Under federal law, bank deposit hold times run from one business day for cash and electronic payments to as long as five business days for ordinary personal checks, with extended holds of seven or eleven business days allowed only in specific situations. The rules come from the Expedited Funds Availability Act and Regulation CC, and they turn on three things: what you deposited, how you deposited it, and how much.
Deposits Available the Next Business Day
Cash handed to a teller at your own bank must be available by the next business day. The same next-business-day deadline applies to electronic payments, including direct deposit through the ACH network and federal tax refunds.1eCFR. 12 CFR 229.10 – Next-Day Availability
Certain check types also qualify for next-day availability, but only when you hand them to a bank employee and deposit them into an account held by the person named on the check:
- U.S. Treasury checks, including federal tax refund checks
- U.S. Postal Service money orders
- Federal Reserve Bank and Federal Home Loan Bank checks
- State and local government checks, if deposited at a bank in the same state as the issuer
- Cashier’s checks, certified checks, and teller’s checks
The conditions matter. Drop a cashier’s check into an ATM instead of handing it to a teller and it no longer qualifies for next-day treatment under this rule. Cash dropped through a night deposit box rather than handed across the counter gets a second-business-day deadline, not next day.1eCFR. 12 CFR 229.10 – Next-Day Availability
Standard Check Hold Schedule
Checks that don’t qualify for next-day treatment follow a two-tier schedule based on where the check is drawn. A local check, generally one drawn on a bank in the same Federal Reserve processing region as yours, must be available by the second business day after deposit.2eCFR. 12 CFR 229.12 – Availability Schedule
Nonlocal checks can be held until the fifth business day after deposit.2eCFR. 12 CFR 229.12 – Availability Schedule A personal check from an out-of-state bank can sit through the following week before you can touch it.
One partial escape hatch: regardless of whether a check is local or nonlocal, the first $275 of any check deposit must be available by the next business day.1eCFR. 12 CFR 229.10 – Next-Day Availability That $275 is an aggregate daily figure, not per check. Depositing three checks on the same day still guarantees only $275 the next morning. The bank’s own funds availability disclosure spells out how it classifies individual checks if you’re unsure which schedule applies.
ATM and Mobile Deposits
Where you make the deposit changes the timeline. A proprietary ATM is one your bank owns, operates, or has on its premises, and deposits there follow the same schedule as teller deposits.3eCFR. 12 CFR Part 229 – Availability of Funds and Collection of Checks Cash clears the next business day; checks follow the local or nonlocal rule.
Nonproprietary ATMs are different. Everything you deposit at an ATM that isn’t your bank’s, cash or check, can be held until the fifth business day after deposit.2eCFR. 12 CFR 229.12 – Availability Schedule The $275 first-day guarantee doesn’t apply to those deposits either.
Mobile check deposits sit in a regulatory gray area. Federal regulators have not definitively ruled that a check image captured through a smartphone app is a “check deposited at a branch or ATM” under Regulation CC. Your bank’s deposit agreement, the contract you accepted when opening the account, governs how long a mobile deposit hold can last. Many banks voluntarily follow Regulation CC’s timelines, but some impose longer holds as part of their risk policies. The deposit confirmation screen should display any hold and the date funds become available.
When a Bank Can Extend a Hold
Regulation CC defines six situations that let a bank hold funds longer than the standard schedule:
- Check deposits exceeding $6,725 in a single banking day. The first $6,725 still follows the normal schedule; only the excess can be held longer.4eCFR. 12 CFR 229.13 – Exceptions
- New accounts open fewer than 30 calendar days. Cash and electronic deposits still get next-day availability, as does the first $6,725 of qualifying next-day check items. Any excess can be held until the ninth business day.4eCFR. 12 CFR 229.13 – Exceptions
- Redeposited checks that previously bounced, unless the first return was caused by a technical error such as a missing endorsement.
- Repeatedly overdrawn accounts. If your account has gone negative six or more times in the past six months, the bank can invoke extended holds on all your accounts for the next six months.4eCFR. 12 CFR 229.13 – Exceptions
- Reasonable cause to doubt collectibility, such as a visibly altered check, information suggesting fraud, or a stale date.
- Emergency conditions, like system outages or another bank suspending payments.
Outside of emergencies, the bank must give you a written exception notice stating the reason for the hold, the amount delayed, and the date the funds will be available. If you deposited in person, the notice should be handed to you at the time of deposit. If the decision happens later, the notice must be mailed or delivered by the next business day after the bank learns the facts that justify the hold.4eCFR. 12 CFR 229.13 – Exceptions
How Long an Extended Hold Can Last
The reasonable period for an exception hold depends on the type of check. For local checks that normally clear in two business days, the bank can add up to five more business days, bringing the total to seven. For nonlocal checks and deposits at nonproprietary ATMs, the bank can add up to six more, for a total of eleven business days.4eCFR. 12 CFR 229.13 – Exceptions
Banks can technically hold funds beyond those windows, but then the burden shifts to the bank to prove the longer period was reasonable. Most don’t push past the standard extensions. If a domestic check deposit is still on hold past seven business days without a clear explanation, something is probably off.
Electronic Transfers and Foreign Checks
Incoming electronic payments like direct deposit fall under the next-business-day rule above. Wire transfers through Fedwire are designed for same-day settlement and typically arrive within hours, though a wire received after the bank’s cutoff gets queued for the next operating window. Instant payments through the FedNow Service post immediately when both the sending and receiving banks participate; participation is voluntary.
Foreign checks are the slowest thing you can deposit. The U.S. bank has to send the item abroad for collection, wait for the foreign bank to honor it, and handle currency conversion, so holds commonly stretch to 15 to 25 business days. Some banks won’t accept foreign checks at all. Regulation CC’s domestic timelines don’t govern that process.
What To Do If a Hold Looks Wrong
Start inside the bank. Call or visit your branch, reference the deposit date and amount, and point to the Regulation CC deadline you believe applies. Ask for a supervisor if the first representative can’t explain the hold or release the funds. Also ask whether the bank sent an exception notice; absent one, there’s no documented basis for an extended hold.
Filing a Regulatory Complaint
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau takes complaints about deposit holds through its online portal. Once you submit, the CFPB forwards your complaint to the bank, which generally must respond within 15 days. If another agency has supervisory authority over your bank, such as the OCC for national banks, the FDIC for state-chartered nonmember banks, or the Federal Reserve for state-chartered member banks, the CFPB routes the complaint accordingly.5Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Submit a Complaint
Damages Under the EFAA
A bank that violates the funds availability rules can be held liable for your actual damages, including bounced check fees and late payment penalties caused by the wrongful hold. Federal law adds statutory damages between $100 and $1,000 per individual claim, plus reasonable attorney’s fees if you prevail.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 USC 4010 – Civil Liability Class actions are available where a hold practice affects many customers, capped at $500,000 or 1% of the bank’s net worth, whichever is less. You don’t need large financial losses to bring a claim; the statutory damages exist for exactly that reason.
Keep the paper trail. Save the deposit receipt, any hold notice the bank gave you (or didn’t), screenshots showing when funds posted, and records of any fees you were charged because the money wasn’t available. That documentation is what makes the difference between a complaint that gets your money back and one that stalls.