Diane, I have checking accounts with both BB and AB and I believe their policies on local checks are the same but I'm going by memory. I don't think that is too bad though. Banks in the USA put a 3 business day hold on another "in State bank" check and maybe a little longer on an out of State bank.
Banking in the USA is getting more and more difficult due to the last laws and regulations of Dodd/Frank. I can't see how anyone can get a mortgage in this atmosphere. I'm in the process right now trying to get a mortgage for a property I'm buying and without any exaggeration I've scanned a few hundred pages of documentation to send to the loan originators to get this approved. They just got back to me this morning for more clarification. I'll admit that my circumstances are different than most and don't fit into the cookie cutter situation the laws envisioned but let me say right now if I can't get a loan I don't see how anyone could. This will get approved I'm sure but this must be why the housing market in the USA is still in the dumps. All the banking people tell me the same thing....the new laws are killing housing and a lot of people give up on the process.
This morning there is an article where large banks are refusing deposits due to the new laws. I'm sure these regs effect banking in Belize and selling real estate in Belize. I know for a fact that "FATCA" laws are.
Banks: "Your money's no good here" • 10:28 AM
Stephen Alpher, SA News Editor
•A combination of new regulations and near-zero interest rates has some banks - including JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), Citigroup (NYSE:C), HSBC, Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB), and Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) - privately telling larger clients to take their deposits elsewhere or face fees on accounts which have long been free.
•"Ultimately my balances aren't as profitable for the banks, and that's going to impact my business," says an executive with a title insurance company, complaining of sleepless nights amid negotiations with his bankers.
•BNY Mellon (NYSE:BK) has begun charging institutional clients money to park money in euros, and State Street (NYSE:STT) says itwill soon begin doing so.
•Some bankers are advising large clients to break up large deposits across a number of lenders (including smaller banks not subject to the new regulations), and other corporations are going to find themselves needing to build more sophisticated (and riskier) portfolios likely including vehicles like short-term bond funds and uninsured money-market funds.
AmbergrisCaye.com 
