Cheque clearance

nicho2011

Is it just me, or are cheque clearance times getting longer and longer. I remember discussions years ago when UK cheque clearance was taking 3 days and the complaint was that in the Netherlands it happens the same day you deposit it so why not here?

The last two cheques I have paid in have taken 5-6 days to be available on the account.
The most annoying thought is that when you pay a cheque in it is digitised immediately so why isnt the amount bounced instantly to the payer account and confirmed electronically and bounced back immediately as OK. That should not take any longer than 30 minutes even allowing for hyper busy times.
I rang to see why the clearance was taking so long and was told they have to follow FSA rules and have to check that funds are available and there is no fraud - but the cheque I had deposited was sent to me by the inland revenue so what on earth have the bank got to check for?

So my question is, why isn't it same day clearance?

opinions4u

The cheque clearance system was built for a different age.

If you want payments to clear faster send a Faster Payment.

lolavix

The cheque clearance cycle has been the same for years - they are sent of to be processed, sometimes you can draw after 4 days, sometimes not - cheques aren't fully cleared until the 7th working day

rb10

lolavix wrote: »

sometimes you can draw after 4 days, sometimes not - cheques aren't fully cleared until the 7th working day

If you pay it in to a current account then you can always withdraw the funds from working day 4 (where day 0 is the day you pay it in).

They can still bounce up until the end of day 6.

nicho2011 wrote: »

the cheque I had deposited was sent to me by the inland revenue so what on earth have the bank got to check for?

The bank can't check that it's a genuine cheque straight away - for all they know, it could be a forgery.