cheque clearance...5 DAYS!!!

And the officer at the bank who bore the brunt of my anger responded with "Well, I guess you should learn to live within your means, huh?" 

Oh my god if someone said this to me I think I would have attacked him/her right then and there...

 WHAT?!?!? I can't believe this. If you deposit a check...even if it is drawn on the same bank, it takes 5 days to clear?? My husband just opened account at Barclay's and I'm pretty sure he did not know about that. I'm so glad I saw this thread because I'm sure it would cause a ton of problems. That is absolutely ridiculous!! Thank goodness Josh has direct deposit. Wait.....they don't put a hold on direct deposits do they?

Oh my god if someone said this to me I think I would have attacked him/her right then and there...

I did better....I closed my account, my mother closed her account, my brother and two of his children closed their accounts. A**HOLE!

WHAT?!?!? I can't believe this. If you deposit a check...even if it is drawn on the same bank, it takes 5 days to clear?? My husband just opened account at Barclay's and I'm pretty sure he did not know about that. I'm so glad I saw this thread because I'm sure it would cause a ton of problems. That is absolutely ridiculous!! Thank goodness Josh has direct deposit. Wait.....they don't put a hold on direct deposits do they?

No they show up right away - I think it's the physical cheque thing that takes the 5 days.  It might be sooner than 5 days if it is the same bank, not sure?  And this was Barclays as well, but the woman on the phone told me 'it's the same at all banks' 

No they show up right away - I think it's the physical cheque thing that takes the 5 days. It might be sooner than 5 days if it is the same bank, not sure? And this was Barclays as well, but the woman on the phone told me 'it's the same at all banks'

Yes, it shows up right away, but you cannot draw on it for 5 days. It exists, but not in your "Available Balance." And...even if it is a check from the same bank, it still takes that 5 flippin' days.
IMO, avoid Barclays. I have heard much better things about HSBC, and we are about to switch.

Oh yeah and get this, if I deposit a cheque from my employers Bank of Scotland account, I am told by my bank, Lloyds, that it may take longer than 5 days to clear, 'cos it's got to go to Scotland! WTF!!  Well, at least they tell me!

I have to agree with all the previous posts that the whole cheque cashing thing is crazy, BUT, I guess the banks would dearly love to do away with cheques all together, as it costs them money to process them (and ... heaven forbid, they have to employ people to do it!) - so they try and discourage their use.

Anyway, I use Lloyds and my wife has an account at Nat West and they have been very good so far.

And...even if it is a check from the same bank, it still takes that 5 flippin' days.

The one way to speed things up is to do transfers. If you both have accounts at the same bank, you can transfer funds from one account to another online and it goes in right away.... Not that that always is an option, but dh and I do that from time to time.

I can't fault my bank NatWest. I love the online banking. If I know my funds are low, I check my balance daily, and if something that comes through puts an account in the red, I can transfer from savings to cover it right then and NOT be penalised at the end of the day, that surprised me.

I did get a cheque for a car loan, took to them one day to deposit, waited two days and went back and they allowed me to withdraw the cash even though it hadn't officially cleared, it was a few grand, no small potatoes. But then it's a small town bank, the people there recognise me now.

I do get annoyed with depositing US checks, takes 2-3 weeks to clear and costs me 5-10 quid each.

Yes, it shows up right away, but you cannot draw on it for 5 days. It exists, but not in your "Available Balance."

See there's the thing I don't get - it showed up under "balance" when I checked it online.  To me that indicates it is AVAILABLE but obviously that is not the case.  Also, and here is what I plan to bring to their attention when I try to get the fees reversed, is that I called over the weekend because I got a charge rejected at a shop.  They looked at the account and told me "we cannot see why it would be rejected, you have available funds"  Um hello, doesn't that mean the funds are AVAILABLE???   

If I request a balance from an ATM, it shows two figures:

1) Total Balance
2) Funds Available for withdrawal today

Which is helpful, isn't it!  That's Lloyds by the way.

Sounds like you need to change banks!!

This is why I despise when people give us cheques. Give me cash!

If I request a balance from an ATM, it shows two figures:

1) Total Balance
2) Funds Available for withdrawal today

Which is helpful, isn't it!  That's Lloyds by the way.

Sounds like you need to change banks!!

Does it still state this if you check your balance online?
Yep happened to me to when we first got here, I was so mad. The bank however, after playing the dumb American, didn't charge us the fees, I was lucky but boy it sucked!

Yes, it shows up right away, but you cannot draw on it for 5 days. It exists, but not in your "Available Balance." And...even if it is a check from the same bank, it still takes that 5 flippin' days.
IMO, avoid Barclays. I have heard much better things about HSBC, and we are about to switch.

we are in the process of switching to HSBC....they gave us more money to pay things off and to build an extension...better than our own bank would do...

YEAH!!

If anyone is OK with internet only banking I cannot recommend Smile highly enough. Excellent customer service!

If I request a balance from an ATM, it shows two figures:

1) Total Balance
2) Funds Available for withdrawal today

Which is helpful, isn't it!  That's Lloyds by the way.

Sounds like you need to change banks!!

My bank does this, and I just don't get why there are two figures? It confuses me totally....