§4003 Safeguard Exceptions

Summary

New bank accounts get special rules for how soon you can use deposited money. For the first 30 days after an account is opened (or a shorter time set by the Board and the CFPB director), cash, wire transfers, cashier’s/certified/teller/traveler’s checks, and certain government checks are treated as quickly available. Other checks follow different availability rules. If those special checks total more than $5,000 in that period, only the first $5,000 is treated as quickly available and the extra amount can be held up to 8 business days. The Board and the CFPB director can make rules that create exceptions for large one-day check deposits over $5,000, returned-and-redeposited checks, and accounts that are repeatedly overdrawn. A bank can refuse to follow the normal availability rules for a check if it has good reason to think the paying bank won’t pay. Those reasons must be real facts, not just a group of people or a type of check. If the bank fails to give required written notice when it makes that decision and you later get an overdraft because the funds were not available, the bank can’t charge an overdraft fee if the check is later paid. The bank must keep records of notices. The rules don’t apply during communication outages, another bank’s payment suspension, war, or similar emergencies. If the Board and the CFPB director suspend parts of the rules because of heavy check fraud, any suspension can’t last more than 45 days and they must report the reasons and examples to Congress within 10 days. Banks must give prompt written notice to customers telling when funds will be available and why an exception was used.