Hoping you can give me some info. I deposited a cashiers check for the sale of my car. The bank has a 2 week hold on it. I don't want to ship the car until I know the check has cleared. Is the hold period the same time it takes the check to clear? How do I know when the check is cleared? Thanks all!
Request a wire instead. Tell the guy the situation and have him cancel cashiers check in favor of wire to speed things up. Congrats on selling the beast.
Did you make a copy of the check? If so contact the issuing bank and make sure it is real. If it is then ship the car. There are so many fakes nowadaws, I am suprised they didnt hold the funds longer.
Hi Jerry, That sounds excessive. The length of hold depends on your banking relationship. The cashier check is as good as cash. However, the reason they hold it is to make sure it's not a "counterfeit cashier check". When I deposit cashier check, my bank (bank of america) will make fund available immediately...fwiw. As an alternate option as the previous poster suggested, request the buyer to wire fund and offer to pay for the wire transfer fee ($10 to $15). Congrats on your sale.
Thanks all My wife called B of A and they are going to call on the check & they should be able to release the funds tomorrow. I don't know why they don't do that in the first place????
In Canada not paying interest on held funds is against the law. Interest is earned the day money is deposited, whether or not there is a hold on the funds. I suspect that this is the same in the US, as anti-banking advocates would have consumer field day if in fact they got the use of the "float" for free. If the funds do not clear for some reason, the bank would reverse the interest accrued for the period of the hold. Anyways, congrats Jerry !!
Wow, I guess I'm the only one with banking experience on here. The check is on hold because the checks that are conterfeited MOST OFTEN are official bank checks. The misconception is that bank drafts are as good as cash and should be treated so. WRONG. The criminals know that these accounts will have the most funds, and all they need to do to get the account number is to buy a small official check. The criminals then proceed to create their own checks. Some are more sophisticated than others - holograms, ink fades, watermarks, etc - I know this is going to sound trite, but <i>you really would not believe your eyes if you saw a real check next to a fake one that was modeled after it. </i> The hold is to ensure that the draw on the funds is legitimate. If you went to Bank AA with an official check that was FROM Bank AA, they would be able to tell if it were real or not by looking it up on their system. If, however, you went to Bank AA with an official check from Bank BB, Bank AA would have no idea if it was a real check or not, until the funds transferred properly. The two weeks is probably standard for your bank for what sounds like an out-of-state check. (actually, it's probably 10 business days). BUT, if you have a relationship with your banker, they will be happy to check with the drawing institution to see when the check clears, and then release the hold before the 10 day wait. I've done it plenty of times for people who just ask. The bank wants its money, plain and simple. It's not about the interest. It's about the funds. If the check were for $100, they might not worry about it. But if it's high, they want to make sure that they don't get clammed on a big loss. If someone cleared a large check that came back as fraudulent, they could lose their job, just like that. There's not much that these criminals won't do to steal from the big banks. The banks' dillema is that the typical client doesn't use a lot of large official checks, but most people need one at least once in their life - moving an investment, selling/ buying a car/house/boat/etc. So, when this does happen, they want thier money <i>quickly</i>. The bank wants to wait long enough to see that the funds are there, but not at the expense of losing a client. Any bank that cares about their clients would try to follow-up with the drawing bank and release the hold as soon as possible to keep the client from waiting any longer than necessary. Sorry, rant....
So, I get a 2 week hold on a cashier's check, or I get a 2 week hold on a personal check. Why would anyone use a cashier's check anymore? The reason people used to use cashier's checks back in the day was to avoid the hold, but that no longer applies. And why do some banks charge more to wire money than to issue a cashier's check? Shouldn't wiring money be easier and cheaper to do? It's all handled by computer with little human intervention. -steve
Cashier's checks used to be the ultimate in safety until the crooks started counterfeiting them. Now you really need to be wary if it is from someone you don't know. Wiring the money is the fastest and safest because it is bank to bank. It removes all doubt about collected funds for a check to clear. The sending bank won't do it unless the funds are available (or if the funds aren't the bank gets burned not you). If you do enough business with your bank ask them to waive the fee for sending/receiving the wire. Worst they can do is say "no." Sending a wire is a manual process for the bank. Someone must enter the wire instructions into the computer and someone else must verify and send it. It does take two people and some amount of time to get one sent. Doesn't take much effort on the receiving end. If you are concerned about giving someone your routing number and account number for the wire, set up a new account to be used only to receive the wire and leave no money in it (or minimum to avoid service charges) or close it after the wire comes through. There is info available on bad cashier's check and bank drafts on the FDIC and OCC websites I think. It really is very widespread.
I deposit cashiers checks all the time...its a 'required' 7 day hold at my bank BUT in two days if you call them they will call the issuing bank and clear it over the phone. That seems to be the easiest method for me. J
Bennett hit the nail right on the head. Banks want their money. Of course, aside from covering their a$$es, I can attest from knowing multiple people who are employed by banks who say that they are the most greedy institutions you could imagine. They're out to snatch any money they can out of their clients' pockets. And I know people in all levels of banking. Just my $0.00 (I had 0.02 but the bank took it)
I disagree with bergxu and bennett. It is not the bank's money. The bank treats the deposit of a cashier's check like any other check. If you deposit a personal check from someone and it bounces, the bank will debit your account for the bounced check and probably hit you with a returned check fee. The exact same thing will happen with a cashier's check. The bank is not the one getting burned by accepting a bad check (cashier of otherwise), the customer is. By putting a hold on the money from a cashier's check the bank is treating it as uncollected funds. They will pay interest on it but not allow it to be withdrawn until the check clears. If they were to allow it to be withdrawn and the check is subsequently returned as bogus or NSF the customer may become overdrawn and subject to overdraft fees. Knowingly writing checks on uncollected funds can be seen as check kiting, a criminal activity. This link is to the Federal Reserve Bank's website explaining Funds Availability (Reg CC) http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/regcc/regcc.htm PS - I have been around bankers all my life and have found most of them to not match Bergxu's description.
