Paying for car without forking over my online banking creds?

[jcanoe]

URGENT: It seems like people on here have used the wire transfer option. I was told that I could do a wire transfer by my SA for weeks and I had everything set up. Supposed to do the pick up today but didn't have a link or email to pay for the down payment. After several calls to the delivery center and them figuring out that someone dropped the ball, they finally send me all the docs etc to sign and the link to pay. This was 15 mins before my pick up time. I go in and I'm only getting Plaid as an option. I can't do plaid because I set this up for a wire transfer weeks ago. Aka I sent the needed money to a trading acct where I can do the wire transfer from. Delivery center tells me I can't do a wire transfer. I have to use plaid. I'm livid. I have had to move a lot of things around for this and they tell me this at the 11th hr?????

My SA said I should be able to do wire txfr. He's looking into it. Does anyone have the info for a wire transfer please? I need to do this ASAP. You can DM me or please post it on here. Thank you.

Sorry, I don't have any details on the Wire Transfer payment method but according to the Tesla website you can pay by personal check.

Payment and Fees
What are the accepted methods of payment?
Before driving off with your new Tesla, we require that the balance be paid in full, either personally or by way of guarantee from a financing institution.

Confirm your method of payment with your Tesla representative prior to Delivery Day. In some states, payment must be received before delivery and cannot be accepted at time of pick-up.


Final payment is accepted via:

• Electronic check (direct debit) in your Tesla Account
• Wire transfer
• Personal or cashier’s check at time of pick-up, with your Reservation Number (RN) and name in the memo line

Note: Credit Cards are only accepted for the initial order fee.

Can I make payments from more than one account?
Yes. Simply enter the amount you’d like to pay using the payment module in your Tesla Account along with the appropriate account details and submit the payment. When you’re ready to make the next payment, repeat the payment process with the applicable amount and respective account information.

Ordering a New Tesla

 

[DoctorBenjamin]

Sorry, I don't have any details on the Wire Transfer payment method but according to the Tesla website you can pay by personal check.

Payment and Fees
What are the accepted methods of payment?
Before driving off with your new Tesla, we require that the balance be paid in full, either personally or by way of guarantee from a financing institution.

Confirm your method of payment with your Tesla representative prior to Delivery Day. In some states, payment must be received before delivery and cannot be accepted at time of pick-up.


Final payment is accepted via:

• Electronic check (direct debit) in your Tesla Account
• Wire transfer
• Personal or cashier’s check at time of pick-up, with your Reservation Number (RN) and name in the memo line

Note: Credit Cards are only accepted for the initial order fee.

Can I make payments from more than one account?
Yes. Simply enter the amount you’d like to pay using the payment module in your Tesla Account along with the appropriate account details and submit the payment. When you’re ready to make the next payment, repeat the payment process with the applicable amount and respective account information.

Ordering a New Tesla

Thank you. I actually can't even do a personal check because when they told me I can do a wire, I set it all up for that, weeks ago. They themselves are trying to find the wire info. That one person from the delivery center was totally wrong and the others said so. But they still don't know the wire info. They also hadn't sent me the MVPA till now. Just sent it and we can't find it on there either. Sigh.

 

[akballow]

This is all for the ~6k due? You dont have like zelle or something similar to move money around? I have no issue moving money in realtime between most my accounts.

 

[DoctorBenjamin]

This is all for the ~6k due? You dont have like zelle or something similar to move money around? I have no issue moving money in realtime between most my accounts.

Okay not to get into too many details. But my money is in brokerage accounts like Fidelity, Etrade etc. I also have money in regular bank accounts like Chase, BofA etc. I also trade crypto and stake a lot of money in crypto making really high interest rates.

I don't keep a lot in regular bank accounts because it isn't making any money there. On the other hand most of my money is either in my Fiat trading accounts or in my crypto trading accounts. Those don't use zelle. I also use a crypto card that gives me a very high % cashback on everything. I was going to pay for this from one of the trading accounts so that I would get a good amount of cashback. But with all this last min stuff, that's out the window. So right now I'm trying to figure out how to make partial payments with plaid since the money is spread between accounts.

 

[swedge]

...But with all this last min stuff, that's out the window. So right now I'm trying to figure out how to make partial payments with plaid since the money is spread between accounts.

Dr.Ben,

I picked up my Model Y on Sunday, 12/13, paid the full price by persona check, as I described earlier. I gather that won't work for you. I also gather you've decided you are OK with Plaid. Still, in case you or others want to do a wire transfer, here is what I know.

