My bank has never held and out of state check.

That's exactly it. I can not count the times in my life ( and I am sure many have been witness to this) i've seen. " I need to cash this check" patron " Ok sir, do you have an account with us?" -teller " No"- patron " Ok sir this is an out of state check it will take XXX days to clear. " - bank teller " you mean to tell me I can have my money??" - patron " No sir , I am saying this is an out of state check and it will take a few days to clear, would you like to set up an account?"-Teller.............................. Patron then proceeds to leave the bank angry and confused, complaining just loud enough for a few people in line to hear and shake their heads at the ignorance.

Patron then hops into his '84 caviler and heads off to the next bank. rinse repeat

Thats what banks say to people that are getting an IRS audit. as they freeze your assets.

thats been the rule for awhile. just some of the banks said no to it. i guess the barcode big brother laws are hot and heavy and breathing down your necks now. its only a matter of time before there are microchips in the foreheads of americans and you have to get scanned when you go to a bank or restaurant or on the freeway. LOL.

its not unbelieveable or that hard to make reality.

I bank with a credit union and have never had to wait for funds on an out of state check....or if I don't feel like driving across town to the credit union to cash a single check, I'll hit one of those cheesy check cashing places, pay the $4-5 and save on gas, traffic headaches and bullshit ;-)

My bank has a policy that they only make 50% of the funds available till the checks clear. Usually takes a day or 2. I can wait.

it can take up to 5 weeks to get it here.

Actually this is not true. Checks, as of January of this year, now clear in hours, not days. And if they are less than $5000 USD, they don't trigger a CTR (cash transaction report) either. I'm not sure why your bank is doing this.

But there's a very simple solution imo -- get your money via ePassporte, and verify your ePassporte account. Then you can move money directly into your US bank accounts through ACH, have access to the money immediately with the Virtual Visa or Electron card, and don't worry about the wait.

I'm fucked for 25 working days... I can't cash em before... :disgust

I think it depends on how much you have in your account.

If you're trying to cash a 5K check and only have 1k in the bank then they're going to make you deposit it and wait.
If you have more than enough in your account to cover the check should it bounce then there are no problems.

Although I still get hold letters from the bank sometimes, when I forget to go make a deposit and end up depositing 2 weeks worth of $$ at once they put a hold on some of the funds for a few days.

therefore the patriot act makes the bank 7 days of interest, that should be deposited into your account

About 2 years ago or so I went to one of those cheesy check cashing places and they wouldn't cash an epoch check.
They called the bank and epoch's bank wouldn't verify the funds, so they wouldn't cash it.

That's because you have HORRIBLE credit or a horrible banking record.

Here is a tip: Make more money. Lots more money. Then the wire transfer fees seem like a joke.

BTW, anyone know if the wire transfer fees are tax deductable?

Exactly the same here, although I moved to a new house and I have to drive about 20 min, I still go to the same bank every single time I have to deposit checks. They have a small foreign exchnage department and basiacally everybody knows my face. I get my money 2-3 hours after depositing my checks (only exception is when I drop them on Saturday, then I get my money on Mon or Tue).

your bank is full of liars!

Yeah it's a banking expense, just like buying checks or monthly account fees

Doesn't sound right to me, but my bank hasn't ever given me a problem with it. :2 cents:

hmm my bank hasn't said anything yet and funds have been getting added right after I deposit them.