Escrow service
- Thread starter NextPoint
- Start date
The good news: From 1 November 2009, the Payment Services Directive 2009 law came into force in the UK, which brings regulation/registration for escrow activity under the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
There are now low cost (eg flat-fee £3) FSA registered automated escrow services available in the UK.
From 1 November 2009, all UK escrow services need to be registered with the FSA.
Fortunately the FSA provide an online register of all such services at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/psdFirmSearchForm.do (try searching there for 'escrow').
If a firm is not registered on the FSA website, then it is not allowed to trade, and should not be used. If a firm is registered, then it has been checked out as' Fit & Proper' (by the FSA, and/or HMRC ) and is genuine and should be safe, and also protected by UK law.
There are many, many professional looking UK based escrow sites which are fraudulent (even having UK addresses, phone numbers and fake FSA numbers). They look genuine in every way, but are just waiting to steal your money.
Always, always check the FSA online register.
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www.TrustedFriend.com is an FSA registered and HMRC registered online escrow service which commenced on 1 November 2009 with the introduction of the Payment Services Regulations 2009 in the UK.
It charges a flat £2.99 fee per transaction.
It charges a flat £2.99 fee per transaction.
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Can anyone advise please? I am looking into the possibility and viability of setting up a new project managent business but have concerns about cashflow so I have had an idea to request that my clients pay their money into an escrow account which I feel will give my them some peace of mnd but will hopefully mean I stand a better chance of getting my money quicker after an interim invoice is submitted ,
Does this idea have any merits? Is it being done already? I was going to approach a solicitor as it needs to be held by a trusted third party or maybe a bank would offer this service.
Thanks
Does this idea have any merits? Is it being done already? I was going to approach a solicitor as it needs to be held by a trusted third party or maybe a bank would offer this service.
Thanks
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Escrow will certainly help your business by making sure that you get paid 100% for your work, with no late debts and no write-offs whatsoever (such as writing off 20% from an aged debtor to get 80% in).
But it may or may not help your cashflow, as the escrow process will keep the cash out of your hands until the work is finished - this must happen to protect the payer and ensure they receive from you everything they were promised.
Part of the escrow agreement can be to release payment in stages though, as work is completed, and this may help.
Europe's leading escrow service is UK based, FSA authorised www.Transpact.com, which offers ultra-low cost automated escrow services, and is highly reliable.
[Declaration - I work for Transpact.com]
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Sorry for hijacking a thread, but I suppose my question is quite related.
I live in Malaysia and I have an interest in a vehicle, claimed to be registered with papers from my country, in the U.K. by the seller. The seller later explains and provided some additional photographs of the car, and later told me of an escrow service. He redirects me to a site (ceperete.co.uk) and he apparently has done several escrow services with them. I offerred him a different site such as transpact.com and escrow.com but he said he has done transactions with the former site before and gets some discounts.
Now, he is fulfilling all the criteria for a fraudulent seller. My question; anyone has any experience with the site he recommended? How about the situation? I could provide the full mail conversation if necessary.
And sorry for any noobish actions; this is my first time dealing with such things. Thanks in advance.
I live in Malaysia and I have an interest in a vehicle, claimed to be registered with papers from my country, in the U.K. by the seller. The seller later explains and provided some additional photographs of the car, and later told me of an escrow service. He redirects me to a site (ceperete.co.uk) and he apparently has done several escrow services with them. I offerred him a different site such as transpact.com and escrow.com but he said he has done transactions with the former site before and gets some discounts.
Now, he is fulfilling all the criteria for a fraudulent seller. My question; anyone has any experience with the site he recommended? How about the situation? I could provide the full mail conversation if necessary.
And sorry for any noobish actions; this is my first time dealing with such things. Thanks in advance.
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Morning Trusted Friend.
In your line of work, it would help you to be more trusted if you completed your profile? Why not?
G
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According to the seller, it is with him in Rothbury, UK. I had doubts on his reasons of selling the used car with quite an attractive price for its' stated mileage. Also, any ideas on the site mentioned? Was it legit or a scam? XD
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ceperete.co.uk is a scam. DO NOT TOUCH.
If it is not listed on the UK Government Agency online register, at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/psdFirmSearchForm.do, then it is a scam and waiting to steal your money.
If it is not listed on the UK Government Agency online register, at http://www.fsa.gov.uk/register/psdFirmSearchForm.do, then it is a scam and waiting to steal your money.
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Sorry I must have missed something - you are in Malaysia but want to buy a car that is in the UK,is that correct?
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Almost right. The car is actually registered with Malaysian registration numbers. For all random sense and purposes the seller has taken the car with him and is ready to pay all shipping fees and escrow service to sell the car to me; on the other hand, I hand him just the agreed amount.
Ah, just what I needed, a clarification, thank you very much.
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Couple of so reason, actually. He advertised the car on a local website, and therefore I naturally assumed that the car was here. When I discovered that it was actually overseas, I wanted to know why. And it made sense to sell the car because maybe (just maybe) the vehicle isn't suitable in a foreign place and he wants to get rid of it at a low price. Whatever the reason the price was significantly below the market price and that caught my attention, cause, well, being a uni student and all, my wallet's pretty tight. >_>
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Yup, that's what I thought when he said he would pay for those fees. Here is the excerpt from that particular dialog from the archived mail:
" The transport for the car to your address i will arrange using an escrow service and will take maxim 7 working days until the car will be delivered.After that you will have 7 working days of inspection to your address with all original papers.If you will accept the car after 7 days escrow service will give me the payment but this only after you will keep the car.I pay all fees for the transport to your address and to escrow,you must pay only 11000RM for the car.
Please let me know if you are still interested to continue the deal. "
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