When you write a check to pay a bill that's out of state how does that work?

Question

I have a credit card with a bank that is not in my state. If a write a check for my payment how long would it take to clear my bank? I've never written a check for my card before because it is out of town, but my debit card is missing and I need to make sure my payment gets in on time.

Answer 1

There is no set time that they check might clear.

It can happen one of three ways.

You mail the check it takes 2 days to get there...they process it that day...their bank is local to your bank (meaning your bank and their bank use the same federal reserve branch), it will clear your account on the day they process it

You mail the check (2 days)...they process it that day...their bank is not local to your bank...it will take about 3 days after processing to clear your bank (this is because it goes to their banks federal reserve branch who forwards it to your banks federal reserve branch who forwards it to your bank.

You mail the check (2 days)...they process it that day...their bank converts it to an electronic ACH debit from your accout...it would clear your account that day.

So you should always assume you are going to have something clear your account within three days of mailing it. With the new electronic trunkation laws (check 21) there is not really a float time between when they recieve the check and it clears your accout. People used to count on the float and pay bills before they had the money in their accounts and that is so dangerous now because the Check 21 system was designed to eliminate the float time between when you write the check and it clears your account.

Answer 2

Your only "float time" when issuing such a check is the time it takes for the US Postal Service to get it to the credit card lockbox. Once it arrives there, processing is now dramatically quick. All the major credit card issuers now have electronic scanning devices into which these checks are fed, and funding transfer doesn't take long anymore. The devices read the bank routing number on the bottom of the check and electronically transfer the funds, generally on the same day the scanner reads the check.

As a side note, be careful to write the check amount very clearly, as the amount of your payment is also read electronically. A few years ago, my wife scribbled a little bit too much, and Discover managed to read her check as $11,500 instead of $1,500. And yes, the bank cleared it against our account. We eventually resolved the error, but not without a goodly sized hassle with both the bank and Discover.

Answer 3

In this modern age of electronic banking - it is likely that your check will clear on the day they get it. Certainly the day after.
Therefore - the clearing time will be the time it takes in the mail - probably one day and the time it takes to process the check - MOST LIKELY ONE DAY.
If you are LUCKY - you will have two days.

Credit Card companies have gotten very efficient in processing checks and the national check clearing system has become very electronic.
The credit card companies use post office box numbers that have deliveries throughout the day and the deliveries are processed several times throughout the day.

Also - if you send a check for insufficient funds the credit card company will most likely charge you a large fee for the "bounced" check,
If you delay the payment - you will most likely be charged a large fee for late payment.

Answer 4

depends on a number of things, but if the credit card company has an account with your bank (which is possible, unless you know for sure it is a small local bank) funds could be withdrawn within 1-2 days of them depositing your check. If not, it will usually take between 2-5 days for funds to be withdrawn after they deposit the check.