Metro®Boston, Publication Date: January 11, 2012
By Attorney George Warshaw
Imagine. You just sold your house or got a big payday on your job.
You have a check in hand for “real money.” You deposit it at your bank – but then you find out, days after you made your deposit, that you can’t access your money for at least 10 business days!
OMG!
You go back to the bank and yell and scream. If you had known, you would have asked for a bank check from your sale or big payday and deposited it instead.
“Sorry, it wouldn’t have mattered,” you’re told. “Even bank checks have to clear. They’re not the same as cash or a wire transfer.”
If your funds were hung up in the banking system and you needed them to buy a house the next day, where would you be? In default!!!
That’s where your bank matters.
At least one major bank treats any check over $5,000 as a large deposit and takes up to ten business days to clear it – unless, of course, you’re an important client.
And some investment or mutual fund companies take 4 business days to clear checks.
So ask about clear periods before depositing large checks.
Or better yet, have your funds sent by wire transfer. It’s treated as cash as soon as it arrives at your bank.
Next week: Important changes in probate procedures may affect your will.
(c) 2012 George Warshaw.
If you missed my column in the Wednesday Boston®Metro newspaper you can read it here! And contact me if you need help in buying or selling your home or in planning your will. - George
George in the Metro 
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