public-service · local check funds availability rule
When Must a Bank Make a Local Check's Funds Available?
Federal rule 12 CFR § 229.12 sets the deadline for a local check: the second business day after the deposit's banking day.
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Updated: Sources: 1
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What matters now
- A local check's funds must be available for withdrawal within two business days of the deposit's banking day.
- The governing text is 12 CFR Section 229.12, Availability schedule, part of Regulation CC.
- Section 229.12 has been amended repeatedly from 1988 through 2024; confirm you are reading the current text.
- This article covers only the local-check timing rule — not exceptions, dollar thresholds, or other check types.
Under federal banking regulation, a depository bank must make funds from a deposited local check available for withdrawal “not later than the second business day following the banking day on which funds are deposited” (12 CFR § 229.12). This rule comes from Regulation CC.
This original record-reading guide is a general reading aid, not cited evidence. It does not depict a source record; the article text and source links provide the facts.
Key points
- The governing rule is titled “§ 229.12 Availability schedule,” part of 12 CFR Part 229 (Regulation CC) (12 CFR § 229.12).
- For a local check, funds must be available for withdrawal within two business days of the banking day of deposit (12 CFR § 229.12).
- The section carries a Federal Register amendment history running from 1988 to 2024 (12 CFR § 229.12).
- This article covers only the local-check timing rule quoted below — it does not describe exceptions, dollar thresholds, or any other check type.
The regulation and section
The rule sits within “Part 229—Availability of Funds and Collection of Checks (Regulation CC)” (12 CFR § 229.12), which is part of 12 CFR Chapter II, Subchapter A, Subpart B. The specific section that sets the availability timeline is titled, in the regulation’s own text, “§ 229.12 Availability schedule.” (12 CFR § 229.12).
The local-check rule text
The section states that “a depository bank shall make funds deposited in an account by a check available for withdrawal not later than the second business day following the banking day on which funds are deposited, in the case of—(1) A local check” (12 CFR § 229.12).
In plain terms: if you deposit a local check, the bank’s own regulatory deadline for making those funds withdrawable is the second business day after the banking day the deposit was made — as measured under this section’s own rule.
Why the amendment history matters
This section has been amended repeatedly since it was first published. Its own citation reads: “[53 FR 19433, May 27, 1988, as amended by Reg. CC, 55 FR 50818, Dec. 11, 1990; 56 FR 7801, Feb. 26, 1991; 56 FR 66343, Dec. 23, 1991; 57 FR 36601, Aug. 14, 1992; 60 FR 51670, Oct. 3, 1995; 84 FR 31696, July 3, 2019; 84 FR 45403, Aug. 29, 2019; 89 FR 43739, May 20, 2024]” (12 CFR § 229.12).
That chain — stretching from 1988 through 2024 — shows this text has been revised multiple times over nearly four decades. Before relying on the availability rule for a real deposit, confirm you are reading the current, in-force version of § 229.12 rather than an older printing or a secondhand summary.
What this article does not answer
This article addresses only the timing rule that § 229.12 states for “a local check,” quoted directly above. It does not describe exceptions, dollar thresholds, or any other check type. Finally, nothing in this article is banking advice, a prediction of how quickly any particular reader’s own bank will actually release funds, or an evaluation of any bank’s practice; it describes only what the cited regulatory text itself says.