kliggin
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posted on October 3, 2002 09:57:22 AM
How long do you hold personal checks before they clear. I called my bank and they could not give me a clear answer. They ended up telling just to take Money Orders. Is there a way to follow up on personal checks? I know most individuals say that it takes 7-10 days, but I had a friend who had a check bounce after 10 days.
Thank you in advance for your advice.
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sanmar
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posted on October 3, 2002 10:05:34 AM
Normally it takes 7 to 10 business days. Saturday & Sunday DO NOT count.
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punksushi
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posted on October 3, 2002 10:08:03 AM
i have read on here that some people were able to call the bank on the check and find out wether the funds were there to cover the check or not. i tried acepting checks and was only paid once with a check. i tried contacting the bank but they refused to let me know if teh check would clear. said it was illegal to give that info to 3rd parties. it bounced so i stopped taking them. i see checks as to risky. sure i may lose bidders who do not wish to use paypal or money orders but i rather lose sales and not money out of my own account.
waiting 7-10 days for a check to clear is what most people will wait. tho liek you said it doesnt really matter, the check can bounce later. i have also seen people put in their auction that a bank fee would be charged on all bounced checks. well if someone is going to bounce a check in the 1st place what makes you think theyre going to pay the bounced check fee?!
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jensmome
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posted on October 3, 2002 10:14:41 AM
It depends on what Federal Reserve District you are in and what District the check is drawn on. If it's the same district it will "clear" in about 48 hours. If it's farther away it takes longer. The banks have a publication that they used to have to post that explains it all. Notice I have "clear" in quotes. That's because if the check bounces on the first pass most banks automatically put it through again for payment. So it could take 14 to 21 days for you to get a bounced check notice.
Some of us ship right away if the buyer has good recent FB. We hold shipping on newbies for about 10 days.
And keep in mind that money orders are cleared like checks so funds are not instantly available. Also they can be forged with a good printer.
Ain't life grand?
Most large banks will give you a yes or no on whether funds are available on an account. They won't tell you an amount and they always tell you that the information is only good for this instant. No guarantees.
[ edited by jensmome on Oct 3, 2002 10:17 AM ]
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kliggin
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posted on October 3, 2002 10:22:45 AM
Thanks for all the responses. Yeah, life is grand...
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punksushi
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posted on October 3, 2002 10:49:47 AM
i had never heard of the bank before and i did ask them cant you just give me a yes or no wether this amount will clear. the lady said bluntly no it was illegal. oh well. my bad experience with checks doesnt mean its bad for all sellers.
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Coonr
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posted on October 3, 2002 11:01:36 AM
Most of my returned checks take 3-4 weeks to be returned. After nearly 6 years on eBay, and many thousand checks, I have only had 3 returned which were not made good by the buyer.
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toolhound
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posted on October 3, 2002 11:15:48 AM
I no longer take checks because after 3 years with no problems I got burnt. I found that it can take as long as 5 weeks for a check to come back. I had a $600.00 check returned that I have never got paid for after 34 days and a $400.00 check that I did collect on after 4 months of chasing that came back after 28 days. These 2 checks and 2 others all came to me in a 1 month period.
I take PayPal and money orders and have never had another problem.
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computerboy
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posted on October 3, 2002 01:09:43 PM
Bad checks never clear!
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sanmar
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posted on October 3, 2002 01:14:04 PM
I am like toolhound. I don't take checks for 2 reasons. # 1, Had 2 bad ones in about 10 days. 2nd; Don't like the time delay in getting to use the $$. Money Orders(USPS) clear in about 48 hrs. Have no problems with buyers re this. I state it in my TOS.As far as I can find out it is not illegal to tell you if the account has enough in it to cover the check at that moment. They cannot tell you just how much is in the account.
[ edited by sanmar on Oct 3, 2002 01:16 PM ]
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gottalottacoupon
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posted on October 3, 2002 01:46:55 PM
I had a person Stop Payment on a check after they recieved the item!
My 1st clue that it had happened was when The money was taken back out of my account, causing several of my checks to bounce.....My bank said the only thing I could do was report the person for theft by check.
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rgrem
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posted on October 3, 2002 02:08:52 PM
Any bright banker will not specifically give any time. There is a big difference between "clearing- money in your account", and the time that a check may be returned and debited. There is almost no limit to that. Many of us who take checks find that holding shipment, especially on small amounts, is just too much trouble, considering the extremely low # of bounces. Some of us have taken 100s of checks, shipped right away, and don't have a problem. If you really want to hold shipping until check is golden, better do it for 30 days. Also, seeing if there is money in the account doesn't mean it will be there when the check arrives.
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jensmome
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posted on October 3, 2002 05:34:31 PM
Most people don't know that you can "stop" a check after it's cleared. And I think you can do it up to 90 days!!! Possibly longer.
I've only ever had one check bounce for $300. I was very firm and explicit on what I would do if they didn't pay up plus my fees. Fortunately, the merchandise was returned and I sold it for more.
Checks are a risk but there are still alot of people out there who just won't do anything with a credit card on-line.
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