check funds becoming available
 

If funds from a check leave an account in bank A in state AA, how long does it take for those funds to become available at bank B in state BB? Seconds, minutes, days, ?? and what are the steps involved today?

My bank clears in 24 hours now, used to be longer.

depends upon the receiving bank.

I'd say that the funds change hands nearly instantaneously once the transfer is made.

I think it's not uncommon for the bank that cashed/deposited the check to have a "hold period" on checks over some amount the first time or two they are deposited. I think the hold can be anywhere from a day to several days depending upon the bank.

Someone at bank B should be able to advise the person with the account at bank B how long the hold period is and what the factors are for hold periods.

In 2019, good question.

Long ago (early 1980s) I walked into my own bank with a US Government check from the IRS for my tax refund. It was a bank that I had my account at, with funds in the account. The check was more than my balance at the time and I wanted them to cash it so I could go pay some bills that were due. They refused to cash it, all I could do is deposit it, and then they told me it would have a hold on it for several days before I had access to the funds. I told them if that check bounces, we are all screwed and the cash I want is worthless anyway. They did not budge.

I changed banks shortly after that. I am real gal I am not that broke anymore.

What's a check? :D

If practical, look into Zelle. It's like wiring money, but without any fees...and it's instant.
Most major banks now have it available through their website/app.

My local credit union will give it to you instantly.

I've had a Wells Fargo for 11 years or so. the tellers would only give you xx amount right away, and the ATM would give me double what the tellers offered me when I deposited check into the ATM. I'm talking few hundred dollars. Even if I deposit a Nigerian check. Doesn't it take weeks to verify?!

I wrote a check for a decent sum of $$ which was deposited on a Friday and credited from my account on Monday. The recipient claims to have not seen it show up in her account until a full week had passed. She repeated a lame "size of the issuing bank" excuse supposedly offered by her bank. While I understand that money is more than electrons (save for crypto currencies) I would think that in this age of electronic banking, this is utter BS and am interested in what is going on behind the scenes. If it is possible to "wire" transfer money or Zelle, what happened to this money for a week?

Things have changed a bit but...

Banks have three different FED windows throughout the day, and when you are literally talking about tens of billions passing through each day....they hang on to it as long as they can :), with most of the "batch processing" ocurring overnight...back in the dark ages. Now many checks seem to be processed just like a debit card transaction when you hand the "store" a check....

Follow the money...though checks are dinos.....Walmart still wants that 2B in their account all day...and not in transit as the bank makes BIG $....timing is money. Now imagine if a huge part of the loot is via CC.....CHACHING fer the banks :).

Missing a FED window transfer by one minute....."somebody" eats the loss....it won't be the FED....usually....unless "I" could "prove" it was their fault...expen$ive finger pointing....

I used my middle one a few times too ;)

It's BITCOIN x Trillions....trust us....suckers :)

Debit cards were the real game changer imo....

I’m with boa and iirc they used to give a percentage of check straight away .
I’ve not used the counter for a while so don’t know if they still do this .
These days I sign the check , open the boa app , take a pic front and back , and it’s done !

I've only used my CU (not "as" profit motivated as banks) for two decades...even they do it :(. I once deposited a bigly check ftom a local bank....from my dad....he also has a CU acct., and a history there. I wanted a few K in my chk acct....right then. Teller said it would take mebbe ten daze....naw, I wanna talk to the CU mgr....I even have a bigly HELOC that would cover it...

Teller came back and started counting Franklins ;)

No one wants to kill the golden goo$e....so banks give you a small % (their risk), and eat debit/CC losses, so the $heeple keep on grazing fer the cash cows....Moo(ve) to a CU :)

When I did get checks and walked into my bank (small local bank with maybe 10 locations) to cash them the funds were always available immediately for me. Not sure if it's still the case because it's been years since I've even touched a check. But the only time a check bounced they went after the bank it was drawn on and let me keep the funds while they went after it.

As for wires, I bought a car 2 weeks ago and wired the money to the seller and it showed up in his account by the time I got home. My bank (again, local that I've banked with for 20+ years) ate the fees because it didn't cost me anything.

They didn't "eat" the fees....they decided not to bend you over....cause yer a good customer....that's my story ;). It's a trade-off....like most things...thing. Real-time verses the cost of handling/processing/ACH....

That's also why I was a systems guy playing with 10 million $ mainframes...always needing a faster one ;)

I hate banks....loved what I did :)

Transferring $ between two checking accts. at the same institution can now take 8 daze....

Nuthin' nefarious, no one making $....just the idiots who designed it :(.

I will NOT name names....in order to protect the stoooopid ;)....

If'n ya don't understand...yer not alone....YMMV though....that is all :).

I just posted this in another thread. I just deposited a check from a client for $55K. 7 business day hold. I was given the check late on Friday (no way to deposit). Dropped it off on Saturday. They made $1K available immediately. $5K available after 2 business days and then the full amount after 7 business days. Total time was 12 calendar days from when I was given the check.

I have to use a bank, as credit unions are not for profit and will not do a business account. At my bank, if I transfer money from one account to the other between business entities, the funds leave one account and are instantly available at the other instantly.

Depends on the dollar amount. Some banks put a hold on large checks. My bank makes funds available next business day depending on the time and day it is deposited.

James,
I feel your pain. Part of why I left US Bank was because they did exactly as you describe. I could have more than 100K deposited and couldn't use it to pay down my line of credit. Part of why I went to wire transfer for large dollar amounts. Money appears same day. I'll even offer to pay the sender's wire fee. $20 to have my money same day is worth it to me.