The final version of my MVPA (Motor Vehicle Purchase Agreement) appeared on my account page the day before the delivery. The last page, page 8, was titled "Payment Instructions" and had wire instructions. I'd attach a copy, but the account number to transfer to included the digits from my RN reservation number, so mine won't work for anyone else.

I hope this helps.

SW

 

[DanDi58]

Wow after all of this I might just lease!

 

[jcanoe]

I paid for my Y using a cashier's check, on a Sunday, with the bank, FedEx, USPS all closed. Tesla had no problem with me enclosing my payment with the signed purchase forms and dropping the Tesla pre-addressed FedEx envelope at FedEx/Kinkos on Monday.

The only slight hassle, due to COVID-19 distancing, was the line at my bank to speak with a teller. Before obtaining the cashier's check it is important to confirm the final payment amount. I recommend confirming the payment amount close to the delivery date as the final amount increased slightly once Tesla recalculated all of the fees.

 

[DoctorBenjamin]

Dr.Ben,

I picked up my Model Y on Sunday, 12/13, paid the full price by persona check, as I described earlier. I gather that won't work for you. I also gather you've decided you are OK with Plaid. Still, in case you or others want to do a wire transfer, here is what I know.

The final version of my MVPA (Motor Vehicle Purchase Agreement) appeared on my account page the day before the delivery. The last page, page 8, was titled "Payment Instructions" and had wire instructions. I'd attach a copy, but the account number to transfer to included the digits from my RN reservation number, so mine won't work for anyone else.

I hope this helps.

SW

Thank you so much. So I finally ended up putting in my Routing and Savings acct number. I managed to work some stuff out with a wire from one brokerage to another one. I knew that would be in there this morning and so I put in my info last night, knowing the txn would only happen this morning after the wire went through. It was close but it worked lol.
In terms of the MVPA, so first of all that is where they kinda messed up. I didn't even get an MVPA to sign first of all. The hold up was with the system not sending me some docs. And even after a version of the MVPA was sent to me it didn't have the info you are talking about. The delivery center manager was confused, my SA was confused. The long and the short of it is that they figured out that when you are doing Tesla financing it generates a diff MVPA as opposed to if you were doing third party financing or paying cash for it. At least that is the conclusion they arrived at. Thank you though to all of you for your help.

 

[david772021]

A few thoughts on this topic for those still reading. I am a software engineer with about a dozen issued privacy related patents. I am also a past victim of financial fraud and identity theft.

There is zero chance I would fork over my bank login credentials to Plaid or any other service run by a private company or anyone else. Although others have pointed out that providing a bank account and routing number to an SA has the substantial additional risk of having that information be leaked to other humans or otherwise misused, at least that is just one account, which can be shut down. My login credentials would allow a user to not only make ACH transactions to a specific account, but also discover -- and then use -- the account which which I replaced it if it had to be shut down.

Businesses can't have it both ways with consumer privacy: on the one hand, educating us to never give your credentials to others, then partner with businesses like Plaid that use that model routinely. And Tesla's aggressive UX that appears to conceal other options (like paying by wire) just erodes trust with Tesla -- which for me is already badly damaged after a horrible experience with solar tiles (promised for time frames that were missed massively, followed by an enormous price increase) and now the delivery of my model Y (multiple slipped delivery windows, no way to reach a human -- even the delivery center which failed to answer calls had only voicemail -- and the mailbox was full).

I ended up having to drive to the deliver center to work out my delivery details. I'm pleased to report that once I got there, they were understanding, helpful, and flexible. I will be paying for my car by wire. But even with great people and great products, the engineered and highly automated consumer experience with this company, and its broken promises, mean that even though I expect to love my car, I will never trust this company.

 

[Pianewman]

As I said, MOST punctures can be driven home. My wifey would of course "allow" me to fix it for her in the garage, and she also has an air pump in the trunk, which she CAN work. I wonder what your wifey hit with that Avalon. That's a whale of a hole, and probably less that 1/10th of 1% would be that unusual. Nearly all punctures are a screw or nail in the tread, easily fixable with a plug, but it you wish to take up room in an already small trunk, it's your car. As a side note, my wifey probably would be unable to change out a spare tire, either. For a blowout like you describe, hopefully there is some form of tow truck near.

But I stand with "most people are afraid to fix their own tire" simply because, through lack of experience or ability, they are. Now, if a wife had a husband who didn't have that experience, it would make it more difficult, but the suggestion was, then, to carry around a spare which might weigh thirty pounds or more and expect this theoretical person to work the jack, loosen five lug nuts (that's another chore in itself) pull off the tire while hoping the car doesn't roll off the jack, jack up the car some more so the spare will slide onto the lug bolts, hand tighten the lug nuts, lower the tire, and then tighten the lug nuts to some approximation of 49 ft. lb. When you think it over, pushing a plug into a tire at home in the garage seems a lot less of a chore, plus you have more room in your trunk. I wonder if you've ever tried to place a plug in a tire while it's on the car. It's a lot easier than putting on a spare.

