These examples illustrate the application of availability rules for withdrawals by check.

1. Your institution is open for all business functions on Saturday. Customer Jones deposits a $4,000 U.S. Treasury check payable to him with a teller on Saturday. When must the funds be made available?

   Answer:  Tuesday. Saturday is not a banking day because it is not a business day, so the deposit is considered to have been received on Monday�the next banking day. Because the funds are from a U.S. Treasury check, they must be made available by the first business day following the day of deposit.

2. Customer Martinez deposits a $4,000 certified check payable to her with a teller at 10:00 a.m. on Monday. When must the funds be made available? What if the deposit is made at a proprietary ATM?

   Answer:  For the deposit made to the teller, the funds must be made available by Tuesday. The deposit is received on Monday, and the funds must be made available by the first business day following the day of deposit.

   For the deposit made at the ATM, the first $100 must be made available by Tuesday, and the remaining $3,900 must be made available by Wednesday. (Certified checks�and most other next-day checks�are considered �second day� items if the deposit is not made in person to one of your employees.)

   Note: If the check is deposited at a nonproprietary ATM, the funds must be made available by the following Monday, the fifth business day, and the requirement to make the first $100 available on the next day does not apply.

3. Customer Jackson deposits a $400 local check payable to him with a teller at 10:00 a.m. on Monday. When must the funds be made available?

   Answer:  The deposit is considered to have been received on Monday, and the first $100 must be available by Tuesday. Because the check is a local check, the remaining $300 must be available by Wednesday, the second business day after the day of deposit.

4. Customer Smith deposits a $300 check from her state government payable to her with a teller at 10:00 a.m. on Monday. The bank�s availability disclosure given to Ms. Smith states that a customer must use a special deposit slip to receive next-day availability for state and local government checks; however, Ms. Smith is in a hurry and chooses not to use the special deposit slip. When must the funds be available?

   Answer:  Because the special deposit slip was not used, you may treat this item as a local check (assuming that the paying institution is in the same check-processing region as your institution) rather than a next-day check. Therefore, the first $100 must be available by Tuesday, and the remaining $200 should be available by Wednesday.

5. Customer Palmer deposits a $10,000 nonlocal check payable to him with a teller at 10:00 a.m. on Monday the 1st. When must the funds be made available?

   Answer:  The first $100 must be available by Tuesday the 2nd. Because the check is nonlocal, the remaining amount must be available by the fifth business day, which is Monday the 8th; however, you may choose to hold the amount over $5,000 under a �large deposit� exception. If you choose this option, you must give the customer a hold notice when the deposit is received (or not later than the close of the business day on Tuesday if the decision to delay availability is made after the time of deposit), and you must provide $100 by Tuesday the 2nd, an additional $4,900 by Monday the 8th, and the remaining $5,000 by Tuesday the 16th.

6. Customer Washington deposits a $400 local check payable to her at 3:00 p.m. on Monday. The bank�s cut-off hour for the day�s transactions is 2:00 p.m. When must the funds be available?

   Answer:  Because the deposit was made after the bank�s cut-off hour, it is considered received on Tuesday. The first $100 must be made available by Wednesday and the remaining $300 must be made available by Thursday.

If you have more questions, contact the regional office of your federal supervisory agency: Federal Reserve, Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Office of Thrift Supervision, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

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