What is the clearance time for a cheque, when are the funds available?

Standard cheque clearance takes up to five business days, including the day you deposit the cheque. For example, assuming no public holidays, if you deposit a cheque on Monday, the funds will show in your account immediately and should be available to use first thing on Friday morning.

If you are depositing an ASB cheque, you may be able to request faster clearance; this is called a Special Answer. Fees apply for Special Answers; please see our ASB Guide to Fees for details.

Some things you should know about our Special Answer service:

• The Special Answer service applies only to ASB drawn cheques.
• You need to request a Special Answer clearance on a cheque when you deposit the cheque at an ASB branch. We are unable to get a Special Answer after you have deposited the cheque. Cheques drawn on an ASB account may be cleared into your account on the same day, subject to confirmation that funds are available in the drawer's ASB account.
• If a same day special answer is not available to you, you will need to wait the standard cheque clearance days to access your funds. Alternatively you may want to consider another payment method to access your cleared funds more rapidly. These include mobile payments, internet banking transfers, direct debits and automatic payments.

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