Did you ever deposit a check for hundreds or thousands of dollars, and wish it would clear right away so you can write your own checks against it?

Probably so. But often—even though the new Check 21 system has speeded things up—it takes several days for a check to clear, especially if it’s on an out-of-town bank. But there are three simple things you can do, to get checks cleared faster.

1. Know when your bank switches to the next business day— it’s usually at 2pm or 3pm—and deposit checks before then. Otherwise, those checks won’t get credited to your account until the next business day, which may not be until Tuesday if you made a deposit on Friday after 2pm or 3pm and the following Monday is a federal holiday.

2. If you frequently get sizeable checks from a company you do business with, notice which bank they use and consider opening a checking account at that bank, if they have a branch in your area. Then, whenever you deposit a check from them, it should clear right away.

You might also ask the people who write those checks to have them electronically transferred to your account. Besides your checking account number, you’ll need to provide the bank’s routing number—at the bottom left of your checks— because their bank may be in a different Federal Reserve District than the one (of 12) your bank is in.

3. If most or all of the checks you deposit take several days to clear, it may be because your account is with a small local bank, and they use a larger (perhaps national) bank for check processing, which requires an extra day or two. If so, consider opening an account at a national bank if there’s a branch nearby.