Where does the money go ??
Discussion
If you pay a cheque in it get transported to a clearing house for your bank, they then transfer it to the clearing house for the bank it's drawn on, then it's sent to the branch of that bank, where upon your signature is verified, should it be for a large sum,otherwise it's shoved in a large brown envelope and stored away for a few years.
Or something like that.
Or something like that.
Newspapers have been bashing the clearing system for a while, and it looks as though the banks are going to have to change it.
I've never had a problem with the delay because it allows you to pay someone by cheque even if you're unsure at that moment if you've enough funds in your account to cover it. You then have a couple of days to check, and move cash into your account if necessary.
With instant transfers, you don't have that luxury.
I've never had a problem with the delay because it allows you to pay someone by cheque even if you're unsure at that moment if you've enough funds in your account to cover it. You then have a couple of days to check, and move cash into your account if necessary.
With instant transfers, you don't have that luxury.
mybrainhurts said:
Newspapers have been bashing the clearing system for a while, and it looks as though the banks are going to have to change it.
I've never had a problem with the delay because it allows you to pay someone by cheque even if you're unsure at that moment if you've enough funds in your account to cover it. You then have a couple of days to check, and move cash into your account if necessary.
With instant transfers, you don't have that luxury.
It's technically illegal to write a cheque that you know you don't have funds to honour - not sure what the rules are concering "might have" situations!
On the other hand, with Internet banking, you can check before you cheque, if you see what I mean...
miniman said:
Newspapers have been bashing the clearing system for a while, and it looks as though the banks are going to have to change it.
I've never had a problem with the delay because it allows you to pay someone by cheque even if you're unsure at that moment if you've enough funds in your account to cover it. You then have a couple of days to check, and move cash into your account if necessary.
With instant transfers, you don't have that luxury.
It's technically illegal to write a cheque that you know you don't have funds to honour -
Dead right, but never mind, eh?
miniman said:
On the other hand, with Internet banking, you can check before you cheque, if you see what I mean...
Aye, but you can't pay if you check and there's nowt in your account, can you?
As things are, you can.......
And I find it bloody hard to carry the PC down the shops without snagging the mains leads round traffic lights/street lamps/old ladies.........
suppose you're one of those clever dicks with a mobile telephone that talks to the interthingynet, aren't you?.....
The reason for the delay in transferring funds is very simple:
It's a con that the Banks use to make more money off you. That's it. Pure and simple.
In some more civilised countries, Finland for example, the Government which is generally on the side of the electorate, passed a law requiring banks to make transfers within 24hrs.
Guess what? They now do.
It's yet another abuse of the British public of "Treasure Island."
See my Dispatches Parking Con post for another choice abuse of the public trust.
It's a con that the Banks use to make more money off you. That's it. Pure and simple.
In some more civilised countries, Finland for example, the Government which is generally on the side of the electorate, passed a law requiring banks to make transfers within 24hrs.
Guess what? They now do.
It's yet another abuse of the British public of "Treasure Island."
See my Dispatches Parking Con post for another choice abuse of the public trust.
Yup, it's just a historical remnant of manual banking days.
The cheque does eventually arrive back at your branch, where a monkey (sorry, clerk) is supposed to check that (a)words and figures match (b)date is within the last year and not postdated (c)it is a cheque FROM THAT BRANCH, (d)a valid payee is entered and (e) that it's signed. A rubber stamp is then applied to cancel the cheque.
If they allow the transaction to proceed (ie bored clerk isn't paying attention, and having sat and cancelled (tens of?) thousands of cheques I can tell you it is fhuching BORING) and you happen to query it, er, well, all sorts of things might happen.
But it was a long time ago, so I forget quite what...
Strictly speaking, the payee bank should have checked the cheque at time of pay-in, but they seem to be getting more lax. I paid an expenses cheque in last week that was written out by our accounts dept as 'FOURTY-four pounds FOURTY-seven pence'.
Now in my day I'd have refused to accept that at the till, but I guess modern society cares not a jot for illiteracy...
The cheque does eventually arrive back at your branch, where a monkey (sorry, clerk) is supposed to check that (a)words and figures match (b)date is within the last year and not postdated (c)it is a cheque FROM THAT BRANCH, (d)a valid payee is entered and (e) that it's signed. A rubber stamp is then applied to cancel the cheque.
If they allow the transaction to proceed (ie bored clerk isn't paying attention, and having sat and cancelled (tens of?) thousands of cheques I can tell you it is fhuching BORING) and you happen to query it, er, well, all sorts of things might happen.
But it was a long time ago, so I forget quite what...
Strictly speaking, the payee bank should have checked the cheque at time of pay-in, but they seem to be getting more lax. I paid an expenses cheque in last week that was written out by our accounts dept as 'FOURTY-four pounds FOURTY-seven pence'.
Now in my day I'd have refused to accept that at the till, but I guess modern society cares not a jot for illiteracy...
ywouldi said:
No expert but I guess it sits in the banks "book", allowing them to lend more money out and get more interest?
There is no reason why, in this day and age, that transfers cannot be almost immediate.
Ben
This is why GB banks still use archaic checqes, cashing in on "man-in-the-streets" numptyism.
In the EU checques are virtually non-existant (except in the peoples republic of Gaul), here I fill out a transfer form, and the transfer is processed within 30 seconds of it reaching the bank process (EU legal requirement) and NO DELAY between the accounts! that means it leaves my account NOW and is on yours within 30 seconds!!!!!! of course internet banking has made this even faster as you can do the transfer from your PC (at your own risk)
Not a banker, but a peed-off chappy who knows that banks are just milking us with whatever means they have at their disposal...I'd use barter if I could!!!
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