Express cheque clearance

toolpath

Has anybody heard of this lately?

Went down to my Barclays bank today to deposit my salary
cheque as I do every month. I always take the option to express
clear the cheque as it is free if you have a Platinum account with them.
I was told by the cashier, who also checked with her fellow cashier, that
an express clearance will now take 3 days. Thats not a very express service
I stated, why is that? The reply was that all the banks are now doing it.

I dont know if I am missing something here but, to have to pay £15 (normal fast clearance fee) to deposit your hard earned money in able
to access the funds in 3 days seems a little pointless as it only takes
3-4 days to normally clear. Maybe normal cheque clearance is to take
longer in the near future.

Any thoughts?

Fatboy_NSS

The process with quick clearance is that the cheque is sent to the paying bank by Royal Mail. They then either phone up to confirm if the cheque's going to be paid. Therefore the cheque should be cleared by lunchtime the next day. However if the post is delayed then the clearance can take as long or longer than normal clearance. It's probably for this reason that Barclays are trying to put you off using this service. The main advantage is that you definitely know if the cheque is going to go through or not, whereas with normal cheque clearance the funds become available after 4 days but the cheque could then be returned unpaid up to 6 months later.

davidcampbell

express cheq clearance is not designed to allow you to access your funds quicker - the purpose is so that if you have a doubt about the validity of the cheque, you can find out if it will be cleared. (although not all banks enforce this to my knowledge)

maybe thats what they meant?

DC

hyland1ellen

I spent 40 mintues in a Nat West bank to do " express clearance cheques.
£15.00 per cheque (Same customer but two cheques)
Said cheques get posted direct to customers bank BUT didn't know it was 1st class Royal Mail !.
The department calls the customers bank 1 call per day until confirmed that they ahve received the customers cheques and funds are available.

CHEQUES HAS NEVER BEEN RECEIVED !!!!

5 fives have gone, so ntohing I or the bank can do, just tell customer to cancel and re-issue cheques !.

Did express as we might not get another payment from them.

£30.00 for 5 calls, 32p postage (£30.00 to LOOSE the cheques !)

What if that customers goes under now !. IF I did it the normal way, probably would of been cleared !.

THE SERVICE OF EXPRESS CLEARANCE SHOULD BE BANDED, just another way of getting customers money !. Not worth the paper it's written on !.

jonesMUFCforever

I agree express clearance of cheques should be ceased.
It serves no useful purpose in today's world.
If you accept a cheque better to rely on 2-4-6 cheque clearance.

picassopete

i have used barclays several times for express clearance, and for some reason they ALWAYS try to talk you out of it, probably because they don't get any interest out of your money. i have never had a cheque that hasn't been cleared the next day though, usually after 3.

Mikeyorks

picassopete wrote: »

and for some reason they ALWAYS try to talk you out of it, probably because they don't get any interest out of your money.

They don't get any interest out of your money during the clearing cycle ... ever. So if they're talking you out of it ... it's probably they're being honest and realising you're doing it for the wrong reasons - and simply wasting the fee.

jonesMUFCforever wrote:

It serves no useful purpose in today's world

Not quite true. If you have a cheque you are dubious will be met .... it can give you an up front answer within 24hrs. And if that's affirmative .... the funds are then reserved by the drawer Bank and you're guaranteed them regardless of whatever happens to the balance of the account in the remaining couple of days to complete Clearing. Special presentation / special clearance has never offered more than that ... but the reserving of the funds appears to be missed by most.

cottager

Fatboy_NSS wrote: »

... The main advantage is that you definitely know if the cheque is going to go through or not, whereas with normal cheque clearance the funds become available after 4 days but the cheque could then be returned unpaid up to 6 months later.

Only an aside for anyone not spotting the date of the earliest posts in the thread: this comment was made in 2005 and is not the case now with 2-4-6 cheque clearance
(unless you're a knowing party to fraud)
http://www.chequeandcredit.co.uk/246/
http://www.bba.org.uk/bba/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=263&a=367&artpage=2

Actually, thinking about it... was it ever the case a cheque could be returned up to 6 months later? Maybe they could but I've either forgotten or never had one that was!
I wonder if what was meant was a cheque could be presented up to 6 months later (and still can I think?) so there was always a risk it could take that long to be returned for lack of funds at that time... which presumably is still the case then, in that scenario?

jonesMUFCforever

A cheque cannot be returned for lack of funds after Day 6.