This is more of a rant so i put it in the Bear Garden

Experian finaly send me a cheque after i claimed back that insurance fee with credit expert.

The cheque was Barclays, and i bank with Barclays.

I paid it into my local branch on Friday and was told it will clear on the following thursday, 4 extra working days. We all know the cheque will actually clear that same night through the bank clearing system, so why the continued delay? The only explanation is getting interest before releasing the funds to the customer.

Is it any wonder people still do not trust banks

Pay in before 1500hrs to get earlier clearance Saturdays and Sundays not regarded as working days by the banks.

Cash cash transfers before 1500 Friday appear on statements on Saturday.

Cheques presented after 1500 Friday are not processed until Monday.

Barclays is 1600 for earlier clearence.

If i miss a DD or Standing order, as long as i pay it in before 1600 it is then paid the same day and does not bounce.

Cash transfers appear instantaneous between barclays accounts.

Do a transfer (payment) via online banking funds to your credit card provider are received same day and 2 days to update on your credit card account

I pay via co op online phone app to capital one... It is available within 15 mins as balance reduction, it shows next day as payment in the phone app. If I make a payment using capital one app by the linked debit card, my bank balance is reduced immediately and it takes 48 hours to appear as payment on cap one...

Same as me, i have the Barclays app on my ipad

I make a direct bank to bank payment to my credit card company it is showing as cleared funds within 48 hours

What happens to a cheque when you put it in the bank.

To be honest i had forgotten what a cheque looked like it had been so long since i last touched one

The cheque that night goes to the banks own clearing bank, the OCR reads the codes at the bottom of the cheque and knows instantly if funds are avaliable to cover the cheque. The bank then sits on the funds with all the other cheques getting interest before releasing those funds back to the account holder

After 4 working days

I never use cheques myself but you are spot on, they are picked up by courier eg: Royal Mail, TNT ect, and taken to the banks own clearing centre the same night.

Then the sitting begins.

I pay via co op online phone app to capital one... It is available within 15 mins as balance reduction, it shows next day as payment in the phone app. If I make a payment using capital one app by the linked debit card, my bank balance is reduced immediately and it takes 48 hours to appear as payment on cap one...

I have a smile bank account and until fairly recently a smile credit card. It took 2 days for payments to my card, but payments to Halifax card took 2 hours or usually less and funds were available then too. Why not to their own card?

I had a cheque sent to me today - I know that it will take 5 days if I pop it in the automatic teller or 4 days if I hand it to the human behind the counter. This is Santander.

I hand it to the human behind the counter. This is Santander.

They do walk amongst us

So true. The money disappears from the account of the person paying the cheque, but doesn't get to the payee's account for days. Since transfers aren't physical any more, and funds don't need to be ring fenced anymore, why such an antiquated 'system'? I get peeved by the amount of time allowed for debit card payments to be presented by the business to the bank - I've been caught out a couple of times by ring fenced money in my account then being released back to my account (without my realising it) only to then have money go out days, weeks, or one time several months later. It's the digital age - banks really need to keep up!

In the good old days a cheque cleared in 3 days. That was a long time ago and I never worked out why it started to take longer. I too have been caught out when I've paid for shopping on a debit card and it hasn't gone straight out of bank. In this digital age there's no excuse.

http://www.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/contact-and-support/banking-made-easy/cheque-clearing - from HSBC

However, in 2013, there were apparently plans to make cheque clearance quicker.. eg 2 days rather than 6 !!

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-proposals-to-make-cheque-depositing-easier-and-quicker-to-be-unveiled

Is it possible the banks make a profit from the money being in neither the pyer or payee's accounts for several days?

Interesting

http://www.chequeandcredit.co.uk/files/candc/press/cheques_the_facts_2012.pdf

It still does not answer if the cheque and the person who presents the cheque bank wth the same institution with clearance times

It still does not answer if the cheque and the person who presents the cheque bank wth the same institution with clearence times

Sorry, no read it all

It was many years ago, but I remember intending leaving Barclays and created a Co-op bank account as we had a 'branch' in our town which was physically larger than any of the other banks.

I opened the account with cash and a week or so later decided to test it before transferring everything over. I had a bill to pay of just under £200, but 'only' had £100 in the account. So wrote the check, posted it outside the co-op branch and walked up an paid £200 cash into the account over the co=op branch counter with receipt 10 minutes later.

The cheque cleared six days later. The cash cleared into my account 7 days later ( a day after the cheque) incurring all sorts of charges.

To cut a longer story short, they claimed it was a sub-branch, so cash took time to clear through the clearing system. I formally complained, including photo-copy of cash receipt without anything other than fob offs.

I closed the account and never returned there either.

NOW I AM IMPRESSED

One hour ago i made a payment from my Barclays Current Account using on line banking

I sent a payment of £50.00 to CashPlus my pre-paid credit card provider

I have just received a text thanking me for my payment and avaliable balance from CashPlus

Kind of puts Banks and cheque clearence times to shame

I've found that with Santander, when you make some online payments they are in the other account within minutes.