How long a bank can hold a check (Regulation CC)

A deposit is not necessarily money you can spend. When you place a check, ACH credit, or cash into your bank account, the bank applies its Regulation CC availability schedule, which determines how soon each part of the deposit becomes available for withdrawal. The federal regulation sets a floor — the bank cannot make funds available later than the regulation specifies — and the bank's own internal policy may be more generous. The regulation also distinguishes between availability (when you can spend the money) and finality (when the bank has actually collected the funds and the deposit cannot be reversed). The two are not the same, and the gap between them is the source of many consumer surprises around bounced checks.

This article describes the basic availability schedule, the categories of permissible hold a bank may extend, the notice the bank owes when it does, and the current dollar thresholds. The companion rights-focused treatment is Regulation CC: funds availability; the check-clearing context is how checks clear.

The standard availability schedule

For an account that is not a "new account" and where no exception hold applies, Regulation CC §229.10 (next-day availability) and §229.12 (general availability) require the following:

• Cash deposited in person at a teller: next business day.
• Electronic deposits (ACH, wire): business day on which the bank received the deposit (typically same-day, with operational variations).
• Treasury checks, postal money orders, Federal Reserve / Federal Home Loan Bank checks, state/local-government checks, cashier's/certified/teller checks: next business day, with conditions for deposit in person and same-account-of-named-payee requirements.
• First $275 of any single day's deposit: next business day. (Threshold last adjusted to $275 on July 1, 2025; verify against current Reg CC before relying on a specific figure.)
• Remainder of a non-Treasury / non-cashier check deposit: second business day after the deposit, generally.
• Deposits made at an ATM not owned by the depositor's bank: fifth business day.

"Business day" for Regulation CC purposes means any day other than a Saturday, Sunday, or federal holiday. A "banking day" is a business day on which the bank is open for substantially all of its banking functions; deposits made after the bank's daily cutoff time are treated as having been made on the next banking day for availability purposes.

Exception holds

Section 229.13 permits the bank to extend availability beyond the standard schedule in defined categories of exception. The bank may not extend availability arbitrarily; it must fit the deposit into one of the categories below and provide the notice described in the next section.

• New-account hold. For the first 30 days a customer has an account, the bank may apply extended holds on most categories of deposit. After 30 days, the standard schedule applies.
• Large-deposit hold. For check deposits totaling more than $6,725 in a single banking day (threshold as of July 2025, adjusted from $5,525 — verify against current Reg CC), the bank may hold the portion above $6,725 for up to one additional business day for local checks and up to additional business days as specified for redeposited items.
• Redeposited-item hold. For a check that was previously returned unpaid and is being redeposited, an extended hold may apply.
• Repeated-overdraft hold. For a customer who has been overdrawn for six or more banking days during the preceding six months, or for two or more banking days during the preceding six months in amounts of $6,725 or more, an extended hold may apply.
• Reasonable-cause hold. When the bank has a "reasonable cause to doubt collectibility" of a deposited check — based on specific information about the depositor, the depositary bank, the drawer, or the check itself — it may apply an extended hold. The reasonable cause must be specific and documented; "we always hold large checks" is not a permissible justification.
• Emergency conditions. Equipment failures, natural disasters, and similar disruptions can justify temporary extensions.

For exception holds, the bank may extend availability by up to a "reasonable period" beyond the standard schedule — typically five additional business days for local checks. The total hold therefore can extend to approximately seven business days for a large local check, or substantially longer where multiple exception conditions stack.

How long a hold can last, by deposit type

The question most depositors actually ask is not which section of the regulation applies but how long the money will be unavailable. The table below summarises the standard schedule and the outer limit once a permissible exception hold is layered on top. All counts are in business days after the banking day of deposit, and every figure is a regulatory maximum — a bank's own policy is frequently faster.

Two practical consequences follow. First, the size of the deposit matters only in relation to the $6,725 threshold: a $10,000 or $20,000 check is treated as $6,725 on the standard schedule and the balance on the exception schedule, so a week is a realistic expectation for the excess, not a sign that something has gone wrong. Second, a mobile deposit is governed by the account agreement rather than by the regulation's availability schedule, because Regulation CC's timing rules run from a deposit at a staffed teller station, ATM, or branch. Banks generally apply something close to the Reg CC schedule to mobile deposits anyway, but the enforceable promise is the one in the deposit agreement.

