Any banks that don't place long holds on large deposits?

I just deposited a 9k BT check from Citibank into my Wachovia account and won't have the funds available for at least a week. I know they are allowed to do this, but it's annoying and I'm wondering if there are any banks that don't normally put long holds on checks like this?

Thanks

mill4023 said: I just deposited a 9k BT check from Citibank into my Wachovia account and won't have the funds available for at least a week. I know they are allowed to do this, but it's annoying and I'm wondering if there are any banks that don't normally put long holds on checks like this?

Thanks

I can deposit over $100K into both BOA and Citibank and both banks gives me instant credit on all deposits even personal checks.

Banks computer determine the holds by your average balance. They dont give people who average balance is $200 instant credit to $10K check because they have no idea if the check is good. But if you average balance is $100K they not worried about a $10K check as more than likely if the check bounces you will have funds in your account to cover the bounced check.

my balance is $100 in my wachovia
however , monthly balance is usually 2k( but I always take the money to my savings as soon as my paycheck clears )

I have had deposited checks more than $1400 at least 10 times , the funds are always available next day.

We are fairly new account holders. We've had the account for about 7 months and we don't keep much of a balance in there. I deposit my paycheck once a month, then pay all the bills. I guess I figured since it's a check from another bank, they'd get their money pretty quickly and wouldn't need to keep the funds on hold after that point.
Like I said, I know they're allowed to do it. I was just wondering if this was standard among all banks or if some were better than others.

thanks

I think the average daily balance issue really rings true for me at least. I've used Bank of America for over 8 years now. I used to have an ADB of $2000 or more. I used to be able to deposit in/out of state checks up to about $11-12k without any holds.

Since I started depositing most of my salary and moving all my BOA deposits to GMAC the day after I deposit, they have been putting holds on checks lower than $5,000. Totally just an excuse for them to make interest off my money, saying I'm a risk - nevermind the past 8 years I have never been overdrawn or deposited a bad check!!

EDIT: Oh and after calling the bank manager of my branch, they have refused to release any funds.. even for cashiers checks in the past two months.

scott1961 said: This is one reason it's nice to have a good relationship with a local bank. I have deposited checks for over $100k and had funds available same day. Just go see manager and they call issuing bank and verify check and then no hold

I dont even need to talk to the manager Scott. BOA and Citibank computer automatically puts no holds on any deposit I make. I assume if they switch managers it possible new manager does not want to remove holds for you which is why I prefer computer method over manager method.

i have to agree with kranky, hold times are negotiable. In my case we had just moved from out of state and I had a paycheck from a medium sized local company. When opening a new account they told me my check would be on hold, I politely explained that it was unacceptable, that their were many banks around that I could open an account with. They had my SSN from my paperwork and went back and did a soft pull on my credit (my scores are usually 760+). A few minutes later the person came back with a big smile and told me that there would be no hold and how much they wanted to be my bank.

The same thing works with utilities and deposits to turn them on or doing budget billing, if you have a good credit score let them know and they suddenly become very nice.

Usually, it only needs a supervisor's approval to have the funds immediately available.

There's lots of gullible Nigerian scam recipients asking this same exact question.

Banks in my area are getting a lot of bogus check too. So they are weary of not putting a hold on them. But, I usually don't have a problem, go inside and get to know the tellers by name ect... and then later you should have a problem!(because they will know that you are on the level, like getting checks deposited after 2pm with available funds for free!)

dolmar said: I can deposit over $100K into both BOA and Citibank and both banks gives me instant credit on all deposits even personal checks.

Banks computer determine the holds by your average balance. They dont give people who average balance is $200 instant credit to $10K check because they have no idea if the check is good. But if you average balance is $100K they not worried about a $10K check as more than likely if the check bounces you will have funds in your account to cover the bounced check.

My experience with Citibank seems to indicate that their primary determinant of funds availability is the type of check being deposited. With 100K in my account, I've received immediate funds availability on Cashier's Checks over 250K. But, when I deposited a $600 personal check from my own CapitalOne MMA, made out to myself, only $200 was available immediately with the remaining $400 being available 5 business days later. According to the routing number, CapitalOne is non-local to me.

mh83 said: dolmar said: I can deposit over $100K into both BOA and Citibank and both banks gives me instant credit on all deposits even personal checks.

Banks computer determine the holds by your average balance. They dont give people who average balance is $200 instant credit to $10K check because they have no idea if the check is good. But if you average balance is $100K they not worried about a $10K check as more than likely if the check bounces you will have funds in your account to cover the bounced check.

My experience with Citibank seems to indicate that their primary determinant of funds availability is the type of check being deposited. With 100K in my account, I've received immediate funds availability on Cashier's Checks over 250K. But, when I deposited a $600 personal check from my own CapitalOne MMA, made out to myself, only $200 was available immediately with the remaining $400 being available 5 business days later. According to the routing number, CapitalOne is non-local to me.

