David, Tippet, BG, and all,
This is just my opinion, but I would suppose back in 1942 they really had to wait a few weeks for the mail to arrive so they could clear checks... but, today with instant wire transfers and instant global communications, any check can 'clear' in a matter of seconds... MasterCard 'clears' 30,000 purchases per second, so why would a bank tell anyone that it would take 10 or more 'business days' to clear a check? Here's why: When the bank holds the cash behind the check for that many days, they are profiting from the overnight float of the federal funds overnight rate and when you multiply this times all the held checks nation wide, there is a fortune made by the banks that the customer never sees... the very same thing happens when one buys traveler's checks... if you buy $5,000.00 in traveler's checks, the bank also benefits from the overnight interest on that money before you finally cash one of those checks weeks later somewhere in Madrid... countless numbers of people all over the country probably have billions of dollars worth of uncashed traveler's checks stashed away somewhere that they have never used... and who is still getting the interest on all that money? Why, the banks.. that's who... just some food for thought.....<g>
My Best...
GZ |
