From: john boyle 
Newsgroups: uk.finance
Subject: Re: The speeding up of clearing
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 21:44:56 +0100

In message <1144954431.830874.221460@j33g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, 
SandalsMan  writes
>>I always laugh when I see remarks that seem to assume that banks are
>>somehow making huge wodges of dosh from the 'interest' that is earned by
>>all the money in the clearings. When somebody pays a cheque into their
>>account at a 3rd party branch, until the cheque clears there is no money
>>upon which interest can be earned.
>
>But how often does someone pay a cheque into their account at a third
>party branch?

Whenever they pay a bill that way.
> Most people pay into their own branch.

Not so. The vast majority of cheque credits are paid in at third party 
branches.


>  The point was
>that given today's IT systems and with the 6 digit sort code and 8
>digit account number it should be possible to clear the cheque and
>debit it to the payers account immediately.

There is just tad bit more to it than your simplistic example.


>  The three day clearing
>thing is purely historic.

Agreed.


-- 
John Boyle