# Postbank - How long to clear cheque?



## TheShark (22 Jan 2009)

If I lodge a BOI cheque to my Postbank account at a BOI branch how long would it take to clear , given that the Postbank account has a BOI (90-XX-XX) sort-code?


----------



## bond-007 (23 Jan 2009)

10 working days and not a minute less. I kid you not they are a joke of a bank.


----------



## Postbank (23 Jan 2009)

Hi there,

In response to the original poster, clearing a cheque can take up to 10 days. The reason for this is that we are not a clearing bank.

I hope this helps with your query.

Postbank


----------



## bond-007 (23 Jan 2009)

> The reason for this is that we are not a clearing bank.


That is no excuse. Especially as you use BOI as a sort code.


----------



## Smashbox (23 Jan 2009)

I agree with bond - ten days is a ridiculous time and it would completly put me off.


----------



## GeneralZod (23 Jan 2009)

Let's not scare away Postbank.  Perhaps there is a valid reason why it takes 10 days. 

It would be nice to see a more detailed explanation Postbank.


----------



## mathepac (23 Jan 2009)

GeneralZod said:


> ...
> It would be nice to see a more detailed explanation Postbank.





Postbank said:


> ... The reason for this is that we are not a clearing bank...


That seems clear enough; they are not members of the "club".

Sorry, there's alink to a longwinded PDF on this site that describes the club and its operations - http://www.centralbank.ie/


----------



## TheShark (24 Jan 2009)

Trying to get my head around this.
My employer lodges my salary in his BOI branch and the funds are in my Postbank account same day.
If I walk into the same BOI branch and lodge a BOI cheque to my Postbank account it will take up to 10 working days to clear?
Why the big difference?


----------



## mathepac (24 Jan 2009)

I can only surmise that he is lodging funds drawn on his account at that branch to your Postbank account via PayPath, so clearance leadtimes are shorter.

Your lodgement needs to get from that branch via the BoI clearance system to the account the cheque is drawn on and back to Postbank.

Bank officials struggle to explain the clearing system leadtimes to me and I have had a variety of explanations over the years (none of them accurate - "5 days", "3 days", "10 days","7 days" and "it depends"). Phone Banking 365 and I'm told to phone the branch, phone the branch and they refer me back to Banking 365.


----------



## bond-007 (24 Jan 2009)

I think the issue involves the fact that post offices are used as its' main source of transactions. If a person lodges a cheque to their Postbank account via a post office it will take the full 10 days. The cheque is lodged firstly in the post office's local bank account which takes 5 days to clear. Say the cheque bounces for some reason it gets returned to the local post office who then forward it to postbank. This process could take the 10 days. So if the cheque has not been returned within 10 days it is considered cleared. 

Now in essence postbank is a virtual branch of BOI. So if you lodge cheques in BOI to a postbank account you should in theory get value far faster than their 10 day quote. I do know that you can make transfers online from BOI accounts to postbank and get instant value. You can transfer to postbank from say AIB and get next day value. That would not be possible if they were not in the clearing system.


----------



## TheShark (24 Jan 2009)

Think I will put it to the test. I have a small BOI cheque drawn on XXX Branch so will pop in there on Monday and lodge it , then wait and see when the funds appear at Postbank.


----------



## GeneralZod (27 Jan 2009)

mathepac said:


> That seems clear enough; they are not members of the "club".





TheShark said:


> Think I will put it to the test.



Northern Rock aren't a clearing bank either and they've never taken anything like 10 days to clear a cheque for me. So Postbank should be able to clear it in less than 10 days. 10 days sounds more reasonable as their worst case figure.


----------



## Smashbox (27 Jan 2009)

I'd be interested to see if Postbank returns to us!


----------



## Mpsox (27 Jan 2009)

Perhaps easier if we take an example, an AIB cheque lodged at Postbank on a Monday, at the earliest will be processed by BOI (As Postbank are not a clearing bank, they use BOI for paper processing) on the Monday night, sent to AIB on Tuesday who will update their records on a Tuesday night. 

If the cheque is to be bounced, it will appear on AIB out of order reports on the Wednesday and whereas most such cheques will bounce on the Wednesday, under interbank rules they have until close of business on the Thursday to bounce the item. The physical cheque has to be sent back to BOI firstly (Because that is where it came from) and from there onto An Post who more then likely will not get it until the following Monday and the earliest it would be debited from the An Post account is overnight on Monday appearing on your statement on Tuesday. 

An Post could build in a couple of extra days to cover themselves if there are delays, for example, if the cheque is not processed initially by BOI until the Tuesday night rather then the Monday night or if there are any courier/postal delays in getting the cheque back from the other bank if it bounces

Legally, an AIB cheque lodged at an Post or any other bank has to be sent back to AIB, the banks cannot simply send a data file like an electronic payment.

Some of the banks backdate the interest on cheques lodged so the customer is not of pocket but I can't say if all the banks do it

There is little incentive for the banks to invest in speeding up the process as the cheque is a declining instruement of payment with volumes down 10-15% last year and IPSO wanting the cheque gone by 2016


----------



## bond-007 (27 Jan 2009)

That is all well and good but postbank enforce the 10 day period rigidly.

You can't actually lodge a cheque in postbank. All you are doing is lodging in the local post office and the cheque is subject to local procedures.


----------



## TheShark (27 Jan 2009)

Just to update on this.
Yesterday morning I lodged the BOI cheque to my Postbank account at the BOI branch on which the cheque was drawn.
The lodgement appeared on my Postbank online banking today.


----------



## bond-007 (27 Jan 2009)

> The lodgement appeared on my Postbank online banking today.


Is it cleared funds? Cheque lodgements appear very quickly at postbank but you won't be able to draw against them. 

I lodged a UB cheque in a post office linked to postbank and the lodgement was there the same day but there was no funds available for 10 days.


----------



## TheShark (27 Jan 2009)

bond-007 said:


> Is it cleared funds? Cheque lodgements appear very quickly at postbank but you won't be able to draw against them.
> 
> I lodged a UB cheque in a post office linked to postbank and the lodgement was there the same day but there was no funds available for 10 days.


Cant tell with their online banking. It does'nt give "balance" and "available funds" , just "account status" €XX.XX
Am I missing something?


----------



## bond-007 (27 Jan 2009)

Not at all.

My account was showing  that there was a healthy balance, yet none could be withdrawn.


----------

