The Phoenix-Hecht Check Clearing Study™ is the industry standard for measuring the time delay for a deposited check to be debited at the originator's bank account. The purpose of the Clearing Study™ is to reflect the minimum amount of time required for a check to clear through the banking system. Using this data, a corporation doing a disbursement analysis can access clearing times that reflect the reality of today's corporate environment and compare banks' performances. All major disbursement banks participate in the Clearing Study™ and make their results available directly to customers and prospects. You can request performance results for specific processors.

Clearing Study™ reports can be used to help you monitor your bank's disbursement performance and compare it to that of other disbursement banks. Clearing times are reported by the drawee location and the deposit city with reports providing current clearing times and comparisons to the previous study. As part of the survey, checks are drawn on over 120 banks representing Fed City, RCPC and country points in all Federal Reserve districts.

During the Clearing Study™, Phoenix-Hecht deposits checks in major lockbox cities and bank branches to measure the elapsed time between the deposit of a check and its presentment at the drawee bank. Multiple deposits are timed to represent normal deposit patterns experienced by corporations. The dollar amount of checks deposited varies according to individual bank processing requirements. To achieve a clear picture of disbursements, Phoenix-Hecht makes one set of deposits using large dollar checks - checks issued with a dollar amount large enough to ensure entry into the bank's direct-send and High Dollar Group Sort programs. These checks are deposited in lockbox areas. By making lockbox deposits, Phoenix-Hecht guarantees that the deposited items make the bank's major availability deadlines and receive expedited clearing. Phoenix-Hecht measures these expedited clearings and reports clearing times representing the minimum clearing time likely to be experienced by a corporate customer. In a second set of deposits, one dollar checks are deposited over-the-counter. The over-the-counter deposits are timed to make each deposit site's deadline for end-of-business day activity. These over-the-counter checks often experience longer check clearing times than large dollar lockbox deposits and represent the maximum amount of check clearing float.

The Phoenix-Hecht Check Clearing Study™ is conducted in March and September with results published in July and January.

Clearing Study Highlights