How Long Does It Take for a Check to Clear? 2 Business Days, and the $275 Rule

How long does it take for a check to clear? The short answer

Most checks deposited in the U.S. are available by the second business day after the day your bank counts the deposit, and the first $275 must be available the next business day. Cashier's, certified, teller's and U.S. Treasury checks deposited in person come through the next business day in full. Banks can hold longer in a few named cases, the most common being any day's check deposits above $6,725, and then the wait can stretch to about a week and a half.

Those numbers come from the Federal Reserve's Regulation CC (12 CFR Part 229), which sets the latest a bank may make deposited funds available. Sourcing note: every rule on this page was read on September 26, 2026 from the current text of 12 CFR 229.10, 229.12, 229.13 and 229.19 on ecfr.gov. The dollar amounts were raised by an amendment published May 20, 2024 (89 FR 43737) that took effect July 1, 2025. That date matters, and the next section shows why.

The $225 you keep reading is out of date

Before July 1, 2025 the next-day minimum was $225 and the large-deposit threshold was $5,525. The current regulation says $275 and $6,725. Plenty of explainers never updated, including some written by the banks themselves: Chase's own education page on how long a check takes to clear still told readers on September 26, 2026 that banks must make "at least the first $225" available by the next business day.

The difference is small on one check. It matters when you are planning payroll or a vendor payment around a customer check and your bank's disclosure, a blog post and the regulation all give you different numbers. The regulation is the floor. Your bank's funds-availability policy can be faster than it, never slower, except under the exceptions below.

How long each kind of check deposit takes (as of September 2026)

You may see older guides separate "local" from "nonlocal" checks, with nonlocal checks taking five business days. That distinction is effectively gone. Appendix A of Regulation CC now lists every routing number under a single Federal Reserve check-processing office, so virtually every check is local and falls in the second-business-day row.

When a bank can hold a check longer

Section 229.13 lets a bank go past the schedule in six named situations, and it has to give you a written notice with the reason and the date the money will be available:

• Large deposits. Check deposits above $6,725 in one banking day. The first $6,725 follows the normal schedule; the rest can be held.
• New accounts. The first 30 calendar days. Ordinary checks lose the schedule entirely, and the part of a cashier's or Treasury check above $6,725 can wait until the ninth business day.
• Redeposited checks that came back unpaid the first time.
• Repeated overdrafts: six or more negative days in six months, or two days negative by $6,725 or more.
• Reasonable cause to doubt the check, based on facts about that check, not on who you are.
• Emergencies such as a systems outage.

The regulation defines the "reasonable" extra time: up to five more business days for an ordinary check. A bank can take longer, but it carries the burden of justifying it.

A worked example: one customer check, three release dates

Say your business takes a $12,000 check from a customer and deposits it at a branch at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, October 5, 2026. Banks may treat deposits made after a cutoff of 2:00 p.m. or later (noon at ATMs) as received the next banking day, so assume the bank counts it on Tuesday, October 6.

• Wednesday, October 7: $275 must be available.
• Thursday, October 8: another $6,450, bringing you to the $6,725 threshold.
• As late as Friday, October 16: the remaining $5,275, under the large-deposit exception plus five business days. Columbus Day, October 12, is a Federal Reserve holiday and does not count as a business day, which pushes the date one day further.

So "two business days" can mean eleven calendar days for part of a single check. If a supplier needs paying on the 9th, plan on the $6,725, not the $12,000. Better still, ask the customer to pay by ACH or wire. Our guide to how long a wire transfer takes covers the same-day rails, and ACH fees shows why the cheaper rail is usually worth asking for.

"Available" is not the same as "cleared"

Reg CC decides when you can spend the money. It does not decide whether the check is good. A check can come back unpaid after the funds were released, and the bank can then reverse the credit. That is how fake-check scams work: the money shows up, you send some of it on, and the original check bounces days later. If a check from a new customer is larger than usual, wait for your bank to confirm it was paid, not just posted, before you ship or refund anything.

How to get paid faster than a check allows

If checks are a big share of your receivables, the delay is a process problem you can fix:

• Deposit before the cutoff. A deposit at 1:45 p.m. can be a full business day ahead of one at 2:15 p.m. Ask your bank for its exact cutoff for branch, ATM and mobile deposits.
• Take cashier's checks in person for big one-time jobs. Deposited at the counter, they are next-day in full up to $6,725.
• Put ACH instructions on every invoice. Customers pay by whatever method your invoice makes easiest. Clear payment terms with bank details on the invoice move people off paper.
• Automate the follow-up. Accounts receivable automation sends reminders and payment links so fewer invoices end up paid by a mailed check at all.

We build that last piece for small businesses. Our AI document processing work reads incoming remittances and checks, matches them to open invoices and posts them, so your team is not keying payments in by hand.