British consumers hit by wait for cheques

CONSUMERS in Britain are losing out on interest payments because banks there generally make them wait at least three working days for a cheque to clear, according to new research published yesterday.

Financial information group Defaqto said 56% of current accounts made people wait for three working days before they started to earn interest on a cheque they had paid into their account, with some banks making people wait for four days.

But at the same time 80% of banks stopped paying interest on the day a withdrawal was made.