It just annoys me that it takes a full 7 days to process a cheque in a bank after u have paid it in!

Why does it take so long these days?

I would guess so the banks can make some money off the cheque while they take a long time processing it.

In todays technology its a shambles how long it takes them to do this, no wonder they make sooo much profit.

'Cos the banks like to make money... :)

It shouldn't and needn't take that long for most cheques - it's just that the banks haven't bothered to improve the infrastructure.

Seems to take any time between 3 and 10 days.

I guess they're trying to get us in to being a Cashless/paperless society - which ain't good for those of us who've had credit problems!

Joe

The banks hold on to it for so long so that they can make interest / invest it for a few days for themselves!

Granted if it took one day then fine, with admin etc... But 7 days, thats ridiculous! It should normally only take 3! Id have a word with your bank!

Originally posted by JoeP
'Cos the banks like to make money... :)

It shouldn't and needn't take that long for most cheques - it's just that the banks haven't bothered to improve the infrastructure.

Joe

errata; this should read dont want to :rant:

Originally posted by Ollie
Granted if it took one day then fine, with admin etc... But 7 days, thats ridiculous!

Thats pretty regular if you "bank" with Halifax, the pretend bank.

Originally posted by nick2
Thats pretty regular if you "bank" with Halifax, the pretend bank.

Many building society cheques take between 5 and 10 days to clear. HBOS, although now a bank, seems to have clung on to some of the building society habits.

Mind you, any of us who've ever 'put a cheque on the road' will understand the occasionaly relief that can be obtained by timing one's cheques to take advantage of the clearance system. ;)

Joe

Originally posted by JoeP
Mind you, any of us who've ever 'put a cheque on the road' will understand the occasionaly relief that can be obtained by timing one's cheques to take advantage of the clearance system. ;)


It's the only way I can eat/drink the week before payday, and I'm not alone, acording to the checkout girl at ASDA the number of cheques they get the last week of the month is enormous.

It's not just cheques that take a long time to clear, but also payments straight into bank accounts via internet or telephone banking. I regularly transfer money from my current account to my savings account - it leaves one by standing order on 1st of the month and usually appears in the other around 7th of the month. Why should an electronic transfer take so long?! I lose a week's worth of interest on that money because it takes so long to get to my savings account!

Originally posted by banesmabes
It's not just cheques that take a long time to clear, but also payments straight into bank accounts via internet or telephone banking. I regularly transfer money from my current account to my savings account - it leaves one by standing order on 1st of the month and usually appears in the other around 7th of the month. Why should an electronic transfer take so long?! I lose a week's worth of interest on that money because it takes so long to get to my savings account!

Change banks.
If I transfer money between accounts with HSBC it's appeared in the destination account before I can click to check if it's there. So that's less than a few seconds.

Between banks there are reasons for the delay, and that's to verify the transaction back to the source to mitigate the risk of fraud.
Ie, if you've stolen the money and transferred it, you have to wait 3 days before you can withdraw it and move to the caribbean, which is 3 days for someone to notice the theft and report it.

I believe that there's an ongoing ofcom (or banking equivalent if that's the wrong one) investigation, and that banks have already been told they have to improve the situation by 2007.

The reason that cheques take so long to process is because of highly lucrative (and profitable) short term investments that can be made by banks. When the money is neither in your account or the receivers bank account it is being used in the bank's short term (ie. overnight) investments that make them loads of money. It's a con really but something that is widely accepted to be the norm amongst financial institutions. Interestingly enough, the Finnish government passed legislation perhaps 1-2yrs ago that stated banks had only 4hrs to clear cheques. Though a significant amount of money can still be made with your money in 4hrs it does limit them somewhat. Just makes you think what they can do with 3 days!

Originally posted by nick2
Thats pretty regular if you "bank" with Halifax, the pretend bank.
:clap: :clap:
the halifax is THE WORST imo, we deal on ebay and paid cheque payments normally cleared in 8-10 days, so we swopped to HSBC, and they usually take within 3 days to clear, that way I get my money quicker and the buyer gets their goods quicker!
Well done HSBC, poor poor Halifax :P