cheques not cleared

smj124

thought i would ask if anybody has had the same problem with there bank. i deposited a cheque for £4000 pounds into my account from another person. placed cheque in account. asked cashier when cheque would be cleared. i was informed seven days. returned to check account. £4000 deposited in my account. withdraw £4000. the next day i check my account im now £8000 pound down due to cheque not cleared when i enquired about this i was informed cheques can take upto 21 days to clear. wish they had told me that. when i asked why this amount was credited to my account i was told its a good will gesture the bank offers. giving you the money before the cheque clears. i would just like to thank the halifax for there good will playing with my money. is this lawfull? this should be stopped. i thought if anybody wants to make lots of money start up your own bank acoount abroad send a friend a cheque leave for 7 days withdraw all the money then shut down the account. happy banking halifax thanks for all your help.

thesaint

The Halifax are correct.

I believe that the system is changing later on this year with regards to the clearing cycle.

soolin

The bank is both right and wrong.

A cheque can be clear for funds several days before it is clear against withdrawal or clear against fraud.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6144756.stm

I've had a cheque withdrawn after being clear for funds for over 5 weeks, and only last month e2save stopped a cheque 5 working days after being paid into my account and 2 working days after being cleared for funds.

Soo

RayWolfe

It seems to me that Halifax are trying to be helpful. The fact that you refuse to read your T&Cs to find out how it works is a matter of regret. Next time you will be wiser. Meanwhile don't spoil a good system for the rest of us and always make sure your creditors are good for their promises before relying upon them.

regularsaver1

The bank could have let you have the money in 3 working days - but it could have bounced much later than that

maybe you could have waited a lot longer before withdrawing the £4000

I'd be more concerned about who gave you the cheque that bounced

The bank did nothing wrong

Biggles

RayWolfe wrote:

It seems to me that Halifax are trying to be helpful. The fact that you refuse to read your T&Cs to find out how it works is a matter of regret.

Not exactly. It's just a case of the usual dim cashier giving the Standard Answer; people usually just want to know when the cheque is 'cleared for drawing against' and that varies, from bank to bank, between 4 and 7 days. But the cheque can then be rejected by the paying bank up to (I believe) six months from the date of deposit.

I doubt this is mentioned in any T&Cs, it's just the way the banking system works and is the same in any bank. It's only now becoming better known, until last year I believed, like most people, that if I banked a cheque, and it hadn't bounced by the time it was cleared to draw against, that my money was secure and nothing could change that. Wrong.

There is always a risk, with cheques from people you don't know well, that they will stop the cheque. This is why you should never accept cheques for goods, eg on eBay.

regularsaver1

Biggles, thats not very nice saying the "dim cashier". They answered the question and it would have been on the receipt - ie to be drawn against. The bank did nothing wrong.

The customer could have paid for special clearance, although this does not stop the payer cancelling the cheque after

Biggles

regularsaver1 wrote:

Biggles, thats not very nice saying the "dim cashier". They answered the question and it would have been on the receipt - ie to be drawn against. The bank did nothing wrong.

The customer could have paid for special clearance, although this does not stop the payer cancelling the cheque after

They gave a partial answer; if they'd given the full answer, he'd have known where he stood. In the same way, he may well have asked for special clearance, but the answer he received gave him no reason to believe that it was necessary.

regularsaver1

The bank shouldn't have to go into all this about the 6 months

customer pays cheque in, and their decision to draw on it

BenL

The cashier should really have used the term "available" instead of "cleared".

I used to work for a bank and this was what we were required to say & write to customers.

This is a big way in which people are conned as cheques can be return unpaid weeks/months after the funds have been made available.

A little info but doesn't really help you now.

Ben

Alfie_E

soolin wrote:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6144756.stm

Why do I worry about the word “unless”? After Novemeber, there might be conversations like the following.

You: You reversed the cheque I paid in?
Bank: That’s correct, sir.
You: But, it’s gone six days since I paid it in. I thought it was supposed to be definitely cleared by then?
Bank: Not if we suspect fraud, sir.
You: Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you put the money in my account?
Bank: I’m afraid we couldn’t let you know that we suspected fraud. That would have been ‘tipping off’.

Until Novemer, this other BBC page – When has a cheque cleared? – gives a phrase you might want – “given value”. Probably not one to be used with counter staff, but certainly in writing or when telephoning centralised customer services, when there’s a chance you’ll eventually get someone who can answer the question.