when the customer reviews their online banking account they will see the uncollected funds status and know that the bank received the deposit the customer can then check back later to see if the funds have cleared if they ve been made available the customer knows that they can use the money as needed 
during the uncollected funds hold period banks use these funds for short term investments that can add to their returns and income criticism of uncollected fundscustomers who face uncollected funds charges often find them to be unfair when people deposit checks many of them naturally assume that those deposits instantly become money in the bank that they can spend from this point of view an uncollected funds charge is a sneaky way for the bank to make money there is also a good argument that ucf fees are excessive the fact that they can be the same amount as nsf fees is particularly irksome a person writing a bad check normally has no reason to believe it will clear while someone with uncollected funds might think their money is available furthermore there might be little or nothing in an account with insufficient funds leaving the bank with a loss and a need to collect on the other hand it is easy for the bank to take ucf fees out of the uncollected funds when they are cleared which usually happens within a few days since uncollected funds are not available right away when do they become available in a day in a week check clearing times can be hard to determine and a source of frustration for customers granted this was more of an issue before online banking made it easier to determine the status of deposited checks still not everyone banks online so indeterminate holding periods may continue to be an issue for some the best way to avoid uncollected funds charges ucf fees is to check your account balance online after making a deposit make sure the deposit is part of the available balance rather than uncollected funds before spending it examples of uncollected fundsexample 1 jack a longtime customer of hometown community bank deposits a 1 000 check on monday 100 is available for withdrawal right away however the 900 balance is designated as uncollected funds so jack must wait until the check clears later in the week to draw upon that amount if jack tries to write a check against the balance and it has not yet cleared jack will incur an uncollected funds charge example 2 christine runs a small graphic design company a new client sends her a check for services rendered christine deposits the check into the company s business account knowing that the money is seen as uncollected funds and won t be available immediately because the client s bank isn t local it takes a day longer than normal for the check to clear but business is good and she can use existing funds in the account for her spending needs until the uncollected funds are verified collected and become available to her uncollected funds vs insufficient fundsit is crucial to make a distinction between uncollected funds and insufficient funds unlike uncollected funds an account with insufficient funds will not show a deposit pending such an account does not have enough money in it to meet demands against it writing a check against an account with insufficient funds will always result in a bounced check and incur a fee in fact people who knowingly write a check against an account with insufficient funds may be committing a crime on the other hand writing a check against an account with uncollected funds can work if the check is not cashed until after the uncollected funds have cleared 