Sunday, December 4, 2011

What's the difference between a ledger balance and an available balance in a back account?

I went to Staples yesterday to try and buy some supplies for my college classes that start Tuesday. Went I tried to swipe my debit card I got declined. When I went to my bank it said I had over $100 in a ledger account and an available balance of $20.00. Why couldn't I buy my supplies and how do I get my ledger balance to become my available balance?|||One or more of your deposits had not cleared yet.|||Your ledger balance reflects the total amount of deposits in your account. If you wait a few days, all of this amount will be available to spend.





The reason why all of it is not available yet is because one or more of the checks deposited into your account haven't cleared yet. Clearing means that your bank has to actually verify that the check you deposited is good, and then receive the money from the other bank against which the check was drawn. Until they do, they won't let you spend the money.





Usually it takes about a day for local checks. If the check is drawn on a bank on the other side of the country, a check can take up to 5 business days to clear. Your bank will have something called a "funds availability policy," which you received a copy of when you opened your account. This tells you exactly how long they will hold deposits before the funds are available.

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