Dollar Cheque

R

richkidd

Guest
Does anyone happen to know how long a dollar cheque takes to go through the system

I received a dollar cheque fro BNY Mellon and lodged it on the 28th April (converting the procedds to EURO) and I would have thought it would have cleared in about 10 days but as of today it still hasn't gone through.

The bank says there seems to be no problem with the cheque and that its in the system.

Would it be normal for a dollar cheque to take up to 21 business days to clear ?
 
Have had this situation many times and depending on the clearing bank, yes it can take up to that long (and longer) to clear.
 
Hi,
I worked on the foreign exchange desk of one of the main banks 3 years ago. The procedure back then was that the cheque would be sent back to the bank it was drawn on in America and then that bank would send a draft back to us to lodge. Irish banks have no clearing system (or at least hadn't back then) and have no way of knowing if the funds from the cheque would clear hence why it was sent back to get a guaranteed draft from the American bank. I'm not sure if procedures have changed since then but thats what we used do anyway. That might explain the delay in your cheque clearing.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I would have thought in the technolgical era that this could all be done by computer very quickly.

must be scope for improvement
 
There is no global clearing sytem for international cheques and because the cheque is a declining instruement of payment, there is no incentive for the banks to invest in technology to speed up the process.
 
I get cheques from America regularly and PTSB holds them for 25 working days - yep that's right 5 weeks! Your bank should be able to tell you instantly how long they hold US Dollar cheques for if you ring them... they should have told you when you lodged it.
 
Holly

I lodged it in a PSTB branch and I wasn't told there would be so much of a delay to clear. I needed the cash but why on earth would they hold a cheque for 5 weeks, seems a bit extreme or is this holding period where they send the cheque off to get another cheque back (as described by Lydia) ?

I would have thought it could have or could be done a lot quicker in this day and age. I'mjust baffled that it takes so long.
 
No, they don't hang on to it. It's like Lydia says, they need to send it back to the issuing bank and then the issuing American bank can give them the guarantee of cleared funds. It's a total pain in the backside and that's why you're better off trying to get electronic transfers instead of cheques. I'd imagine banks would prefer you do that too as it is an outdated method of payment really.
 
CCraig

I wish it was a regular occurance but alas it was a one off transaction but if does happen again at least I'll know how long it takes.
 
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