I understand the role of banks and why you guys need them fer bidness....


This is my CU ;)...

$10 :(

Cabman....try again :).

Just stooopiditeeee....mebbe me...mebbe not!

Wire Transfers...yep!

When real $ is in play....instant, real time....

And $50 each SmileWavy

Nobody ever said bankerz didn't know how to make money off you $ucker$ either ;)!

That's steep....feez matter :(...dayum.

But if you want to count out 55k in Franklins :)....meh.

Most wires take at least 24 hours, and can take up to several days, depending on the bank(s), day, and time (cut-off) they are sent.

If your bank charges $50 for domestic wires, it may be time to shop for a new bank.

Internally....I thought it's real-time, but I dunno for sure. Definitely securererer :)

I know the 10Bs that I saw move around daily through the FED system decades ago was real-time though.

Only wires I have ever had take more than same business day to appear in my account when sent in that business day were international. Even then, 24-48 hours max. Some banks do batch wiring and send all wires out before the end of the day cutoff time. When this happens, the wire shows in my account at the beginning of the next business day.

I've had customers send the money before the come to my place. Drive 2 or 3 hours to get here and their money beat them here. I always tell my customers "ask if your bank sends wires as they come in or if the do batch wires" I've had some take as little as an hour. It seems to depend on the size of the bank and the number of wires they do.

I have my small business account with my credit union, my business isn’t supposed to be non profit...!

I think it depends on the bank.

One time I wired funds from Toronto to a dealer's bank in Asheville N.C. The bank had the money that day and I could fly down to pick up the vehicle whenever I liked.

Last time I wired funds from Toronto to a dealer's bank in Eastern Canada.
This time they held the funds for a week. It still doesn't make sense to me 5 years later.
Oh and the bank charged me $75. I complained and they told me to pound salt. Each bank blamed each other, I never got a straight answer.
Thanks for letting me vent.
Like I said it depends on the bank.

As far as checks go if I receive a check I automatically have access to it because I have overdraft protection. If I issue a check the money is gone within a week.

Imagine, if you will, a bank so very big, that by holding money for 10 days, they could keep many, many millions of dollars at all times without paying interest. Now imagine that they are using that money to get a 10% return.

If you think for a moment about the number of people who transfer money every day, they get to hang on to a substantial amount of money that they do not pay interest on. My bank has a policy that states that the time period goes UP as the amount of the check increases, from two to ten days.

I have an arrangement with my bank that all funds deposited are available for immediate use. but I also have an account with funds that will cover any check deposited, so they still win.

It has to be the above. Rolling, micro time frame loan sharking.

Want to guess what I used to do for a living? VP of Deposit Operations at a bank in Chicago.

When I started in 1992, checking took days. Your bank processed your deposit, sent the check to deposit operations, who encoded MICR on the check and sent it to the Fed, who sorted it by Routing Number and got it back to the bank it came from, who coughed up the dough to the Fed, who sent the money to us, and we deposited it to the account. It could take about a week for a check to move across country, and we padded the number to allow for problems like fraud, insufficient funds, transportation or processing issues, etc. Even so, we occasionally had to eat a loss when we released funds after a week and discovered the check was no good too late.

Now it's all digital. Someone at the branch images the check, transmits it to processing, and everyone swaps images at pre-set intervals throughout the day (OCR is so good maybe .01% of checks need to be looked at by a human, which is how my dept was eliminated). The Fed physically processes the few checks that can't be imaged, and they charge through the nose for it.

During the business week, almost nothing takes longer than 24 hours to process anymore, period. But hey, banks love money and people are used to delays so banks still play the "x days to clear" game so they can make money on your money for a bit before giving you access to it. Which is hilarious to me. Nowadays you can write a check at a Wal-Mart and have the funds withdrawn from your account before you get to your car - how can people not realize the reverse is true, and the money comes in as quickly as it goes out?

I know mega-banks (from the inside...infrastructure, I held the "keys to the kingdom"...as a peon ;))...back then as a systems/communications designer, implementer, troubleshooter, etc. :).

Two of them anywho....

I've used a debit card exclusively since they appeared....security is a different world now, yet most of the $ucker$....ma$$e$ :(....fall for the CC mantra...pushed by whom? Ken Lewis took home over 90 million in one year....before he trashed BOA...Wells owe me a pension too...

They ALL suck....some less than others....imnsho :)!

I didn't see this post....

You know ;)

edited: I was an AVP (peon) @ Wachovia (mebbe the best commercial or just the best large bank in the US back then when I joined them)....I had endured too much B$...fired them in '97 :)

Fun thinkin' about it again ;)....best move I ever made...for I am not Neuman ;)....

Bank are like Insurance Company, they like to get money but not to dish it out.

Funny that they need a day or to to clear stuff, but less then 30 minutes after I left the dentist this morning, my CC charge was posted (not pending) to my account.

We are domed, domed I tell ya...

So what shows up in my mailbox.....a check fer $10 :(.

That I can't cash without driving to another city....the other party is just SOL :(

Idjuts, maroons....whatever? I put in a request to EFT between two accts at the same institution 11 daze ago.

This isn't hard.

Dayum :(

I use a rinky-dink credit union since moving to KY (I like being a big fish in a small pond) and even they have an app that lets you take a picture of a check with your smartphone and deposit it from home. You may want to look into that.

I love my CU ;)

I'll look into another way....they have another option....but the mobile app is a bit lacking....was gonna take me 720 keystrokes to enter my birthday :(.

I already have a "Plan B...Z" ;)?