I can deposit personal or bussiness checks and Citibank/BOA computer will clear the check with no holds at all. I deposit my partnership withdrawls every month into either Citibank or BOA. Some of the checks I deposit are drawn from out of state bank accounts and they still give me instant credit. I been told by bank managers they look at average balance and length account has been opened. I have had both Citibank and BOA accounts now over 8 years and Citibank account close to 20 years. My yearly average in both accounts is well over $100K.

Like I said if you have $100K in your account today but your normal average balance is $5K and all of sudden you deposit $50K check I have a felling more than likely the system will put a hold on your checks because if that checks bounces chances are you account will not have enough funds to cover the check.

fluschott said: About a month ago, there must have been a policy change because Citi now makes 100% of my deposits to Checking available immediately (even at ATM - without reducing available Checking Plus credit). However if I deposit checks to my Savings/Money Market, normal holds are still placed on the funds until they clear. If I want to deposit to my Savings, I get around the holds by depositing to my Checking account first (100% availability) and then immediately transferring the funds from Checking to Savings.

Well I can deposit checks into my checking/E-savings or SB FMA accounts I get no holds at all at Citibank. Are you saying for example if you have checking plus limit of $10K you can deposit $40K in personal checks and they still put no holds? Or all your deposits have been for less than your checking plus limit?

I have $50K checking plus limit but I can deposit over $100K and still have no holds and I can deposit the checks into any account I want just not my checking account. If you look at Citibank web page they have feature called "Check-As-Cash". I have felling if you can only make deposits into your checking account then you are using the feature called "Checks-as-Cash" and not have the hold released based on your account history.

"Checks-as-Cash Why wait for checks to clear? Sign up for Checks-as-Cash ® and your check deposits may be available for use immediately up to your Checking Plus ®1 limit , so you can withdraw funds or write checks right away.

1 Checking Plus (variable rate) will prevent a check from being returned unpaid and provide coverage for deposited checks that have not yet cleared only to the extent your line of credit is unused and available for these purposes.

dolmar said: Like I said if you have $100K in your account today but your normal average balance is $5K and all of sudden you deposit $50K check I have a felling more than likely the system will put a hold on your checks because if that checks bounces chances are you account will not have enough funds to cover the check.
You seem to have missed the point of my post. My experience with Citibank appears to contradict your assertion that Citibank determines their check hold times based on the account's 'normal average balance'. If this were the case, both of my checks would have had holds placed on them. But instead, only the smaller check, $600.00, received a 5 day hold while the much larger check, $250,000.00, received no hold. The difference between the checks, which you seem to be ignoring, is that the larger check was a Cashier's Check while the $600 check was a non-local personal check.

I realize that you have CPB so your Citibank accounts may work differently from those with a regular banking relationship with Citi. The following is the notice I received last October.


The following improvements to our Funds Availability Policy became effective October 27, 2006.

GENERAL POLICY

CHECK DEPOSITS TO SAVINGS AND MONEY MARKET ACCOUNTS MADE WITH A TELLER

Effective 10.27.06, our policy is generally to make funds from check deposits to savings and money market accounts made with a Teller available to you on the business day of deposit. (Prior to this change, funds from these deposits were made available in accordance with our Standard Funds Availability Schedule previously provided to you).

CHECK DEPOSITS TO MONEY MARKET ACCOUNTS MADE AT A CITIBANK ATM

Effective 10.27.06, our policy is generally to make funds from check deposits to money market accounts made at a Citibank ATM available to you on the business day after the business day of deposit. (Prior to this change, funds from these deposits were made available in accordance with our Standard Funds Availability Schedule previously provided to you).

CHECK DEPOSITS TO SAVINGS ACCOUNTS MADE AT A CITIBANK ATM

Funds from check deposits to savings accounts made at a Citibank ATM will continue to receive availability in accordance with our Standard Funds Availability Schedule previously provided to you.

FUNDS AVAILABILITY NOTICE

In some cases, we may not make all your funds available to you in accordance with our general policy. If this should occur, and the deposit is not of the type described in the ‘Deposits Given Special Availability’ section of your Client Manuel/Marketplace Addendum, your deposit will be made available in accordance with our Standard Funds Availability Schedule. Therefore, depending on the type of check that you deposit, funds may not be available until the fifth business day after the business day of deposit.

If the availability of your deposit will be delayed, we will tell you when the funds will be available at the time you make your deposit. If your deposit is not made directly with one of our Tellers, or if we decide to take this action after you have left the Financial Center, we will mail you a notice by the next business day after we receive your deposit.

