HALIFAX cheque clearing

My husband has his own business, so every month pays a cheque into our joint account. He paid it into our current account on a Saturday morning and it was cleared on the following Thursday. As the current account gave little interest he now pays it into our savings account. However, clearing time for this is 10 days. Halifax tell me that it takes longer because its being paid into a saving account. Please can anyone tell me why? Going back to our original way and then transferring it will get the money into our saving account quicker than Halifax can do it.

:rolleyes:

Comments

  • greyteam1959
    greyteam1959 Posts: 4,564
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    Put very simply this is how the likes of the Halifax make millions of ££££s using your money..........and Halifax semms to be one of the worst for this sort of delay.
    If you have a business why not move money online using the BACS system ???
    There is only a three day delay never any longer.
    Using cheques to move money now is a bit prehistoric !!!!
  • GCH888
    GCH888 Posts: 123 Forumite
    This happened to me this month when I paid in a cheque into my Halifax savings account. The cheque was paid in on Monday 16th April and was available on Tuesday 24th April (!!!). I then made an internal transfer of this amount to my websaver account on that Tuesday and it took over 24 hours for this internal transfer to complete.

    It's bad enough that it took 10 days for the cheque to clear but can someone tell me why the Halifax internal transfer took over 24 hours whereas it's usually instant for my other accounts with LTSB and A&L?
  • MarkyMarkD
    MarkyMarkD Posts: 9,912
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    mervyn11 wrote: »
    Put very simply this is how the likes of the Halifax make millions of ££££s using your money..........and Halifax semms to be one of the worst for this sort of delay.
    If you have a business why not move money online using the BACS system ???
    There is only a three day delay never any longer.
    Using cheques to move money now is a bit prehistoric !!!!
    Oh Mervyn, stop the baseless bank bashing please.

    Savings accounts are not meant to be transactional accounts. The 10 days the OP refers to is almost definitely a time for clearance for withdrawal, not a time for interest being paid on the balances, so your comment about making millions is incorrect.

    Savings accounts are not credit scored; cheques may clear for value in 3 working days but they are not definitely cleared (for fate) for much longer than that. Most financial institutions are not prepared to take the risk of a customer paying in a rubber cheque into a savings account, and then withdrawing it in case 3 days later.

    Your point re BACS is spot on though - if the BACS transfer was instructed on Friday then the money would be there, in the current or savings account, as available funds by Tuesday or at the latest Wednesday.

    Using cheques is a very inefficient way of moving money - and it requires visiting the branch too when it could all be done by phone or online by BACS.
  • xnetco
    xnetco Posts: 138 Forumite
    I've noticed that Natwest are really good at clearing cheques. For example, if I put a cheque in on Thursday, I can spend it on Saturday. Same speed as BACS.
  • regularsaver1
    regularsaver1 Posts: 4,930 Forumite
    Current account - 3 working days

    savings accounts - 7 working days

    can't you pay the cheque into the bank account as then as soon as clear, transfer to the savings (same day if all with halifax)

    or BACS transfer from his Business account

    Regarding interest on cheques- the interest is paid the next working day after paying in
  • regularsaver1
    regularsaver1 Posts: 4,930 Forumite
    GCH888 wrote: »
    This happened to me this month when I paid in a cheque into my Halifax savings account. The cheque was paid in on Monday 16th April and was available on Tuesday 24th April (!!!). I then made an internal transfer of this amount to my websaver account on that Tuesday and it took over 24 hours for this internal transfer to complete.

    It's bad enough that it took 10 days for the cheque to clear but can someone tell me why the Halifax internal transfer took over 24 hours whereas it's usually instant for my other accounts with LTSB and A&L?

    It is instant

    sometimes there are extra checks on withdrawals from cheque transactions
  • dc
    dc Posts: 2,547 Forumite
    MarkyMarkD wrote: »
    Oh Mervyn, stop the baseless bank bashing please.

    Savings accounts are not meant to be transactional accounts. The 10 days the OP refers to is almost definitely a time for clearance for withdrawal, not a time for interest being paid on the balances, so your comment about making millions is incorrect.

    Errr take it you are in banking.

    SO where is the money during the clearing days, it is def not in the payee's account??

    Strange it takes so long, even with EFT, yet if you make a debit card payment, there is an INSTANT check if funds are available, even if a cheque is meant to clear the next day or if cash is to be deposited before the debit is taken. So the means are available but the banks choose the time trodden path, methinks there is a profit motive too. ;)
    ac's lovechild
  • dunstonh
    dunstonh Posts: 115,911
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    SO where is the money during the clearing days, it is def not in the payee's account??

    The receiving bank's clearing house, then the bank of england, then the paying bank's clearing house and then back to branch (or central location depending on bank).

    Remember that the person issuing the cheque still has the funds in their account right up until it comes off their account 3 days later. so, they are earning interest.
    I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.
  • regularsaver1
    regularsaver1 Posts: 4,930 Forumite
    and the person the cheque is paid to is earning interest day after it being paid in, even not available to draw on
  • MarkyMarkD
    MarkyMarkD Posts: 9,912
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    dc wrote: »
    Errr take it you are in banking.

    SO where is the money during the clearing days, it is def not in the payee's account??

    Strange it takes so long, even with EFT, yet if you make a debit card payment, there is an INSTANT check if funds are available, even if a cheque is meant to clear the next day or if cash is to be deposited before the debit is taken. So the means are available but the banks choose the time trodden path, methinks there is a profit motive too. ;)
    I'm a shareholder in a number of banks and a lot of the bank bashing on this site is incorrectly based.

    The basic cheque clearing cycle doesn't include any days at all where the banks skim off interest. The money is always in one customer's account, or the other's (the recipient's or the payee's). The profit motive simply doesn't apply to the basic cheque clearing process.

    Extra clearing days allowed for higher risk accounts (like savings accounts) are a different matter and the delay in allowing funds to be withdrawn is for a different reason: to prevent fraud losses, rather than to earn extra interest for the bank. And that is why many/most savings accounts will pay interest on cheques deposited a long time before they allow the funds to be withdrawn.
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