[QUOTE=kambuckta]
To be perfectly honest, I agree with your caller. If the bank is open for ‘business’ 24/7 even if it is via the call-centre, then cheques should be cleared immediately.
There is no reason on earth, in this computerised day and age why cheques should take three business days to clear once they’re processed: either the cheque is cleared or it bounces…and that takes at most 30 seconds. What the banks are doing is holding customers to ransom, and using the proceeds of such cheques in the short-term money-market for a period of three days (no interest payable of course). If on the other hand you need three days ‘grace’ to have a cheque you issued cleared, no such luck: the bank will bounce it immediately.
It’s a huge (and emminently profitable) scam, and one that annoys the fuck out of many people…but alas, the ‘banks’ have the monopoly and the consumer has no choice at the end of the day.
[/QUOTE]
I’m not sure how the banking system works in Australia, but I can say with certainty that is not what happens in the US.
We do not hold that money in some account and make interest income on it. We, in fact, can’t process checks through the system if the Federal Reserve is closed. Our work goes through them in order to debit the other bank account and credit yours (or vice versa).
Therefore, any Federal Holiday, the bank can not process the check all the way through the system.
In fact, the Federal Reserve defines a business day as
[QUOTE=Biffy the Elephant Shrew]
“Good morning. Could I have this shirt cleaned ‘express,’ please?”
“Yes, that’ll be three weeks, dearie.”
“Three weeks? But the sign outside says 59-Minute Cleaners!”
“Yes, that’s just the name of the shop, love. We take three weeks to do a shirt.”
“Just the name of the shop?”
“Yes, that’s if there’s an R in the month, otherwise it’s four weeks. Your name does begin with a P, doesn’t it?”
God bless the Bonzos.
[/QUOTE]
Heh - I did have almost that same conversation with the guy in the video store.
[QUOTE=aldiboronti]
It’s down to the Sunday trading laws. UK Supermarkets are only allowed to trade between the hours of 10.00am and 4.00pm on Sundays. Which also means, of course, that the 24-hour supermarkets have to close their doors at midnight on Saturday.
[/QUOTE]
Except the petrol station part which does stay open 24/7, even on Christmas day
[QUOTE=kambuckta]
To be perfectly honest, I agree with your caller. If the bank is open for ‘business’ 24/7 even if it is via the call-centre, then cheques should be cleared immediately.
There is no reason on earth, in this computerised day and age why cheques should take three business days to clear once they’re processed: either the cheque is cleared or it bounces…and that takes at most 30 seconds. What the banks are doing is holding customers to ransom, and using the proceeds of such cheques in the short-term money-market for a period of three days (no interest payable of course). If on the other hand you need three days ‘grace’ to have a cheque you issued cleared, no such luck: the bank will bounce it immediately.
It’s a huge (and emminently profitable) scam, and one that annoys the fuck out of many people…but alas, the ‘banks’ have the monopoly and the consumer has no choice at the end of the day.
[/QUOTE]
I work in the call-centre for a bank. I am not an apologist for the banks. The amount of cheque fraud that still occurs in Australia staggers me. The very simple way to stop most cheque fraud is to have clearance days.
[QUOTE=garygnu]
Then, occationally, you get signs like this one.
[/QUOTE]
That’s awesome. I’m forwarding it to my boss; we should steal that idea.
“Open at 9:05 a.m.
Close at 5 p.m., technically, but The Boss is usually here until at least 7 p.m., and lately he hasn’t been heading home 'til the wee hours.”
My pet peeve is when I call a business and get a voice mail saying “We are currently closed. Please call back during normal business hours which are Monday thru Friday 8am to 5pm” in that bitchy voice like I did something wrong.
It’s 10:30 a.m. on a non-holiday Wednesday, bitch. Pick up the fucking phone or change the message…
[QUOTE=jtgain]
My pet peeve is when I call a business and get a voice mail saying “We are currently closed. Please call back during normal business hours which are Monday thru Friday 8am to 5pm” in that bitchy voice like I did something wrong.
