Understanding and Avoiding Bank Deposit Holds
Making a deposit in your bank or credit union account often is only the first step in having access to your funds. Sometimes it may appear that your bank is playing keep-away with your money when they place holds on your deposits. In fact, there are strict regulations regarding how long financial institutions can place a hold on your funds. There is a law, the Expedited Funds Availability Act, through what is known as Regulation CC, which governs the length of time a bank may place a hold on funds deposited in a variety of forms. From the Federal Reserve consumer help pages here is an outline of the key rules of thumb:
Type of DepositWhen Available **
| Direct deposits | Day of deposit |
| Wire transfers | Next business day (Mon-Fri) |
| First $200 of any non-"next-day" check deposited | Next business day (Mon-Fri) |
| Cash* | Next business day (Mon-Fri) |
| U.S. Treasury checks (deposited in person or at ATMs owned by your financial institution) | Next business day (Mon-Fri) |
| U.S. Postal Service money orders* | Next business day (Mon-Fri) |
| State or local government checks* | Next business day (Mon-Fri) |
| Cashier's, certified, or teller's checks* | Next business day (Mon-Fri) |
| Checks and money orders drawn on another account at the same financial institution | Next business day (Mon-Fri) |
| Federal Reserve Bank and Federal Home Loan Bank checks* | Next business day (Mon-Fri) |
| Any other checks and non-U.S. Postal Service money orders | Second business day (after the day of deposit) |
| Deposits (of items noted by "*") made at an ATM owned by your financial institution | Second business day (after the day of deposit) |
| Deposits made at an ATM not owned by your financial institution | Fifth business day (after the day of deposit) |
* Deposited in person
** Maximum hold allowed; your funds may be available sooner - check with your financial institution
Exceptions: If you haven't experienced these rules, there may be a couple of reasons:
1) Some banks may choose to not enforce any holds on an account that is in very good standing and has a very predictable track record.
2) Some bank branches, particularly on the West Coast, enact cut-off times for deposits to be recorded on that day. So, what would ordinarily be a next business day available check turns into a second business day available deposit if the deposit is made after 3 or 4 PM.
3) Regulation CC outlines a series of exceptions to the fund availability rules:
- New accounts (less than 30 days) may be subject to additional holds for deposit amounts in excess of $5,000 (with holds of 9 business days for the amount exceeding $5,000)
- Large deposits (in excess of $5,000) in aggregate can be held additional time at the bank's discretion
- An account with repeated overdrafts or negative balances (6 or more in a 6 month period) can have deposits held additional time at the bank's discretion
- An account with two or more days in which the account has a negative balance in a 6 month period can have deposits held additional time at the bank's discretion
- Wire transfer - wire transfers are typically not held and available the day of the transfer. The wire transfer cut-off time is 1:30PM. This method is particularly useful for amounts in excess of $5,000.
- ACH transfer - this is an electronic transfer of funds from our accounts to yours - the transfer is scheduled to occur the following business day (1 day transfer) and these funds are generally not held, but check with your bank for policies.
- Cash transfers to Bank of America clients - our bank is Bank of America so we can transfer cash to your BofA account anytime up to the time the branches close here in Seattle (generally 6PM).
- Deposit of a cashiers check at a local branch - cashier's checks are generally not held for more than 1 business day, depending on that branch's cut-off times.
- Deposit of a business check at a local branch - many bank accounts do not experience bank holds at all. If your account is in good standing and sizable check deposits are not unusual to your bank, then our deposits may not be held at all or may simply be held to the same standard as any local check.
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