Why does it take 6 working days for a cheque to clear?

Speedy44

I deposited a cheque into my bank yesterday and just called to ask them how long it will take to clear......... 6 fu*kin working days!!

What the hell is the deal with that. You can't tell me that in this wonderful electronic age that we live in when everything is done at the touch of a button that they can't verify if the funds are available or whatever they need to do to clear it.

Somebody is screwing somebody :mad:

unclebill98

There are numerous reasons.

Bank systems are not linked together to check for cleared funds.
Its paper... So the actual piece of paper has to get to the other bank.
Technical checks have to be done depending on the amount of chq.
The chq must be debited from the drawers account, some banks allow time to meet this db with a lodgement.
If its unpaid its got to be posted back to the bank that lodged it.
Under the Data Proctection Act, a touch of the button system would not be allowed.

In other words, its becoming a very outdated way of doing business and banks are not going to spend money on sorting this out. In fact chq's are being phased out over the next decade and in some countries like England its going to happen in 2017.

You should start to receive interest for the chq on the 2nd day of it being lodged. So don't feel to screwed over :-) Well as long as you lodged it to an account that gives interest.

And before some says, well in the US its instant.. we don't live there.....

Jaysoose

The bank needs to go to the issuing financial institution and verify that its legit..pain in the bum but unfortunately no way round it.

dotsman

Speedy44 wrote: »

I deposited a cheque into my bank yesterday and just called to ask them how long it will take to clear......... 6 fu*kin working days!!

What the hell is the deal with that. You can't tell me that in this wonderful electronic age that we live in when everything is done at the touch of a button that they can't verify if the funds are available or whatever they need to do to clear it.

Somebody is screwing somebody :mad:

Perhaps, if you used a concept from "this wonderful electronic age" instead of a 2000-year-old one, it might be faster.

There's a very good reason why cheques are being phased out. They are far too manual, expensive, slow and open to fraud. The sooner people stop using them the better. Unfortunately, instead, people continue to insist on using them and then complaining about them. In this case, it is very much the customer screwing themselves.

RoadKillTs

The sooner people stop using them the better. Unfortunately, instead, people continue to insist on using them and then complaining about them. In this case, it is very much the customer screwing themselves.

But what are the other options? I get paid by cheque a lot mainly because people don't have the cash on them and from that point of view cheques are convenient.

jamesy08

did the same myself this monday morn,and i need the cheque to be cleared cause i need to buy products to get an order out,6days,so totally left in lurch,went to bank,no luck,so in future im going to ask for a bank draft,at least the money is instantly there

dotsman

RoadKillTs wrote: »

But what are the other options? I get paid by cheque a lot mainly because people don't have the cash on them and from that point of view cheques are convenient.

EFT or Credit/Debit card?

I understand what you are saying that it is convenient for the person paying you to write a cheque there and then, but what you have to realise is that although convenient for them, it is not convenient for you as they are not paying you straight away. They are issuing a paper based instruction to transfer funds - an instruction that unfortunately (but necessarily) takes a week to get through the system.

stepbar

Well this is what I suggest. Ask your bank to make your account cleared for funds. You can instantly draw on funds but you run the risk of the funds bouncing in 3/5 days.