Pick a struggle!

[Whitesmarine]

I've had my business " checking " for quite a while now and absolutely perfect standing, perfect status, loans always repaid perfectly, no disputes, no charge back ect ect .

I'd say out of my total TXs, 98% are via invoices, 95% of them are card processed, 4% checks and the rest is cash recorded. 

 I can have the same customer pay several times with check and it's cleared within 1-30 minutes. $ amount doesn't seem to affect that time frame .... BUT out of the blue it takes SIX #$*@ing DAYS... I'm sorry, I mean 6 BUSINESS days to clear. 

 1 client has written over 40 checks, of those 40, 3-4 had max hold times for amounts less than $200 when $2500.00+ checks have cleared immediately. 

 There's no rhyme or reason... hand written or printed, account history or account balance, 8am , 11am or 10pm... doesn't matter. 

I perfectly understand potential security reasons... ESPECIALLY if it's a fresh new account. 

But if the account is nearly as old as Square itself... why be a troll? 

 I don't even bother calling because if I hear the basic Becky reply of 1-6 days , call if longer than 6 days.... I'm gonna make the news 

  If Square isn't going to address this * they're not * then AT LEAST... for the love of money... AT LEAST give *** ESTABLISHED*** account holders a instant deposit for 1.5-3.5% fee option . Heck, even sadistic PayPal offers that.

Pick a struggle Square! 

  Going forward I'm either going to stop accepting checks period or use PayPal for immediate deposit. 

Side note: is it my old age or didn't Square have an immediate option once ? I feel like I remember one ... it didn't present itself EVERY time IRRC but pretty sure I remember seeing *immediate* in squares distinct font ?

[DinaLRosenberg]

We stopped accepting checks.. for this very reason. That's frustrating.

[ryanwanner]

Hello @Whitesmarine 

So here's the deal. This isn't necessarily all on Square's shoulders. Checks have to go through various steps through the validation process. Every bank has its own way of verifying funds, and the feds have to have their hands in it too. Even checks drawn on the same account for the same amount can take different paths towards approval, which can slow down everything. Hence your delays. 

Simply put: so many steps means that sometimes things happen. You'd think this would have all been solved by now, but because technology has moved beyond checks those systems aren't keeping up. It's an antiquated way of payment acceptance riddled with easy ways for fraudsters to take advantage of things. Personally, I will only accept checks from long standing customers and for smaller invoice amounts.

Instead of accepting checks, I would recommend setting up ACH options for your invoices so you're not hit with the card processing fees.