Cheque clearing system

For security reasons you are advised to make your cheque payable to: Newcastle Building Society, your name, reference number XXXXXXX (if known).

In addition please remember to draw a line through any unused space on the cheque.

Your cheque will go through a clearing process to transfer the money from the person giving you the cheque to your account with us. The cheque clearing process takes two days to complete.

Day 1

The cheque you have just paid in to us will enter the cheque clearing process at the end of the same business day and will be sent to the bank which issued it.

Day 2

The next day staff at that bank will review the cheque and make a decision about whether or not to pay the cheque. If they decide not to pay the cheque, you will be advised and it will be taken out of your account with us.

You will need to leave four working days before making a withdrawal against a cheque you have just paid in.

For example, if a cheque is paid in on a Monday:

Day 0, Monday

Cheque paid in and sent to the clearing system that day (if cheques are paid in at the weekend, they will also be sent on a Monday).

Day 1, Tuesday

 Cheque starts to earn interest.

Day 4, Friday

If the cheque is paid you will be able to withdraw the money from your account by the end of the business day.

We allow four days for the cheque to go through the clearing system to give us time to process any cheques which have not been paid.

If a cheque you have paid in is not paid by the issuing bank we would notify you in writing, so you could make a decision about what to do next. If a cheque is not paid, it will not earn any interest.

An unpaid cheque is a cheque you have paid into your account with us, but which the issuing bank has neither paid nor given us the money for. If this happens, we will take the cheque out of your account.

There are many reasons why a cheque could not be paid, but the most common ones are insufficient funds, cheque not signed, cheque out of date, post-dated or payment stopped.

The Society is charged by our bankers for each unpaid cheque and therefore we will apply an administration fee to cover the cost of processing the returned cheque.

The Society appreciates that on occasions unpaid cheques could belong to a third party, and that our customer has invested the cheque in good faith, not realising that the cheque would be returned unpaid. 

However, the Society is charged by our bankers for each returned cheque.

The Society will not allow withdrawals against any "uncleared cheques" for four days following receipt.

It must be remembered that we are not a bank, and our accounts are not intended to offer the functionality associated with a "current account". If someone wants to obtain immediate value against a cheque then realistically it should be invested in a bank account.

If you need to stop a cheque for any reason, please contact us as soon as possible.  You can contact your local branch direct or alternatively our Customer Service team on 0345 734 4345.

We will check to see if your cheque has already been paid or if it can be stopped. Please note, a cheque can only be stopped if it has been lost or stolen. We may require written confirmation from you and you will be asked to indemnify the Society.

You should contact us immediately and we will do everything we reasonably can to cancel the cheque. If the cheque has already been paid, we will not be able to stop the cheque.

To report a lost cheque please contact your local branch direct or alternatively our Customer Service team on 0345 734 4345.

If a cheque withdrawn from your account has not been paid within six months, the funds will be re-credited to your account.