Banks that run branches in Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands are allowed to take one extra business day before releasing money from an out-of-state check. The permission comes from Regulation CC, the Federal Reserve rule that sets how fast banks must make deposited funds available. It has been part of the rule for years, and it is optional for the bank.

The extra day applies only when two things are true, according to the rule text in 12 CFR 229.12(e). The check has to be deposited at a branch in one of those seven places, and it has to be drawn on or payable through a bank in a different state from the bank that takes the deposit. A retiree in Honolulu, Anchorage, San Juan or Hagatna who deposits a pension, insurance or family check written on a mainland bank is the standard example.

For anyone banking in those places, the question is how long a mainland check can sit before the money can be spent. The usual hold on an ordinary check is two business days, and this rule lets the bank add a third. The depositor does not have to ask for the extra day or agree to it. It shows up as a later availability date on the deposit receipt or the hold notice.

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Which branches get the extra day

The test is where the branch sits, not where the bank is headquartered. A national bank based in the 48 contiguous states that runs a branch in Guam can use the extension for deposits made at that Guam branch. Besides the states of Alaska and Hawaii, the rule names Puerto Rico and Guam, plus three other territories: American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands. That makes five territories in all. A branch in any state outside the list, including Washington, Oregon or California, gets no extra day.

The rule says the bank “may” extend the schedule, so it is a choice. A branch can release the money on the normal timetable. Depositors who want to know which approach their bank takes can ask for the bank’s funds availability policy, which every bank must give customers who open an account.

Which checks stretch by a day

The Federal Reserve Board’s Regulation CC guide says funds from checks must generally be available by the second business day after deposit. The Fed also says the old split between local and nonlocal checks is gone, since there is now only one Reserve Bank check-processing region. The territorial day is added on top of that second-day standard for qualifying out-of-state checks.

A check drawn on a bank in the same state is outside the extension. So is a check deposited at a branch outside the seven named places. An Anchorage branch holding an Alaska check gets no extra day. The same Anchorage branch holding a check drawn on a Seattle bank can.

Deposits that never get the extra day

Paragraph (e) excludes deposits covered by Section 229.10, the next-business-day rule. The Federal Reserve lists those as cash deposited in person, wires and electronic payments, and several kinds of checks deposited under the right conditions, including U.S. Treasury checks, postal money orders, and state or local government checks, plus cashier’s, certified and teller’s checks. Because of that carve-out, a cashier’s check from a mainland bank deposited in person at a Hawaii branch is generally still next-day money.

Money from a Treasury check, for example, is not held up by the extension even when the check is deposited far from the mainland. The Fed also says the first $275 of a deposit of checks that are not next-day items must be available the next business day. The extra day does not take that $275 away.

Other holds can run longer than one day

The territorial day is a small delay compared with other reasons a bank can give. The Fed says an exception hold can last a “reasonable period of time,” and it lists a deposit over $6,725 as one example. Deposits at an ATM the bank does not own must be available by the fifth business day. The Connecticut Department of Banking’s funds availability page adds new accounts, repeated overdrafts, redeposited checks, reasonable doubt that a check will clear, and emergencies as other grounds, and says a hold past the second day requires a written notice with the reason and the date funds will be available.

That notice is the document to read. If the stated availability date is later than the rule seems to allow, a customer can ask the bank how the date was figured. The Fed’s consumer help line, which the Connecticut page lists as 888-851-1920, takes complaints about funds availability.

Planning for the extra day means treating a mainland check as spendable only after the date on the receipt, not the date it posts to the balance. A rent payment or a bill timed to a check that clears on paper can bounce if the bank has not released the funds, and the overdraft fee lands anyway.

Banking in Hawaii, Alaska or a territory and waiting on a mainland check?

A held check does not just delay the money. It can leave a bill unpaid, an overdraft fee on the account, and a small cushion that was meant for something else. Retirees on fixed incomes feel that gap first.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.