How to cash in a cheque?

jambosans

marisa wrote: »

At Halifax they now have special atms inside you can just feed the cheque into, it scans it, asks you to confirm the amount then insert your debit card, and mine "cleared" in under 24hours that way.

I think you're mistaken. If you deposit through any means (be it over the counter or via ATM) the cheque still has to go through clearing, which normally takes 3 working days on a Halifax current account. What you may have misunderstood as "cleared" is when a cheque is paid in, the amount is displayed on your balance, but it is still not cleared - this fact is reflected in your available balance.

I hadn't heard of this special ATM, but according to the Halifax website it is called an Immediate Deposit Machine. Like I've already stated, the same rules for cheque clearing apply to this machine also. As I've said I think you've just misunderstood a cheque reflected in your balance when deposited with a cheque cleared and available to withdraw. Funnily enough however transactions will deduct from the balance on the cheque, but this still does not indicate the money is cleared and you shouldn't be able to withdraw the funds.

The only time I've heard of cheque clearing faster is when the drawing sort code is the same as the payee account (i.e. it's the same Halifax Branch) or via Special Presentation. Perhaps someone with more knowledge on the Halifax, or cheques in general can clarify on this one?

Basically you can't speed up clearing because you have to send pieces of paper back and forth, and that takes time.