Cheque processing: a bit slow?

I thought under the FCA’s CASS (not the switching service) rules, they only had until the end of the next working day to bank the cheque. So they may want to speed up a bit on that!

Well it will have been banked today. Due to it going by post I have no idea if they bank it when received or when they get around to it. For all I know the post arrived a day or two after I posted (which would make sense - Royal Mail is bad but hardly 10 days for one letter bad) and they have just had a backlog of cheques and therefore it’s been days since being received.

Mmmmmm. The rule for clearing cheques is that within 4 days of receiving the cheque, the bank should have added the funds to your account. After 6 days, the funds are guaranteed yours and the cheque can no longer bounce.

“All banks and building societies in the UK have implemented these maximum timescales for sterling cheques paid into sterling bank accounts in the UK. In exceptional situations, should they be unable to deliver on these timescales, they would explain the reason why.”
https://www.chequeandcredit.co.uk/information-hub/faqs/2-4-6-cheque-clearing-timescales

Even by a generous estimate, Monzo have had my cheque for longer than 4 working days and I don’t the faintest whiff of money yet. And I’ve only been able to get an explanation by asking for one.

Hmmmm

Under “Depositing a cheque”

Banks are not required to meet this timetable for clearing cheques but most always will and some even do it more quickly. If your cheque does not clear within this timetable, ask the bank to explain why.

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It would start from the moment they receive the cheque by post tho? Not when you send it off.

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I’m really sorry to hear about the delay :disappointed:

For clarity here, we are not a member of the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company so we don’t process cheques ourselves and our processing time is not included in the 4 day period. Sadly it can take a while for cheques to reach us, particularly if they get posted over a weekend or bank holiday.

Cheques are usually processed on the day we receive them and are bulk scanned through a fancy machine and noted as received on your account. They then go off to NatWest that day who start the process of clearing them. We then download a file daily from them and mark cheques that have cleared/bounced as such on your account.

Occasionally, we get big batches of cheques that we may process across multiple days but that is a rare occurrence.

In the future, we’d love to do in app cheque imaging but that is a fairly involved process and would require us to become a member of the Cheque and Credit Clearing Company I believe, so I don’t know the timescale on that.

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@HughWells random question… do you accept hand-delivered checks? :wink:

Not normally, I’m afraid :see_no_evil:

I think we occasionally do have people bring them in though

Get it done!

Cheques aren’t going anywhere just yet.

Personally, I hate them, but I still receive a few each year, and the easier you can make the process, the better.

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Posted cheque on 28th
“Cheque Received” message on 6th Sept
Still not credited to my account on 12th
The stated date when it should have reached my account is 13th.

Is that acceptable ?
Im not sure.

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Surely only you can define what you find acceptable?

I would say that by most people’s standards, over 2 weeks for a cheque is unacceptable.

What I’m finding astonishing here is that if any legacy bank EVER took that long to process a cheque you’d all be outraged!

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When would you ever post a cheque to a legacy bank though? Avoiding this postage stuff is partly why I still have a First Direct account (even though the local branch has closed).

Even without the posting, Monzo had that cheque for 6 working days. And 2 non-working days.

I could be wrong. Maybe if HSBC took 6 working days to give someone money people would be saying “Good old HSBC”?

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It was the first time using the service.

Looks like ill still have to keep a back up dormant account going for a little.

I do find is frustrating that the fintechs I use Monzo, Starling, & Coconut all seem think that cash and cheque processing provision is some form of back burner project.

Surely its a fundamental basic set of services ?

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Precisely. Until that point is realised Monzo/Starling can never compete with banks that do provide full service.

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That’s true for the subset of customers who care but, as with everything, isn’t a universal truth. What I don’t know is what proportion of the market that is.

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It is the unknown subset that only have an account with either Monzo or Starling because their banking needs are wholly met by either. Like you I do not know the size of the subset but anecdotally there isn’t one member of this forum in that position.

Now that Monzo are showing future transactions in the feed, it would be great if they showed when a cheque is expected to clear.

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It’s on the board to be added in the future!

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