... I expect to love my car, I will never trust this company.

If that's how you feel, get out now. I can't imagine being that miserably suspicious of my daily ride. Seriously.

Ken Beatrice, 70s-80s Boston sports radio show host, (famous for his, "You're NEXT!" shout) made a comment that seriously changed my life perspective. He said if you are employed, or belong, to an organization that you don't trust, don't respect, cut your losses and get out ASAP. This philosophy has been proven time and time again, in my experience (watching others...not me! HAHA!)

 

[DanDi58]

A few thoughts on this topic for those still reading. I am a software engineer with about a dozen issued privacy related patents. I am also a past victim of financial fraud and identity theft.

There is zero chance I would fork over my bank login credentials to Plaid or any other service run by a private company or anyone else. Although others have pointed out that providing a bank account and routing number to an SA has the substantial additional risk of having that information be leaked to other humans or otherwise misused, at least that is just one account, which can be shut down. My login credentials would allow a user to not only make ACH transactions to a specific account, but also discover -- and then use -- the account which which I replaced it if it had to be shut down.

Businesses can't have it both ways with consumer privacy: on the one hand, educating us to never give your credentials to others, then partner with businesses like Plaid that use that model routinely. And Tesla's aggressive UX that appears to conceal other options (like paying by wire) just erodes trust with Tesla -- which for me is already badly damaged after a horrible experience with solar tiles (promised for time frames that were missed massively, followed by an enormous price increase) and now the delivery of my model Y (multiple slipped delivery windows, no way to reach a human -- even the delivery center which failed to answer calls had only voicemail -- and the mailbox was full).

I ended up having to drive to the deliver center to work out my delivery details. I'm pleased to report that once I got there, they were understanding, helpful, and flexible. I will be paying for my car by wire. But even with great people and great products, the engineered and highly automated consumer experience with this company, and its broken promises, mean that even though I expect to love my car, I will never trust this company.

Tesla is not the only one - I recently signed up for a Robinhood account, and stopped when (using the app on my phone) I realized that they wanted the same thing - they use Plaid as well and they wanted my login credentials. No way. Something made me go back and look at it on my computer, and sure enough, I could create an account giving only the routing and account number I wanted to use. I discovered this by accident.

I paid for the balance of my Model Y with a bank check when I picked it up - after I examined the car, inside and out. Easy peasy.

 

[Marcust99]

I tale delivery next week and my bank isn’t even listed on Plaid, nor can I manually add it. Called Tesla and they
said someone from their finance dept would call me to do an ACH over. “Secure line”. My bank is online only so I can’t do a cashiers check and wire is very complicated. Ugh.

 

[jcanoe]

If you use Plaid and provide your banking credentials be sure to change your credentials, i.e. change the password after the Tesla purchase has been completed.

 

[jbcarioca]

While I absolutely applaud the caution of those in this thread, it is absolutely warranted, Plaid is an a well known player in the financial industry these days. It's used for connecting your account to all sorts of things. Venmo, Mint, Stripe, just to name a few. It allows them to pull in your account numbers and routing numbers safely and securely from any bank plaid has agreements with, which is most of the banks in the US today. They can then setup your ACH transfer reliably with less chance of failure because you mistyped a number. Having said that, I'm quite sure your SA can setup the same manually, but it will take longer and have the risk of failing to go through because the account number or routing number is mistyped. Giving those numbers to your SA is not less dangerous than having a service like Plaid pull them. The SA could just as easily take them and setup a ACH transfer to her offshore account in the Cayman's as to Tesla. Plaid at least takes that risk out because no human has to ever see your account info.

Plaid takes your complete sign credential. You trust them with that data. Anybody can do that, not just Plaid, they are as safe as are their systems. A statement fo encryption is fine, but the data is entered in the original form and is executed in that form. Thus, there is hacking exposure at the beginning and end of each such transaction.

Don't be deceived by the institution who can be accessed through them. They can access any institution whose login data is shared by their customer, except for those few who which refuse to allow system aggregators.It is the customer which assumes the risk, not your financial institution.

Some argue with that. Fine. It is we, the customers, who take the risks. I will make the same wire transfer I always do.

