US banking is a shithole. There are banks now that refuse to cash checks drawn against their own account holders (this means you Chase!). Really! What purpose is there in giving someone a check if your bank refuses to cash them?
The other day I took a check to a bank to be cashed and not only did they charge me $7.50 for the privilege of cashing the check drawn against their own account holder, they FINGERPRINTED me (Key Bank)! I snidely thought of offering the teller a certain sort of DNA sample but restrained myself.
Why not take it to my own bank? They need TEN business days (Provident) to clear any check not drawn against them.
With the death of community banking and the deregulation of banking, once again it's the public who gets screwed.
UK banking is quite tightly regulated, well in theory anyway. For the most part cheques are cleared centrally which takes three working days, though payments
can bounce for a lot longer, especially international cheques.
The option to take a personal cheque to the issuing bank and cash it simply doesn't exist here. If the cheque isn't crossed it could be endorsed over to another or to cash but all (I think) cheques are now crossed. One can uncross them but.
There are numerous cheque cashing bureaux who
will cash personal cheques, for a fee! Some will do debit card advances "cash till Payday" they call it. Typical fees are £20 per £100 advanced though one charges 'only' £14. They do loans too, at about 140% APR!
I think a person
can still go into a branch of their own bank and write a cheque out to cash though I seem to recall that was being phased out. But most would probably use an ATM. I write single digit numbers of business cheques each year but my business has a credit card so I tend to use that, or direct payment. I don't recall the last time I wrote a personal cheque.
Many shops and other businesses won't accept cheques any more due to the hassle, delays and cost.