bank who issued them.
Both can be faked and there is no way to know that a check has cleared or not. The bank makes the assumption and gives the person “credit” that will have to be repaid if the check is later not paid.
Lesson - do not accept checks. They suck and you bear the risk and responsibility.
If the dollar amount is high enough, I once redeposited a bank check from the bank who issued it, they put a 30 day hold on it and frankly they didn’t even want to deposit it. Had to get the manager involved and argue.
Bad players know the bank processing times and target businesses. We once had a customer order some services and they went to my bank and deposited a fake cashier check that was posted to my business account and it was an extra 5 figures so they called up pretending they made a mistake and wanted a refund for the overpaid amount. I responded with the F word, called the bank and reported it as fraud, even though they have the person walking into the bank on camera to commit this fraud no one cares. It later gets withdrawn from my account, thankfully with no fees otherwise I would have had a field day with the bank. I never approved that deposit, what a joke. I guess people could go around depositing fake checks into peoples accounts just so the bank charges the bank account holder a returned check fee.
Zelle is pretty safe with limits depending upon your bank they may be anywhere from $1000-$5000 per day.
PayPal - a scam. I got scammed with people issuing a refund but it was a “e-check” refund. PayPal sends the refund email and you think all is good. 2 weeks later the money is reversed due to the e-check refund being bad. PayPal doesn’t care. Anything can be reversed or disputed on PayPal and they have a 180 days buyer not happy full refund policy.
ACH is a push and grab system. Any business can open a bank account and take money from anyones bank account that they have the account number from. The bank works on an honor system until you abuse it enough that they revoke your privileges. Checks can have contracts attached to the bank, the bank holder and another party could have entered into a contract that allows for ACH grabs. Since most people cannot be bothered to read a contract before signing very easy to slip that clause in there. The person who has funds in the account will lose while the other party runs to another bank or withdraws their money then it is not refundable. There is an ACH clawback button on ACH payments that’s as easy as clicking a button on your online banking.
Wire - I am not sure about clawbacks. I have tried to claw a wire prior to the person receiving it without luck. The bank contacts the person to get permission for the refund. I’m guessing the transaction above might have had a contract attached to it. Wires at the big banks are typically processed sent and received within 15-30 minutes. Smaller banks or those using intermediaries need more time, you can call the bank and ask them to check it (basically they log on their online banking and check it and do their paperwork process).
Crypto, someone said it is expensive. There are many platforms that allow sending and receiving crypto for free. They do have limits so it is not useful for large transactions. I think you could count on sending 2-5k per day up to around 10k per week with monthly limits as well. There is about a 1-2% transaction fee to transfer fiat / USD to crypto. But given crypto right now has come down, if you are bullish on it, it will likely double in the near future.
Good ole cash. It’s king but you need to determine that each and every note is real and then not get robbed or encounter a police incident. If you got pulled over why was the police searching your car?!? Not a normal procedure.
Gold - same thing but easier to carry.
Back to checks, go to the bank they were written on, and ask for cash. Do not open a bank account. The teller checks the account has enough funds and gives you check, probably posting the check immediately. Unsure if the bank has any recourse should it later be disputed. The bank will surely ask you several times to open a bank account, you should decline. If you have a bank account then a check is cashed on assumption it is good and extending you credit terms. For larger amounts, banks will claim they do not have the funds and you’ll probably need to speak with the branch manager and make an appointment to withdraw the money, and the transaction will be reported to the IRS requesting your address and tax ID number. Usually a check cashing fee of $5-20 applies.
