<prompt> Human: A small backstory. My girlfriend, who is completely terrible with money is constantly overdrafting her checking account. What makes matters worse is that her parents have plenty of money and always bail her out so shes never learned to budget. Anyway, today her parents write her a check for a large sum of money and she goes to deposit it in her account. Her bank tells her that her account is not in good standing and that it will take a week for the funds to hit her account. Irate, she comes to me asking me why that is. I think that she thinks that if youre responsible with money, you somehow know everything there is to know about finances. I dont so here I am asking. Does anybody know why it will take a week for the money to hit her account?  <response>: They think shes a deadbeat based upon her account history and so dont trust that the check will actually clear. When you deposit a check, your bank makes the money available instantly or quickly pending the check actually clearing with the other bank which can take 1-2 weeks. 