How long for a check to clear from Charter One equity line?

We recently accepted a check for a sold car and the lady told us it was a check on her home equity line. We attempted to verfiy that the check was good prior to depositing it at our credit union, but since they gave us a 900 number to verify, we could not get through (AT%26amp;T and Cingular both say they have no way to bill for these). My credit union put a 10 day hold on the check. My question is , since all banking transactions are electronic these days, why should it take 10 days? It has been a week and so far the check has not returned as bad, can we assume now that it is good? I know we can't spend it until the hold is off, but just want some reassurance!How long for a check to clear from Charter One equity line?
99.99% of the time, bad checks are returned within 2-3 days. Even with electronic processing, that physical check item needs to be sent from your credit union to the federal reserve system, then to the originating bank. After the 10 days, the check should have totally been cleared from the system and be considered good.





In the future, if you are in a city where the bank has branches, go into a branch to verify funds. The teller's may be able to tell you if the account number is valid and whether the funds are available. This does not mean that the check will not be returned, but it is a good indicator.





Some banks do not permit employees to verify checks, but it doesn't hurt to ask.