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Posted By: Gilbert Porter

With the most recent update in banking laws last month (electronic clearance of checks - which is why most of you don't get cancelled checks back anymore), most banks will clear checks within 24-48 hours, even across major cities. Indeed, I have had checks clear in the SAME AFTERNOON that they were delivered. The bigger delays are not due to distance, but are due to whether or not your particular combination of banks have direct access to Fed wires and clearinghouses (i.e., major commercial banks will clear faster than remote savings and loans or credit unions, who rely on intermediary banks to handle their funds transfers). The ten-day rule ought be obsolete, but it will take some time before we all get used to the new quicker process.