2-4-6 FAQs

1. What are the main benefits of these changes?

2. I sometimes pay in cheques at a post office or send them by post. How will I know when my bank has got my cheque and the timescales start?

3. How do I know when the sixth day after deposit has been reached? Do the six days exclude non-working days?

4. Do the 2-4-6 and 2-6-6 changes to cheque clearing processes apply to all banks and building societies and all cheques in all situations?

5. What happens if I don't wait until the end of day 6 and I decide to withdraw and spend cheque funds before this?

6. Do the 2-4-6 changes impact when I can or should release goods or services to my clients?

7. How can I make sure my bank receives my cheque as quickly as possible?

8. Do the 2-4-6 changes affect the charges I pay on my overdraft?

9. Why don't all banks allow access to funds on the same day?

10. What advice would you offer to customers who are inconvenienced by the time taken to access cheque funds?

11. Do the 2-4-6 changes mean that cheques are safer from fraud?

12. Are bankers' drafts or building society or bankers' cheques covered?

13. Will these changes affect my deposit account?

14. How do 2-4-6 changes affect cheques paid in to my credit card or loan account?

15. Why don't the 2-4-6 changes affect cheques paid into my credit card or loan account?

16. If a paying bank makes the decision on whether to pay or bounce a cheque on the third working day after a cheque has been deposited, why isn't the customer proposition 2-4-6 or 2-3-3?

17. My cheque has been returned unpaid.  Will that return affect my credit rating?

18. Do 2-4-6 changes apply if I pay in a cheque which is drawn payable abroad?

19. Does 2-4-6 apply if I pay in a sterling cheque for credit to my account at a bank abroad?

20. Why has my bank not implemented the 2-4-6 changes in line with other banks?

21. What happens if a cheque is found to be fraudulent well after the end of the 6th working day after I have paid in my cheque?

22. What is a knowing party to a fraud?