Bank hold times on deposits are set by federal law under Regulation CC, and for most deposits the wait is one to five business days. Cash handed to a teller and electronic payments like direct deposit clear by the next business day. Personal checks typically clear in two to five business days depending on where the check is drawn. Under specific exceptions, a bank can extend that wait to as long as seven or eleven business days, but only with written notice explaining why.
Deposits That Clear the Next Business Day
Cash deposited in person at a teller window must be available by the next business day, and the same rule applies to electronic payments including ACH payroll deposits and federal tax refunds.1eCFR. 12 CFR 229.10 – Next-Day Availability
Several types of checks also qualify for next-day availability, but only when handed to a bank employee and deposited into an account belonging to the payee:
- U.S. Treasury checks, including federal tax refund checks
- U.S. Postal Service money orders
- Federal Reserve Bank and Federal Home Loan Bank checks
- State and local government checks deposited at a bank in the same state that issued the check
- Cashier’s checks, certified checks, and teller’s checks
Those conditions matter. Deposit a cashier’s check at an ATM instead of with a teller and it no longer qualifies for next-day treatment under this rule. Cash dropped in a night deposit rather than handed to a teller gets a second-business-day deadline instead of next day.1eCFR. 12 CFR 229.10 – Next-Day Availability
How Long Personal and Business Checks Take
Checks that don’t qualify for next-day treatment follow a schedule tied to where the check is drawn. A local check, meaning one drawn on a bank in the same Federal Reserve processing region as your bank, must be available by the second business day after deposit. A nonlocal check can be held until the fifth business day. A personal check from a distant out-of-state bank can therefore sit in your account, visible but unavailable, into the following week.2eCFR. 12 CFR 229.12 – Availability Schedule
Whatever the check type, the first $275 of any check deposit must be available by the next business day.1eCFR. 12 CFR 229.10 – Next-Day Availability That’s a daily aggregate, not per check. Depositing three checks on the same day still only guarantees $275 the next morning. Your bank’s funds availability disclosure, given to you when the account was opened, spells out how it classifies checks and applies these schedules.
ATM and Mobile Deposits
Where you deposit a check changes what the bank can do. At a proprietary ATM, meaning one your bank owns, operates, or hosts on its premises, deposits follow the same schedule as teller deposits. Cash clears next business day; checks follow the standard local or nonlocal rules.3eCFR. 12 CFR Part 229 – Availability of Funds and Collection of Checks
At a nonproprietary ATM, everything shifts. Every deposit at another bank’s or a third-party network’s ATM, cash or check, can be held until the fifth business day after deposit.2eCFR. 12 CFR 229.12 – Availability Schedule The $275 next-day guarantee does not apply. If quick access matters, don’t use another bank’s ATM.
Mobile check deposits sit in a regulatory gray area. Federal regulators have not definitively ruled that a check image captured through a smartphone app counts as a deposit at a branch or ATM under Regulation CC’s definitions. Until they do, your bank’s deposit agreement controls how long a mobile hold can last. Most banks voluntarily follow the standard Regulation CC timelines, but some impose longer holds on mobile deposits for risk reasons. The deposit confirmation screen in your bank’s app should show when the funds will post.
When a Bank Can Hold Your Money Longer
Regulation CC lists six situations where a bank can extend a hold beyond the normal schedule:
- Large deposits. When check deposits exceed $6,725 in one banking day, the amount above that threshold can be held longer. The first $6,725 still follows the normal schedule.4eCFR. 12 CFR 229.13 – Exceptions
- New accounts. During the first 30 calendar days after opening an account, the bank must still give you next-day access to cash, electronic deposits, and the first $6,725 of qualifying next-day check items. Any excess can be held until the ninth business day.4eCFR. 12 CFR 229.13 – Exceptions
- Redeposited checks. A previously bounced check being deposited again can be held again, unless the first return was for a technical reason like a missing endorsement.