A cashier's check is the case that surprises people most often. It is a next-day item under §229.10 when it is deposited in person into the payee's own account — but if the bank has reasonable cause to doubt collectibility, a counterfeit cashier's check being a well-documented fraud pattern, it may apply an exception hold of roughly a week to everything above the next-day amount. A seven-business-day hold on a large cashier's check is therefore lawful, and it is not evidence that the bank believes the depositor did anything wrong.

The full per-deposit-type chart, with the current dollar amounts and the dates they took effect, is kept in the Regulation CC hold chart.

The notice requirement

When the bank places an exception hold, it must provide notice to the customer specifying the amount being held, the reason for the hold, and the day the funds will be available. The notice may be given at the time of deposit (if the hold is determined then) or by mail (if the hold is determined after deposit, no later than the first business day after the day of deposit). Failure to provide the notice can subject the bank to civil liability and is a frequent supervisory finding.

For "reasonable cause to doubt collectibility" holds, the notice must include the specific reason — not boilerplate. A bank that holds a check because the drawer's name is unfamiliar, the amount is unusually large for the depositor's account history, or the check has obvious signs of alteration must identify the specific reason on the notice.

Availability versus finality

The most consequential consumer-protection feature of Regulation CC is what it does not do: it does not guarantee that a deposited check is actually good. The regulation gives the depositor the right to use the funds within a defined window; it does not give the depositor any protection against the funds being clawed back if the check is later returned.

This is the source of one of the most common U.S. consumer-fraud patterns. A scammer sends the victim a check (often a "cashier's check" that is in fact counterfeit) with instructions to deposit it and forward some portion of the funds elsewhere. The victim deposits the check on Monday; the funds become available Tuesday; the victim wires the requested portion on Wednesday. The fraudulent check is returned by the drawee bank later in the week — sometimes after the typical hold has expired — and the depositary bank reverses the credit, leaving the victim owing the full amount, with the wired funds gone to the scammer. The depositor's bank did exactly what Regulation CC required and exactly what its account agreement permitted; the loss is on the depositor.

The CFPB and the prudential regulators have repeatedly warned consumers about this pattern. The practical protection is to wait until a deposited check has been collected — typically a week or more after deposit for unfamiliar checks — before treating the funds as final and acting on them. For most ordinary consumer transactions, this is academic; for the specific cases where a third party is asking the depositor to deposit a check and forward funds, it is critical.

The dollar thresholds, as of 2025

Regulation CC dollar thresholds are adjusted for inflation every five years under §229.11 and the EFAA. The most recent adjustment took effect on July 1, 2025, raising the next-business-day amount from $225 to $275 and the large-deposit threshold from $5,525 to $6,725. The new-account next-day threshold for Treasury, cashier's, and similar checks also rose proportionally. The next adjustment is scheduled for July 1, 2030. Banks were required to update their disclosure of availability schedules to reflect the new amounts; depositors should be receiving the new disclosures with their account materials.

The Federal Reserve Board publishes the official thresholds, with related amounts in the rule's Appendix C. Any consumer comparing a bank's posted availability schedule to the Reg CC requirement should reference the current Reg CC text or the Fed's published notice.

Remedies for improper holds

A customer who believes the bank has placed an improper hold — exceeding the regulation's permitted duration, failing to provide notice, or applying a hold without legitimate exception cause — can complain to the bank, file a CFPB complaint, and (in serious or repeated cases) consider civil action under EFAA. The EFAA's private right of action allows recovery of actual damages plus statutory damages in defined ranges; the practical use of the private right is limited but real, particularly in cases where the wrongful hold caused a quantifiable loss (a bounced check, a missed bill payment).

Limits and uncertainty

The Regulation CC framework is durable; the dollar thresholds adjust on a published five-year cycle. The recurring areas of consumer-protection concern around Reg CC are not in the rule's text but in the gap between availability and finality, and in cases where banks apply holds inconsistently or fail to provide proper notice. The CFPB and prudential regulators have shown ongoing supervisory attention to Reg CC compliance, particularly at large institutions; bank practices around mobile-deposit availability and "reasonable cause" holds continue to be areas of examination focus.