Personal Checks - Clearing

[Yellowhouse Sam # 25171]

Typically, I send personal checks for most large items not caring if it takes a couple of days.  A dealer tells me that it normally takes 10 days from the time they receive for a personal check to be deemed legit.  In this age of cyber speed I find this hard to believe.  Would the dealer have to mail the endorsed check to my bank and await approval.  How does this work nowadays?

[Subdeacon Joe]

58 minutes ago, Yellowhouse Sam # 25171 said:

Typically, I send personal checks for most large items not caring if it takes a couple of days.  A dealer tells me that it normally takes 10 days from the time they receive for a personal check to be deemed legit.  In this age of cyber speed I find this hard to believe.  Would the dealer have to mail the endorsed check to my bank and await approval.  How does this work nowadays?

 

It's simple.  You write a check for something, the vendor deposits it in his bank which processes it and 3 nanoseconds later the funds are out of your account.

 

Someone writes you a check for something, you deposit it, the bank processes it, and the funds hit your account 7 to 10 business days later.

 

Once about 30 years ago just before Christmas I deposited my paycheck at an ATM at about 4p.m. on a Thursday. "Funds deposited after 2:30 p.m. will be processed the next business day.".  OK, cool, I'll have it Friday.   Nope.  Because that bank was already counting that as Friday, so "the next business day was MONDAY." 

 

I agree, with all the electronic connectivity it shouldn't take a week.  48 hours at most, and really shouldn't be more than 24 hours.

 

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

Checks clear overnight.  Whether the account holder's bank credits the account the next day or some other day, is up to the bank.  Typically accounts that are deemed "high profile" i.e. large relationship or user of multiple products, are credited the next business day as available funds.

[Marshal Dan Troop 70448]

3 days is the longest and many instantly after they enter it. Bought a high priced item. Wrote a check and before we left they returned the check and said it had vleared.

[Rye Miles #13621]

I get checks from customers and they clear the next day or day after depending on when they were deposited. 

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

4 hours ago, Marshal Dan Troop 70448 said:

3 days is the longest and many instantly after they enter it. Bought a high priced item. Wrote a check and before we left they returned the check and said it had vleared.

Boy, I just hate it when my checks vlear.  

[sassnetguy50]

7 hours ago, Yellowhouse Sam # 25171 said:

Typically, I send personal checks for most large items not caring if it takes a couple of days.  A dealer tells me that it normally takes 10 days from the time they receive for a personal check to be deemed legit.  In this age of cyber speed I find this hard to believe.  Would the dealer have to mail the endorsed check to my bank and await approval.  How does this work nowadays?

From the time they receive being the key.  They may be doing drops once a week.  Receive on Monday, process on Tuesday,  drop after close on Wednesday, bank processes on Thursday,  deposit receipt mailed out Friday.  Post office delivers on Tuesday, accounting gives the all good to shipping department on Wednesday.  Now imagine that check was received on Thursday and had to wait for the coming Wednesday. 

[Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933]

7 hours ago, Yellowhouse Sam # 25171 said:

Typically, I send personal checks for most large items not caring if it takes a couple of days.  A dealer tells me that it normally takes 10 days from the time they receive for a personal check to be deemed legit.  In this age of cyber speed I find this hard to believe.  Would the dealer have to mail the endorsed check to my bank and await approval.  How does this work nowadays?

Why would anyone write a check these days?

[Rip Snorter]

I don't care to do anything financial on the computer / internet.  I have a special checking account with a limited balance and no CC backup.  I used to use PayPal out of that account then they woke. I will do credit card purchases online with established businesses that I have dealt with before. I always pay with checks or cash at favorite local businesses so they don't have to pay a CC fee.  Works for me. 

[Dirty Dan Dawkins]

If I receive a certified check for a significant amount, I just get my bank to call and clear it with the bank the check was written from before I deposit/cash it to make sure it's not fraudulent. Takes 4-5 minutes and people in line get pissed waiting, but I am usually making 2-3 deposits at a time anyway I did this just yesterday on a Gunbroker sale.

1 hour ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

Why would anyone write a check these days?

Some folks do not take electronic payment, I do not in my business, and the $10 certified check fee from the bank is often times less than the 3% surcharge for CC purchases some folks impose (such as sellers on Gunbroker)

[John Barleycorn, SASS #76982]

11 hours ago, Yellowhouse Sam # 25171 said:

Typically, I send personal checks for most large items not caring if it takes a couple of days.  A dealer tells me that it normally takes 10 days from the time they receive for a personal check to be deemed legit.  In this age of cyber speed I find this hard to believe.  Would the dealer have to mail the endorsed check to my bank and await approval.  How does this work nowadays?

My bank recommends 10 business days for out of state personal checks. 

[Sedalia Dave]

A legit check can clear in one business day. The problem lies with counterfeit and stolen checks. This is why it can take 10 business days for a check to clear.

 

A few years ago there was a scam involving cashiers checks. Bank name and address on the check did not match the routing #. Machines sorted and routed the checks via the routing #. When the bank received it they noticed it was not their check so they sent it back into the system thinking that the mis-routing was just a scanning error. Check would bounce around the system for several days before someone finally notices the discrepancy. In the meantime, the person that counterfeited the check is long gone with the merchandise.

 

Once I learned of this scam I made it a point to never accept a cashiers or certified check from an individual I didn't know. Large purchases are done via a MO(s) that my bank can instantly verify, wire transfer between banks, or cash done in the bank.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

As a former banker (I came to my senses some thirty years ago) I'm finding this topic to be kind of bizarre, as Overnight/"Net Settlement" has been common since the 1970's.  As noted by a few folks above, barring processing errors or security issues, funds should be available in one day - or sometimes instantly.  (Mind you, processing errors and security issues do happen ~ oh, the stories I could tell!)  

 

Hardpan, what went from "mailroom clerk" with the original Master Charge company to VP grade department head*/ project manager of a li'l bank once headquartered in San Francisco (BofA).  

     *Merchant Settlement, responsible for processing deposits of $50 - $60 million/day in late 1980's dollars.  THAT was scary!  

[Blackwater 53393]

19 hours ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

Why would anyone write a check these days?

I occasionally write a check on an account that I keep for hobbies and my hotrod shop.  There is no credit card associated with this account and it isn’t overdraft protected, so it can’t be hacked for some large amount by forgery or “check washing” tricks.

 

I know how much is in the account within a few cents and what is outstanding against it.  There is a debit card attached to it for local purchases and for non-firearms related electronic transactions.

 

For folks who don’t have direct electronic transaction capability, I will write a check from this account or I will purchase a postal money order to pay for my purchases.

 

 I don’t make firearms related purchases electronically! EVER!   AT ALL!!

 

And that is why anyone would write a check these days.

[Tell Sackett SASS 18436]

On 4/4/2023 at 10:24 AM, Yellowhouse Sam # 25171 said:

Typically, I send personal checks for most large items not caring if it takes a couple of days.  A dealer tells me that it normally takes 10 days from the time they receive for a personal check to be deemed legit.  In this age of cyber speed I find this hard to believe.  Would the dealer have to mail the endorsed check to my bank and await approval.  How does this work nowadays?

Very slowly!!!

Moved to a small town from Houston. Big bank to small bank.

Sigh….

[Tell Sackett SASS 18436]

21 hours ago, Larsen E. Pettifogger, SASS #32933 said:

Why would anyone write a check these days?

To go to a big match!!