Regulation CC: funds availability

Before 1987, U.S. banks routinely held deposited checks for weeks before making the funds available, taking advantage of the "float" and the lack of any federal-law constraint. Congress responded with the Expedited Funds Availability Act, implemented through Regulation CC, which sets the maximum hold the bank may place on most deposits, requires the bank to notify the customer when it places an exception hold, and creates a small but real private right of action for violations.

This article is the consumer-rights companion to the operational treatment in holds on deposits (Regulation CC). The two pages cover the same regulation from different angles: the operational page describes what the rule does; this page describes what the consumer can demand of the bank under it.

The basic rights

For a consumer with an open, non-new account where no exception hold applies, Regulation CC gives the following:

• Cash deposits in person: available next business day.
• Electronic deposits (ACH, wire): available on the day the bank received them.
• Treasury checks, postal money orders, Federal Reserve checks, state and local government checks, and cashier's / certified / teller checks deposited in person, into the account of the named payee: next business day.
• First $275 of any single day's deposit (other than deposits already covered by next-day rules): next business day. This is the "$275 floor" raised from $225 effective July 1, 2025.
• Remainder of a non-Treasury / non-cashier check deposit: second business day after deposit, generally.

These are the consumer's federal-law rights; the bank's own policy may make funds available sooner but cannot make them available later in the standard case.

Exception holds and notice

The bank may extend availability beyond the standard schedule in defined categories: new-account holds (first 30 days), large-deposit holds (above $6,725 as of July 2025), redeposited-item holds, repeated-overdraft holds (six or more banking days overdrawn in the past six months, among other tests), reasonable-cause-to-doubt-collectibility holds, and emergency-condition holds. The bank cannot extend availability arbitrarily; the deposit must fit one of these defined categories.

When the bank places an exception hold, §229.13(g) requires written notice to the consumer specifying the amount held, the reason for the hold, and the day the funds will be available. The notice may be given at the time of deposit or by mail no later than the first business day after deposit. For "reasonable cause to doubt collectibility" holds in particular, the notice must include the specific reason, not boilerplate language. A bank that consistently provides boilerplate reasons or no notice at all is in violation of the regulation.

Mobile deposits and ATMs

The regulation's standard schedule covers deposits made in person at a teller, by mail, at the bank's own ATM, or through electronic deposit. Deposits made at an ATM not owned by the depositor's bank may be held up to the fifth business day. Deposits made through mobile-image capture are subject to the bank's posted mobile-deposit availability policy, which may be longer than the standard schedule and which often varies by deposit amount.

For consumers using mobile deposit regularly, the bank's posted mobile-deposit policy is the controlling document; the federal-law floor in Reg CC sets minimum availability, but mobile-specific delays beyond the floor are permitted under the regulation's framework for non-standard deposit channels.

Disclosure

At account opening, the bank must give the consumer a disclosure of its specific funds-availability policy, including how soon different categories of deposit will be available. The disclosure must be in a form the consumer can keep and must be updated when the policy changes. A bank that materially changes its availability policy must give the consumer advance notice — typically 30 days for policy changes that would extend hold periods.

For each deposit, the bank may post a notice at the teller window or ATM stating that some deposits may not be available for immediate withdrawal; the per-deposit availability is governed by the policy disclosure rather than by a per-transaction notice (except for exception holds, where the per-transaction notice is required).

What to do if the bank violates Regulation CC

If a consumer believes the bank has violated Regulation CC by holding funds longer than the regulation permits, failing to provide proper notice of an exception hold, or applying a hold without a permissible exception cause, the practical sequence is:

1. Complain to the bank in writing, identifying the specific deposit, the date, the hold the bank applied, and the alleged violation. Request the bank's funds-availability policy in writing.
2. If the bank does not resolve the complaint, file a CFPB complaint at consumerfinance.gov/complaint, identifying the bank and the specific issue.
3. For violations that caused a quantifiable loss (a bounced payment, a missed bill, a returned-item fee elsewhere), consider a private action under the EFAA's private right of action. Recovery includes actual damages plus statutory damages in defined ranges plus attorney's fees.

The CFPB's database and the prudential regulators' enforcement records contain many examples of Reg CC supervisory findings; the regulation is one of the most actively examined consumer-protection rules. Individual consumers' Reg CC private actions are less common but real and have produced recoveries in specific cases.

Limits and uncertainty

Regulation CC's framework is durable; dollar thresholds adjust every five years on a published schedule (next adjustment July 1, 2030). The recurring policy questions are not about the regulation's text but about its application to mobile deposits, the consistency of bank exception-hold practices, and the long-standing gap between availability and finality that produces consumer-fraud losses. The consumer's basic rights — next-day availability for many deposits, exception-hold notice, and EFAA private remedies — are stable and unlikely to change.