Hold Reasons

• In theory, a bank can place a hold on a savings account for any reason, but holds are typically placed on larger dollar checks, which are defined as checks that exceed your average account balance. Additionally, banks share information about suspected fraud and counterfeiting, and your bank may place a hold if it has reason to doubt the authenticity of a check that you deposit.
  
  The right of offset law allows banks to transfer money from your deposit accounts to cover overdrafts in other accounts or unpaid loan payments. Your bank may place a hold on your savings ahead of utilizing the right of offset to collect an unpaid debt.
  
  

Regulation CC

• Although regulation CC requires banks to notify you prior to holds being placed on checking accounts, the act does allow for banks to place holds in some situations after you complete the deposit as long as the bank makes an effort to contact you about the hold. This situation often arises when you make a deposit at an automated teller machine or at the bank's night drop. Neither the ATM nor the night-drop box have the capability to determine whether the deposit warrants a hold, but the deposits are later processed by a human who can opt to place a hold. This same scenario often leads to holds being placed on savings accounts.
  
  

Disclosure

• When you open a savings account, the bank must provide you with a copy of the deposit agreement, which contains details of all of the bank's policies and procedures. While banks are free to develop internal procedures for placing holds on savings accounts, every bank must detail its hold policy in the depository agreement. To keep things simple for bank employees, many banks use regulation CC as the basis for placing holds on savings, but other banks place lengthy holds on all items that are deposited into savings accounts.
  
  

Considerations

• Savings accounts, as opposed to checking accounts, are not technically day-to-day transactional accounts. In fact, regulation D means that you can make no more than six withdrawals from a savings account during a single calendar month. Therefore, you should not deposit money into a savings account if you plan to use that money within a short space of time. However, if you only have a savings account and cannot qualify for a checking, familiarize yourself with the depository agreement so you can prepare yourself for the worst case scenario in terms of holds.