- Repeatedly overdrawn accounts. If your account has gone negative six or more times in the past six months, the bank can invoke extended holds across your accounts for six months.4eCFR. 12 CFR 229.13 – Exceptions
- Reasonable cause to doubt collectibility. Visible alteration, a stale date, or information suggesting fraud lets the bank hold funds while it looks into the check.
- Emergency conditions. System outages, another bank suspending payments, or comparable disruptions.
Except for emergency conditions, the bank must give you written notice of any extended hold. The notice has to state the reason, the amount held, and the date the funds will be available. If you deposited in person, you should get the notice at the counter. If the bank makes the decision later, the notice must be sent no later than the business day after the bank learns the facts that justify the hold.4eCFR. 12 CFR 229.13 – Exceptions No notice, no valid extended hold.
The Outer Limit on an Extended Hold
Regulation CC caps how long the “reasonable period” for an exception hold can run. For a local check that would normally clear on the second business day, the bank can add up to five more business days, so the total hold tops out at seven business days. For nonlocal checks and deposits at nonproprietary ATMs, the bank can add up to six more business days, for a total of eleven.4eCFR. 12 CFR 229.13 – Exceptions
A bank can technically hold funds longer, but then the burden is on the bank to prove the extra time was reasonable. In practice, most banks don’t push past those extension limits. If a domestic check is still on hold past seven business days without a clear written explanation, something is off.
Electronic Transfer Timelines
Not every deposit is a check. Electronic transfers move on their own schedules.
ACH transfers. Roughly 80% of ACH payments settle within one business day or less.5Nacha. The Significant Majority of ACH Payments Settle in One Business Day or Less ACH debits must settle no later than the next banking day, and ACH credits no later than the second banking day. Same-day ACH is available for payments up to $1 million and settles three times daily.6Nacha. Same Day ACH The main variable is your bank’s daily cutoff. A transfer initiated after cutoff enters the next banking day’s cycle.
Wire transfers. Domestic wires through Fedwire are designed for same-day settlement, with funds usually arriving within hours. Wires process individually rather than in batches. A bank may briefly pause a wire for fraud screening on unusually large or unfamiliar transfers, though those pauses generally resolve within hours.
FedNow. The FedNow Service allows instant payments around the clock, every day of the year, with immediate access to funds. Participation is voluntary, so not every bank offers it yet.7Federal Reserve Financial Services. FedNow Service Will Raise Transaction Limit to $10 Million
International transfers. Cross-border wires through SWIFT typically take one to five business days. Each correspondent bank in the chain adds its own cutoff and time zone. U.S. banks must also screen every transfer against sanctions lists maintained by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, and any hit blocks the transfer entirely.8Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. Office of Foreign Assets Control Foreign checks are the slowest of all. Holds of 15 to 25 business days are common because the U.S. bank has to send the item abroad for collection.
What To Do If a Hold Looks Wrong
If your bank is holding funds past these deadlines without a written exception notice, start with the branch or customer service line. Reference the deposit date, the amount, and the availability deadline under Regulation CC. Ask for a supervisor if the first representative can’t explain the hold or release the funds.
If that fails, file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau through its online portal at consumerfinance.gov/complaint. The CFPB forwards complaints to the bank, which generally must respond within 15 days. If another agency supervises your bank, the OCC for national banks, the FDIC for state-chartered nonmember banks, or the Federal Reserve for state-chartered member banks, the CFPB routes the complaint accordingly.9Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
You also have legal remedies. A bank that violates the funds availability rules can be liable for your actual damages, meaning bounced check fees, late fees, and similar costs. Federal law adds statutory damages between $100 and $1,000 per individual claim, plus reasonable attorney’s fees if you win.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 4010 – Civil Liability You don’t need large losses to have a claim. Keep the deposit receipt, any hold notice the bank gave you, screenshots showing when funds actually posted, and records of any fee or penalty you paid because the money wasn’t there. That documentation is what turns a complaint into a case.