A Letter to the Bank

[WhiteOleander]

A Very Important Letter to the Bank

Dear Sirs,

In view of what seems to be happening internationally with banks at the moment, I was wondering if you could advise me correctly...

If one of my checks is returned marked "insufficient funds," how do I know whether that refers to me, or to you?

[John of PA]

The bank will never tell

If what your asking is WHICH BANK is the one thats slow on clearing checks (when you get a check drawn on uncollected funds notice), the bank of the check you deposited? or your bank. I don't think either bank is going to admit that they are the one taking longer to clear. Remember Commercial Banks can clear funds faster than Thrifts, Savings & Loans, or Credit Unions.

[thomtax]

My big complaint is this. ING primarily transfers money via electronic transfer. Recently, they enacted a policy that when they receive funds, you must wait 5 days before being able to use the funds, even though they get the electronic transfer long before that. But, if you are transferring money out, they remove the money immediately, even though they have not made the transfer until the next day.

As usual with banks, the attitude is "Heads I win, tails you lose".

LT

[Nashville]

Holding Periods

"Availability of funds" actually was a big farce during the 80s. Banks would hold funds "subject to the availability of collection" for 4 days. Then 5 days. Then 6 days. Then, I heard of a bank in Atlanta that was holding deposit availability for 7 days. After much outrage from the business community, finally Federal regulators put a ceiling of three days on the banks.

The effect of holding funds subject to availability for 5-6-7 days was a hoax, and just yet another one of the bank policy devices designed to keep more of your money in their bank, and requiring you to keep larger balances. Many banks, for example, have withdrawals set up on "real time" but still cling to the old tradition of not crediting your account if a deposit is made after 2:00 P.M.

I hope these banking games of holding money under the false excuse of waiting for money to be collected has not returned. More and more people are seeing past this hypocrisy.