Possible explanation for why msl's payroll direct deposits took an extra day with ING | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

I had a cheque clear my ING THRiVE Chequing account, which I seldom use compared to my primary HSBC Advance Chequing account, recently and the interesting thing is how long it took to clear my ING account compared to cheques drawn on HSBC.

As an example, if I write a cheque drawn on HSBC or Scotiabank and someone takes it to their bank and deposits it in-branch, it will clear my account the same day (technically early the next morning between 2 and 6 am PDT). However, take a look at a cheque I wrote from my ING THRiVE Chequing account and deposited to my HSBC account. It was processed early in the morning (so as not to miss the 'end of day cut-off') in-branch Feb. 29/2012. It entered the clearing system by the depositing institution (HSBC) on Feb 29/2012. It cleared RBC (presumably ING's clearing agent as ING is not a Direct Clearer in the Canadian Payments Association clearing system) on Mar. 1/2012 and finally cleared my ING THRiVE Chequing account midday (indicating cheque withdrawals are manually posted to customer accounts throughout the day by ING staff) on Mar 2/2012 - a full two days after it entered the clearing system. This reminded me of user msl, from these forums, being frustrated as to why his payroll direct deposits (EFT credits) would go into his account a day or two later than all his coworkers who banked with the Big Five banks.

It's likely because that reason above: ING isn't a Direct Clearer and likely has an account that is "in trust" for its customers with RBC, meaning they may not be the "custodian" of our money on deposit. Similarly, ResMor Trust Company (dba Ally) uses Scotiabank as its clearing agent and presumably uses Scotiabank to hold clients' monies "in trust". Manulife uses RBC. So, I'd be willing to bet if you used any of those companies for direct deposits or cheque writing, they will take at least one day longer to process through the clearing system than had you used a bank that is also a Direct Clearer. Banks that are Direct Clearers are listed here: http://www.cdnpay.ca/imis15/en......aspx#bm01

The reason why PC Financial (which msl used for direct deposits before) posted more quickly is because they essentially operate as a branch of CIBC, having their own transit number within CIBC (institution 010).

Anyway, it's at least one possible explanation that I thought I'd share with you all. Hope it's useful!

Cheers,
Doug