IMMEDIATE AVAILABILITY OF CERTAIN CHECK DEPOSITS

Effective immediately the categories of checks described in your Client Manuel/Marketplace Addendum under the section ‘Deposits Given Special Availability’ are available immediately on the business day of deposit rather than the next business day. Those categories of checks are; 1)U.S. Treasury Checks, 2)Federal Reserve Bank Checks, 3)Federal Home Loan Bank Checks, 4)U.S. Postal Money Orders, 5)State and local Government Checks, 6)Cashier’s Checks, 7)Teller’s Checks, 8)Certified Checks, and 9)Traveler’s Checks. Please remember that in order to receive immediate availability for certain check deposits (Government Checks, Cashier’s Checks, Teller’s Checks, Certified Checks and Traveler’s Checks), you must take your deposit to a Teller who will help you complete a special deposit ticket.

All other terms and conditions described in the Funds Availability Section of your Client Manuel/Marketplace Addendum continue to apply.

Craig:

Thanks for the information regarding personal check clearance at Wamu.

I'm shocked to hear that you've abandoned Wamu. Weren't you touting Wamu+Amboy as the "perfect" bank combo a couple of months ago?

I think you owe the Rate-Chasers an apology. Looks like it's people on an eternal hunt for the perfect bank that are the disloyal ones! No, I haven't forgotten.

Not all banks give immediate funds availability to Cashier's Checks. Prior to last October, Citi gave next day availabilty. At Dime Savings they held a 105K Cashier's Check for 5 business days even though I already had 145K in my Dime account. I can go on and on with experiences with other banks and Cashier's Checks. They are not treated the same at all banks.

So for fun, based on your logic, why did they hold my $600 personal check? I've never bounced a check before in my life. FICO = 812. I've only had the Citi accounts for less than 6 months but have never gone below $10,000 in the account. (I've had Citi accounts before, about ten years ago. I closed them because of poor customer service.) I've also had Citi Credit Card for 10 years.

mh83, there is a difference between rate chasers and what i did....alot of rate chasers will set up multiple accounts (sometimes 8, 10 or more) and keep moving money around, if one or the other goes up .10% or whatever....lol I do not waste my time with that. (here comes the "flames" from the chasers i can feel it now). As i said, i like WAMU very much, but for convenience reasons, decided to move over to BOA because of being able to get a high yield savings account. Had i not been able to do that with BOA, i probably would have stayed with WAMU.

As far as AMBOY, i still think they are excellent...although i always felt that they should allow more then 1 bank link for convenience reasons....I was just looking to get away from having to use seperate high yield savings accounts (lke AMBOY) and wanted to have both high yield saving and checking at one bank, preferably a large bricks and mortar one...

The switch from WAMU to BOA was mostly motivated by more branches and more convenient branches, rather then anything else...Though i have to admit, i do like BOA's Online Banking/Bill pay a tad better then WAMU's (though WAMU's is not bad)...
And because i also occassionally like to use atms for free that are not BOA's, i recently found a nice Credit Union that is on the Allpoint and Co-Op networks, which gives me free access to even more atms...

This is what i have now, and am not planning on any other changes.....all the moves were motivated purely by "convenience factors"....and "streamlining" All i have is 1 bank and 1 credit union...and that's all i want to have....

craig10x said: mh83, there is a difference between rate chasers and what i did....alot of rate chasers will set up multiple accounts (sometimes 8, 10 or more) and keep moving money around,
All i have is 1 bank and 1 credit union...and that's all i want to have....
Would be great if I could only have 2 banks like you, Unfortunately I need that 10 or more to stay fully insured. So having a number of banks does not always mean you are a rate chaser.

mh83 said: So for fun, based on your logic, why did they hold my $600 personal check? I've never bounced a check before in my life. FICO = 812. I've only had the Citi accounts for less than 6 months but have never gone below $10,000 in the account. (I've had Citi accounts before, about ten years ago. I closed them because of poor customer service.) I've also had Citi Credit Card for 10 years.

I dont know maybe because it is a new account? If you read the terms of service from Citibank it states all new accounts for 90 days will be subject to max hold on all deposits. The Bank has nothing to do with Credit Card business. Just like if you have a SB account tellers can not see your balance nor does your balances print on your deposit slips. Bank does not care about your credit score. You can have 812 credit score and recieve a check in the mail from your XXX. Deposit XXX check and have it bounce. Does your credit affect a 3rd party ability or granteed they write good checks? No. Cash in your bank account grantees that if a 3rd party check bounces you will make good on it.

If you read in TOS Citibank states they give instant credit on all cashier checks. You even quoted that part.

asdf, constantly moving around to gain a tad more interest here and there is not like moving for convenience, it's chasing rates....plain and simple.

Huh? I never said convenience and rate chasing are the same thing. You move your accounts for convenience as often as I move my accounts for rate chasing. We have the same amount of transfer hassle, how are they not alike? Your benefit is convenience, my benefit is extra money.

You spend more time putting down rate chasers on this forum then I spend rate chasing.

A guide to Regulation CC

Reg CC is a useful guide for the maximum holds that banks can put on checks deposited into checking accounts.

When dealing with a very large check, I'll often choose to make the deposit directly into a highish yielding account (even if it means mailing the check and waiting) rather than deposit into a low-yielding account that will get a hold placed on it.