Royal Bank of Scotland "Processing" of Inter branch cheques

cosmokramer2004

Hi all,

Yesterday I deposited 3 RBS cheques to my account at my local RBS branch.. the cheques were not issued by my local branch and normally I just cash any RBS cheques and receive funds immediately.

However, today, I checked my account online and the 3 cheques I'd deposited yesterday are still not appearing in my recent transactions. I called the Royal Bank of Scotland helpdesk in India/Nigeria :mad: and the gentleman I spoke with - quite possibly the Fonejacker - advised me that all inter branch RBS cheques take 2 days to process and that the funds should be clear by tomorrow.

Can anyone advise if this is actually the case? It seems strange to me that the bank would refuse to honour their own cheque instantly just because I deposited it into my own account - like I say I normally cash the cheque in the same branch without incident. If anything, that I've deposited it instead of cashing it should give them more confidence.

Any similar experiences?

BASFORDLAD

Just a change of policy prehaps?

pmduk

RBS call centres are in the UK

lolavix

Policy changed a while back as far as I know and they need to go through the clearing system the same as any other cheque would

pinkdalek

Been a big increase in cheque fraud. Fraudsters have cottoned on to this and often deposit "washed" cheques into accounts which then clear immediately.

Innocent account holders have their account debited, the fraudsters meanwhile have immediately taken the monies due to it being instantly available.

chambta

Even 'house' cheques go through clearing now.

Anti-fraud measures I'm afraid.

JuicyJesus

House cheques are fraud magnets. Making them take longer to clear is sensible for all concerned.

Basic lesson: if you want funds quickly, don't use cheques.

cosmokramer2004

Thanks for the replies all, it makes sense to take the precaution of clearing in regards to anti-fraud measures, but it strikes me as illogical that I could have instead cashed the cheque immediately - without an RBS account - using a passport as identification.

The money is now showing in my account, although still not cleared. Hopefully Monday. I guess the moral of the story is to cash inter-branch cheques and deposit the proceeds as an independent transaction.

pmduk

cosmokramer2004 wrote: »

I guess the moral of the story is to cash inter-branch cheques and deposit the proceeds as an independent transaction.

The best lesson to learn would be to use faster payments.

cosmokramer2004

pmduk wrote: »

The best lesson to learn would be to use faster payments.

How do you use faster payments to cash a cheque?

JuicyJesus

cosmokramer2004 wrote: »

I guess the moral of the story is to cash inter-branch cheques and deposit the proceeds as an independent transaction.

Good luck cashing (i.e. exchanging for immediate cash) a cheque crossed "Account payee only".

Again, ask people to pay you by Faster Payment instead of cheque. Then the funds are yours, cleared, within 2 hours. And you don't have to do anything at all to put the money into your account.