Quote:
Originally Posted by octothorp
A surprising amount of the banking system is, believe it or not, still paper-based. All these checks need to be collected, checked by the receiving banks against the ATM record, then sorted, sent via high security to the bank that the check is issued from, and then checked again for authenticity by that bank. If you have a poor credit rating, your bank will wait until confirmation from the issuing bank before releasing the funds.
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I wouldn't say a poor credit rating as much as a poor account history. If you have an account where your balance has been frequently overdrawn or you have a lot of returned items or returned deposited items, any checks deposited by you are subject to an extended hold. While it only takes two business days for a check to clear, it can take up to ten days for your bank to receive notification that a deposited item is being returned, and that's where the risk is.
People who manage their checking account properly don't generally have checks placed on hold unless they meet specific risk criteria, an unusually large dollar amount, personal check drawn on a bank out of your district, etc.