How long a US bank can hold a deposited check
A hold is a wait before you can withdraw money you already deposited. Regulation CC sets outside limits for many deposits at US banks. Your bank can release funds sooner. It can also use an exception hold when the rule allows. The dollar amounts below come from the Federal Reserve text and the CFPB adjustment that took effect on 1 July 2025.
Last updated: October 19, 2026
Last checked: Oct 2026
Next day availability
Opened 19 October 2026. Federal Reserve section 229.10 says cash deposited in person to an employee of the bank must be available no later than the business day after the banking day of the deposit. Cash not deposited in person must be available no later than the second business day after that banking day. An electronic payment must be available no later than the business day after the banking day the bank received it. The bank has received it only when it has both the collected funds and the account and amount information.
The same section lists checks that are available the next business day when the conditions are met. Those include a US Treasury check deposited to an account of a payee, a US Postal Service money order deposited in person by a payee, and certain cashier's, certified, and teller's checks deposited in person with a special slip if the bank requires one. For other checks, the rule is the lesser of $275, or the total of the checks deposited that banking day to all of your accounts that are not already in the next-day list. The CFPB's threshold adjustment says that $275 minimum amount took effect on 1 July 2025 and is the amount for five years. From 1 July 2020 through 30 June 2025 the amount was $225. Do not use $225 for a deposit made after 30 June 2025.
The rest of the check
Federal Reserve section 229.12 says a local check must be available no later than the second business day after the banking day of the deposit, with the exceptions in that section. A nonlocal check must be available no later than the fifth business day. A deposit at an ATM the bank does not own must be available no later than the fifth business day. Your bank's funds availability disclosure can be faster than these limits. The regulation is not a promise that every check takes five days, and it is not a promise that every check is free to spend the next morning.
The bank may add one business day before you can take the money as cash or by a similar method, such as a cashier's check. On the business day the funds become available under the schedule, it must still make $550 available for cash or a similar withdrawal by 5:00 p.m. That $550 is in addition to the $275 from the next-day rule. The CFPB table calls $550 the cash withdrawal amount, also effective 1 July 2025. Before that date the amount was $450.
Exception holds
The CFPB adjustment sets the new account amount, the large deposit threshold, and the repeatedly overdrawn threshold at $6,725, effective 1 July 2025 for five years. Those are the dollars that start certain exception holds under section 229.13. This guide does not copy a day count for an exception hold, because the length is in that section and in the bank's disclosure, and a guessed number of days would be wrong if the bank's notice differs.
A new account, a large deposit, a redeposited check, a repeated overdraft, reasonable cause to doubt collectibility, or an emergency condition can be a reason for a longer hold when the rule allows it. The bank generally has to tell you. Read the notice on the receipt or the letter. The notice is the schedule for that deposit. Pending versus posted is a card authorization, which is a different kind of wait. A check that comes back unpaid is a returned check fee, not a hold.
What to do with the deposit
Keep the receipt. It should show the date and how much is available when. A banking day is a business day on which the bank is open for substantially all of its banking work. A deposit after the cutoff can count as the next banking day. The cutoff is in the bank's disclosure, not on this page. Do not spend the rest of a large check just because $275 is available.
If the bank held funds longer than its disclosure or longer than the regulation allows, ask with the receipt, the amount, and the dates. How to ask your bank to refund a fee covers a fee. A hold is not itself a fee, unless the bank also charged one. You can send a complaint to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after you have the bank's answer. US bank fees links that step. This page is US Regulation CC. It does not set the hold on a Canadian cheque.
Upload the statement on Expenvo. The PDF stays on your device. Expenvo lists the lines. It does not sign in to the bank or the card company, and it does not cancel a card or a purchase.
Questions
- Is every check available the next business day?
- No. Next-day availability covers cash deposited in person, many electronic payments, listed government and cashier's checks when the conditions are met, and the first $275 of other checks. The rest follows the bank's schedule and section 229.12.
- Did the $225 next-day amount change?
- Yes. The CFPB and Federal Reserve adjustment says $225 applied from 1 July 2020 through 30 June 2025. Effective 1 July 2025 the minimum amount is $275, for five years.
- Can the bank hold more than $6,725 longer?
- The large deposit threshold for an exception hold is $6,725 as of 1 July 2025. The bank's notice states the length of that hold. This page does not invent a number of extra days.
- Does Expenvo know when my check will clear?
- No. Expenvo can list lines already on a statement. It does not see the bank's hold notice, and it does not release a deposit.
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