<p>I have had a savings account with Texans Credit Union and recently opened a checking account with them as well. The savings account gets good interest rates, I can transfer at will electronically (no-fee) between the two, and overdraft protection on checking automatically comes from savings, with no fee. So I definitely want to use these as my primary accounts. However, I’m going to NYU for college, and for whatever vendors won’t take out-of-town checks or my debit card, I’ve opened up a free checking account with HSBC. I’ll be able to get cash out of their ATMs for free, etc. I’m planning on funding this at need with checks written from the Texans checking account.</p>
<p>My question is this: how long should I wait after depositing a check into the HSBC account before I try to withdraw or write checks on that money?</p>
<p>Hi BofP - are you guys excited about the big move to NYC?</p>
<p>Hope someone knowledgeable answers your question - it is one of the many money questions I have, too. I know the law changed in the last 18 months or so, and they can hold up the money longer than it used to be - but I don’t know the details.</p>
<p>Also BofP, I think you could set up an automatic withdrawal from your Texas account into your HSBC account, if you could guesstimate your expenses, that might save a lot of trouble - maybe an idea for second semester after you have a firmer idea of your monthly expenses?</p>
<p>In VA, the usual “hold” period between deposit of a check and availability of funds is five business days…ocassionally, it will be only two business days (generally, when there’s already more money in the account than is being deposited). Here, after a while (1 to 3 months, depending on the bank), you can get the “hold” waived after you’ve built up a relationship…and established a pattern of deposits.</p>
<p>But as a rule of thumb, banks can (and do) hold your deposited funds for up to five business days (they will tell you it’s to allow them time to collect the funds from the check you’ve deposited).</p>
<p>I was told by my bank that the wait period (after depositing a check) did not apply to checks that I then wrote on the account. In other words, I could still write a check on my account even though I had just deposited a check into that account. The wait period seems to apply only for withdrawing cash from the account. Be sure to check with your bank, but this is what my bank told me…</p>
<p>You may also want to open up an account with Citibank and/or Chase instead of HSBC once you get to NYC. I live in nyc and in my experience it’s kind of annoying to find an hsbc atm… they’re not as common as citibank or chase. on the other hand if you get a credit card, that wont be a problem.</p>
<p>With the recent changes in banking laws I know especially here in NY your check will most likely clear in a day or 2. There are only Chase location</p>