The check can be withdrawn at a bank branch, if it has not been crossed, or deposited in a current account. In the first case, it is enough to present the document at the bank’s cashier to receive the money. In the second, the clearing system comes into play, a frenetic exchange of papers with the participation of around 150 banks throughout Brazil. Clearing is based on a simple principle: before electronically transferring money from one account to another, the bank that issued the check needs to verify the account holder’s signature and available balance. For this to happen, there are 15 clearing houses throughout the country, responsible for regions that do not always coincide with the geographic division – São Paulo, for example, also serves some cities in the south of the state of Minas. Inside each chamber – a large room or shed with several windows – the banks exchange the checks they receive during banking hours. From there, the documents go to their respective agencies, as explained in the infographic on the side. It’s a lot of work: last year alone, around 2.4 billion checks were cleared in Brazil.
1. When a person, Zé, writes a check in a restaurant, the owner of the place, João, deposits the document in his checking account. If the bank is the same (issuer and receiver), in one or two business days the money leaves one account and enters the other
2. If the banks are different, João’s branch makes a temporary credit to the restaurant owner’s account. This value will be blocked for a few days. At the end of the day, João’s branch sends Zé’s check to the clearing house
3. The regional clearinghouse has representatives from all banks in that area of the country. In it, João’s bank transfers the check to Zé’s bank. The process usually takes place at night.
4. The next day, the check arrives at Zé’s branch, where the signature and balance are checked. If everything is in order, the credit to João’s account is released in one or two business days. If there is a problem, the check is returned to whoever received it.
5. When the agency that issues the check (from Zé) and the agency that receives it (from João) are in different regions of the country, the document must first go through the national clearing center, in São Paulo. From there it is sent to the regional chamber of the agency that issued the check. After that, follow the path described in the previous item.
6. The mandatory stopover in São Paulo increases the compensation period to three or four business days, which is why many people do not accept receiving checks from other states. Only after this period will the credit received by João be unblocked