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Aval

Truth:

Mostly used in Europe, an aval is financial instrument (bond, draft, note, or promissory note, any instrument that can be considered a bill of exchange) that has been guaranteed by the issuer's bank.  A bank will only guarantee a financial instrument for very creditworthy and well-insured clients.

The parties to an aval are the author (Issuer), the bank, and the payee (Beneficiary).

An example would be a PROMISSORY NOTE which carries the name, date, and signature of the guarantor on the face of the note.  

This means that the bank is guaranteeing the Note inasmuch as the bank will be the party responsible for paying the Note when it comes due.  

Since no responsible bank is going to allow itself to be hung out to dry, the author of the Promissory Note is subject to a great deal of financial scrutiny before the bank will assume the obligation. See ACCEPTANCE.

(Gerald Klein, Dictionary of Banking Terms, Second Edition, Financial Times Management, © 1995 Pearson Professional Limited, pages 13 & 14; and Investopedia, www.investopedia.com/terms/a/aval.asp)

Scam:

Sometimes an aval is referred to as a bank guarantee, because a bank is guaranteeing payment of the Note.  

For financial fraudsters, the reference is a dream made in heaven.  The fraudster confuses his victim by stating that there is such a thing as a bank guarantee.  It's after this that the waters are muddied.  He or she then persuades the victim that an aval can be purchased at random from a bank, and this is where the money flow from victim to swindler starts.

Okay.  We know that the bank is now responsible to pay the beneficiary the amount promised on the aval, and that the author of the guaranteed Note is responsible to the bank for the moneys promised, plus interest. and that the author of the Note is extraordinarily creditworthy.

"Extraordinarily creditworthy" is the key.  This means that under no circumstances is a European bank going to guarantee a stranger's Note.

That should be enough of a warning right there, but let's go one step further.  Let's say that the Beneficiary takes the aval to the FORFAITING department of his bank and turns it over to them in exchange for a large percentage of the value.  In other words, he is cashing in the aval at DISCOUNT.

This means that now his bank has become the Beneficiary, and it is the bank's responsibility to collect the full value of the aval.  Can you purchase this aval from the bank?  Maybe, but not under ordinary circumstances, and you would have to purchase it for a very large portion of the full value.  After all, the bank must cover its expenses for  time and effort expended, plus a profit.

Would this be a good deal?  Not unless you personally know exactly what you are doing and have a goodly amount of investment and banking experience.  This is definitely not something any sensible person would undertake on the say-so of a complete, unqualified stranger.  And under no circumstances should any such transaction take place without personal, one-on-one conversation and agreements with the bank.

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