Why does the bank hold checks for so long?
Banks can hold deposited checks for anywhere from two weeks to over two months before releasing the funds. This leaves business owners and individuals completely without access to necessary cash for their daily operations and forces them to wait weeks even on smaller deposits.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Opening another business account with a different institution
- 2Switching to a local credit union
- 3Using alternative institutions like Amex Business Checking
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Chase is holding the funds for as long as nearly two weeks.”source ↗
bscornell · r/smallbusiness · 43 upvotes
“i don’t have an LLC account but i know chase held my $37,000 check for over two months and said “there’s nothing we can do!”. even held my small checks (under $2k) for three weeks every time i deposited.”source ↗
2000s-hty · r/smallbusiness · 1 upvotes
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 3Why won't contractors take credit cards for large deposits?
- 4Why do I have to pay a fee to get my earnings?
- 3What to do when mailed checks are stolen and cashed
- 3Why do gas stations put huge temporary holds on my card?
- 4Why are Shopify payouts held and put on a rolling reserve?
- 2Why do clients take 30, 60, or 90 days to pay invoices?