Cashing cheques
When you deposit a cheque, you want convenience, security, and fast access to your cash.
Cheque clearing
Whether you deposit a cheque, draft, money order or other monetary instrument using a Vancity branch, an ATM, or your mobile device, your cheque goes through the same clearing process. Depending on the type of cheque and where the originating financial institution is located, it can take time before we can confirm the availability of funds. When you make a deposit at Vancity with a cheque, your account is instantly credited the amount of the cheque. You may not be able to access the full amount of the funds from that deposit immediately, as a hold may be placed on some or all of your deposit. If your account is interest bearing, interest will begin to accrue on full deposit amount on day funds are deposited to your account.
Cheque holds
A cheque is not the same as cash - it is a promise to pay by one party to another party. Vancity may place a hold on the funds deposited from a cheque for a period of time to allow the financial institutions involved to settle the transaction. This is called a “hold-funds period”. When a hold-funds period is in effect, your held funds will not be available for withdrawal or used for payments.
Cheque holds help to protect you from the consequences of withdrawing funds from a cheque that fails to clear.
For example, a cheque may fail to clear if:
- There aren't enough funds in the cheque-issuer's account to cover the cheque amount
- The cheque issuer has placed a stop-payment order on the cheque
- The cheque is drawn on a closed account
- The cheque was issued more than six months ago
- The cheque is forged or unauthorized.
By holding the cheque until the clearing process is complete, we can help prevent an unexpected change in your account balance and a possible overdraft on your account. While Vancity will do our best to protect you from an overdraft, you are ultimately responsible for the cheques you deposit. Please make sure you know and trust the cheque issuer before accepting a cheque from an individual or a business.