There's a whole lot of crap going on these days, depending on who you bank with.
Back in the old days, there was always a standard hold on checks that were over a certain amount or which came from out-of-state. It generally took at least 3-4 days for those checks to be paid by the originating bank anyway, so that was fine.
Then, the fine folks who run the ACH network decided that they would start 'clearing' checks almost instantaneously, which meant that folks who made a habit of 'kiting' checks would be in danger of bouncing checks if they didn't change their ways. For check recipients, that was SUPPOSED to be good news, because it meant they'd get paid a lot faster.
Well, not so fast...
Apparently, what a lot of big banks are now doing is putting a hold on all large amounts and that hold time has gone now from 5 business days up to as long as 20 days! Keep in mind that they are delaying funds from being credited to your account, even though they have the money sitting in theirs...collecting YOUR interest.
Furthermore - and this is something that's totally inexcusable - large sum wire transfers are no longer instantaneous either. Depending on your bank, the threshold can be as low as $5000, meaning that anytime you get an amount over that by wire, you'll have to wait until the 3rd or 4th business day to actually access your money, even though the funds cleared into your bank within minutes after being sent.
