Let’s be honest about this, it takes a silly amount of time to clear a cheque with today’s technology, but we have come to expect that. One thing I have relied on is that all cheques take the same time to clear, so if I pay in a cheque and wait a couple of days, it will clear before any cheques I write are drawn.
I know that people say that the money leaves my account instantly and the bank holds on to it for a while, but it has worked for me until I tried to pay the tax man. I received a letter from the bank yesterday informing me of a £39 charge for bouncing my cheque. After calling up it appears that organisations such as Revenue and Customs, and customer who pay extra, can have cheques cleared quicker.
I politely told the bank that they will be refunding this charge, and they did.
Delicious
Flickr
Google Plus
Hackaday
Instructables
Lanyrd
Twitter
YouTube
Facebook
Geocaching
Yes I know a lot of people who use cheques knowing they have no money, but will get paid by the time the cheque is cashed.
So while many people complain about banks making money by making cheques take a few days, I bet they’d make more from credit cards if they suddenly became instant.