Down Payment Time; Bank Portal via Tesla?

[Spacep0d]

Hi all!

I'd love some quick reassurance here. I'm going to make my big down payment on my car (picking up Tues.), but Tesla is asking for my bank login and password. This may be how the PayPal payment portal comes up when paying that way, but it doesn't feel right.

Who has done this—probably everyone who's made a down payment online right? How safe is it? It's the first time I've ever seen anything like this for my bank.

Thanks!

 

[danarcha]

Hi all!

I'd love some quick reassurance here. I'm going to make my big down payment on my car (picking up Tues.), but Tesla is asking for my bank login and password. This may be how the PayPal payment portal comes up when paying that way, but it doesn't feel right.

Who has done this—probably everyone who's made a down payment online right? How safe is it? It's the first time I've ever seen anything like this for my bank.

Thanks!

That sounds odd. When I paid for my M3 a couple months ago, it was through an electronic transfer using my bank routing number and account number which is standard for ACH transactions.

 

[Mr X]

Hi all!

I'd love some quick reassurance here. I'm going to make my big down payment on my car (picking up Tues.), but Tesla is asking for my bank login and password. This may be how the PayPal payment portal comes up when paying that way, but it doesn't feel right.

Who has done this—probably everyone who's made a down payment online right? How safe is it? It's the first time I've ever seen anything like this for my bank.

Thanks!

Not sure why they are asking for your bank login information but I would not give that to them. That is weird


All I did was go to my bank, withdraw the downpayment amount, put it on a check and gave it to them on delivery day. No issues

 

[5150]

Sounds odd to me too. I would never give my login credentials to them. When I paid, it was by routing and account number.

 

[walcolm]

its actually not odd...

if you want Tesla to pull the funds from your account, you have to enter your bank login to initiate it otherwise you will have to push from your bank interface to Tesla

my experience was i pulled using Tesla and it was fast and cost me to charges...i liked that because my bank does not offer zero fee ACH

If your bank offers you zero fee ACH, then you can push from your account

 

[jjrandorin]

Hi all!

I'd love some quick reassurance here. I'm going to make my big down payment on my car (picking up Tues.), but Tesla is asking for my bank login and password. This may be how the PayPal payment portal comes up when paying that way, but it doesn't feel right.

Who has done this—probably everyone who's made a down payment online right? How safe is it? It's the first time I've ever seen anything like this for my bank.

Thanks!

Yeah that would be a big "no", for me.

Since you are in california, you can simply get a cashiers check from your bank for the amount of your down payment and do it that way. Thats what I did, anyway. I wanted to look at the car first, and you can do that in california.

EDIT.. its not that it cant be legit, I just dont do things that way. I would initiate a push, vs having tesla pull, if I were doing it electronicially, fee or no. I dont do "auto payments" anywhere either though. I dont want anyone / any company having authority to pull money from my account, I always want to "click the buttons" myself.

In this case though as I said, I got a cashiers check, which I could get free from my credit union.

 

[bbell]

Sounds fishy. How are they asking for it? Email?

Here is a thread about a fishy Email from "Tesla" that cost someone money
Scammed by fake Tesla email

 

[walcolm]

Yeah that would be a big "no", for me.

Since you are in california, you can simply get a cashiers check from your bank for the amount of your down payment and do it that way. Thats what I did, anyway. I wanted to look at the car first, and you can do that in california.

EDIT.. its not that it cant be legit, I just dont do things that way. I would initiate a push, vs having tesla pull, if I were doing it electronicially, fee or no. I dont do "auto payments" anywhere either though. I dont want anyone / any company having authority to pull money from my account, I always want to "click the buttons" myself.

In this case though as I said, I got a cashiers check, which I could get free from my credit union.

i suspect what the OP is talking about is that payment interface when you click from your Tesla account to make your payment. Tesla offers you options...one of the options is ACH and it allows you to pull or push

if you choose the option to pull, then the interface opens a portal for you to put in your bank details and you fill in all the information required and click to complete the transaction...

it is not a message by email or text...it is only through your Tesla account

 

[Spacep0d]

i suspect what the OP is talking about is that payment interface when you click from your Tesla account to make your payment. Tesla offers you options...one of the options is ACH and it allows you to pull or push

if you choose the option to pull, then the interface opens a portal for you to put in your bank details and you fill in all the information required and click to complete the transaction...

it is not a message by email or text...it is only through your Tesla account

Yes. it's this. I would never do that via email. This was direct from my Tesla account using mobile number authentication (like 2FA). First time I've seen it. Thanks for all of the answers here!

 

[camalaio]

I really don't know how this works in the US. But in general, what will matter is where you are entering your login information. If you confirm that the website is actually your bank (and they're basically being authorized to hand info to Tesla themselves), then that should be normal. It's like "sign in with Facebook/Google", but for banks... kind of. However if you're directly entering bank login info into a Tesla website, that sounds wrong (much like it would be to enter Facebook/Google login info elsewhere, for example).

 

[jgale99]

I am at the same point, picking up on Tuesday. I will be taking a personal check for the balance, I am not giving them the money until I have inspected the car in case there is something majorly wrong with it.

 

[The_Observer]

That seems odd to me either, I would not give your bank login info. Can't you pay through ACH or wire, or even a cashier's check?

I would personally recommend a check so just in case if you don't like the car because of too many impefections, you don't give them the check.

 

[Spacep0d]

That seems odd to me either, I would not give your bank login info. Can't you pay through ACH or wire, or even a cashier's check?

I would personally recommend a check so just in case if you don't like the car because of too many impefections, you don't give them the check.

This actually makes the most sense! Hopefully I don't have to reject the car for any reason.

 

[Mattopotamus]

I really don't know how this works in the US. But in general, what will matter is where you are entering your login information. If you confirm that the website is actually your bank (and they're basically being authorized to hand info to Tesla themselves), then that should be normal. It's like "sign in with Facebook/Google", but for banks... kind of. However if you're directly entering bank login info into a Tesla website, that sounds wrong (much like it would be to enter Facebook/Google login info elsewhere, for example).

It's exactly like you just described.

It had me login to my bank account. This was the end of June. It all worked out just fine. Better than manually entering my checking info. You are not giving them your login. They are just having you login with your info, no different than when you verify your bank info when using something like venmo, etc.

 

[walcolm]

not giving Tesla your cheque because you choose to not accept delivery is only useful if you decide you are not going to be buying a tesla again...

Tesla offers 7 days or 1000miles return of their vehicles if you have any significant issue with the vehicle and you choose not to accept that particular vehicle anymore in which case you will have to request another and wait for it to be built

 

[The_Observer]

not giving Tesla your cheque because you choose to not accept delivery is only useful if you decide you are not going to be buying a tesla again...

Tesla offers 7 days or 1000miles return of their vehicles if you have any significant issue with the vehicle and you choose not to accept that particular vehicle anymore in which case you will have to request another and wait for it to be built

Except there's a one year ban if you return the car. You would either wait for one year to get one again, or get another trim of that car.

 

[Spacep0d]

If there's an issue, I'm just going to ask Tesla to fix it. Down payment has been made! I AM EXCITE. I hope to post some pictures here on Wed. Then it'll be tasteful mods, and maybe some paint protection before I put too many miles on it.

ONE OF YOU, ONE OF US....All I know is that this is a biiiiiiig step and it's been a long-time coming. It all started with a two-day test drive of a Tesla AWD LR!