In regard to pending loans ... is it common practice for lending officers or lending assistants to hold "down payment" checks received from customers until the loan is booked? Suppose a customer wants to finance a car loan with the bank ... and the customer gives the lending assistant a check for a down payment on the car loan ... but the check is held in a pending "loan file" in a locked drawer for several days and is not processed until the drafting instructions come in from the dealership. The bank does not want to give the check back to the customer ... so is it fine to hold the check in a locked drawer ... or should it be processed immediately and maintained under general ledger control ... or should it be handled another way?

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