 

[jbcarioca]

I would only add that in the event of your checking or savings account being invaded by ACH debit fraud the bank will probably immediately refund your money while they research this as a bank fraud case. The problem that remains is the only way to prevent further fraud against the account is to close the account. (That is correct, you have to close the affect account and open a new account.) Any direct deposit transactions, payroll etc. have to be discontinued on the old account and started up using the new account. This can literally take weeks if not months to work through, get straightened out.

Keep in mind that if you have given your access credential to another party. It is you, and only your, risk. Banks will happily close your account, but they will never, ever, accept responsibility of you've given your credential to someone else.

 

[wraithfive]

Plaid takes your complete sign credential. You trust them with that data. Anybody can do that, not just Plaid, they are as safe as are their systems. A statement fo encryption is fine, but the data is entered in the original form and is executed in that form. Thus, there is hacking exposure at the beginning and end of each such transaction.

Don't be deceived by the institution who can be accessed through them. They can access any institution whose login data is shared by their customer, except for those few who which refuse to allow system aggregators.It is the customer which assumes the risk, not your financial institution.

Some argue with that. Fine. It is we, the customers, who take the risks. I will make the same wire transfer I always do.

You clearly don't understand how OAUTH works.

 

[jbcarioca]

You clearly don't understand how OAUTH works.

OAUTH 2.0 has had hacks. With Amazon, Apple and PayPal using it there is security, perhaps more pointedly much of the EU banking system uses it. The problems still arise with entry-level risks. To minimize the risks it is still better to maintain a direct alien initiation directly with a financial institution rather than through an intermediary, thus eliminating the liability for flaws. Perhaps you are not quite aware of the prevalence of fraud at initiation level.
OAUTH 2.0 does help but still adds risk that can be avoided in terms of liability.


A trifle technical but here is the detail:

RFC 6749: The OAuth 2.0 Authorization Framework

The OAuth 2.0 authorization framework enables a third-party application to obtain limited access to an HTTP service, either on behalf of a resource owner by orchestrating an approval interaction between the resource owner and the HTTP service, or by allowing the third-party application to obtain...

datatracker.ietf.org

If users practice unsound personal security, OAUTH 2.0 does provide better protection. If users practice sound transaction hygiene the risks reverse.

Obviously OAUTH is a huge advance over what existed before it. Thus the EU common use serves a valuable function.

Deeper discussions risk going far off topic.

 

[jbcarioca]

If you use Plaid and provide your banking credentials be sure to change your credentials, i.e. change the password after the Tesla purchase has been completed.

Given the rigidity of the present Tesla policy, I think this is the best solution. Once the transfer goes through and is confirmed change the password. That is what I will do, much as I do not want to. I am told it is either Plaid or certified check at delivery. I was told they will not accept my own transfer. I cannot get a certified check easily.

 

[wraithfive]

Given the rigidity of the present Tesla policy, I think this is the best solution. Once the transfer goes through and is confirmed change the password. That is what I will do, much as I do not want to. I am told it is either Plaid or certified check at delivery. I was told they will not accept my own transfer. I cannot get a certified check easily.

Changing your credentials won't remove Plaid's access to your account if your bank supports OAuth. As I've already said, in that case they never see them in the first place. You would have to go into your settings on your banking site and find the authorization for Plaid and revoke it. That will invalidate their keys for access. How this is done, how easy it is find, and even the terminology they use will vary by bank unfortunately.

 

[jcanoe]

What if you pp

Changing your credentials won't remove Plaid's access to your account if your bank supports OAuth. As I've already said, in that case they never see them in the first place. You would have to go into your settings on your banking site and find the authorization for Plaid and revoke it. That will invalidate their keys for access. How this is done, how easy it is find, and even the terminology they use will vary by bank unfortunately.

What if you open a checking account specifically for making the Tesla final payment; transfer money into the checking account and use Plaid to process the payment? After payment has been made you would close the checking account. The Plaid terms of service seemed to imply that you are giving Plaid access to all accounts linked to the primary account used for payment. Plaid states that they freely use all of your transaction history information on all accounts linked to the primary account for marketing purposes. Sounds sketchy but is there any risk if you just close the account after making the final payment? Also you would change your online banking credentials password and invalidate Plaid's access keys after payment has been made.

Instead of all these Plaid security concerns you could just bring a cashier's check from a major financial institution when accepting delivery of the Tesla vehicle. (That's what I did. I dug in my heels when Tesla pressured me to use Plaid. I explained I had been the victim of ACH debit fraud (true) and I was not comfortable using Plaid.) Even using touchless home delivery on a Sunday Tesla allowed me to include my final payment in the form of a cashier's check with my signed paperwork and send Tesla the final payment with the other documents via FedEx the following Tuesday (Monday was a holiday.)