? about Electronic Money

[sleuth]

One thing sort of bugs me about online banking and such.

Why is it that when I do an electronic payment from my bank to my credit card, it takes sometimes 2 - 5 days for that payment to be reflected?

In this information age, shouldn't it be almost instant... or at least within a couple hours?

I don't know how all this works, how these places communicate with one another, so forgive me if it's a dumb question.

 

[Schizo]

One thing sort of bugs me about online banking and such.

Why is it that when I do an electronic payment from my bank to my credit card, it takes sometimes 2 - 5 days for that payment to be reflected?

In this information age, shouldn't it be almost instant... or at least within a couple hours?

I don't know how all this works, how these places communicate with one another, so forgive me if it's a dumb question.

Really? Mine is immediate. Your bank must still use a dial-up. LOL

You know, a few days times a couple of million customers who hold balances = free money to the credit card companies.

 

[Chasey_Lane]

The payment is probably reflected immediately, though, just not on your end. There's a bunch of follow-up and reconciliation to accounts before the "credit" is posted.

 

[Llwynog]

Some of the bills I pay on line you must enter your request by a certain time or it won't be done until the next business day.

 

[wmburdette]

As I have been led to believe with Bank of America, if the transfer is to another BoA account (such as Checking to Saving) the transfer is reflected immediately but if the transfer or payment is to another bank it is accumulated in a queue and is not transferred until the days close-out. At that time, the bulk transfer goes to the receiving bank. The receiving bank accepts it into a queue and it is not posted until the days close-outs at that bank. As an example, you send a payment from Bank A to Bank B on Monday, it doesn't go to Bank B until Bank A runs its close-outs for the day and sends the payment to Bank B. Bank B accepts the payment into an input queue and it is not posted until Bank B runs its close-outs that Tuesday night. The payment is reflected in Bank B's postings on Wednesday. In this example you have a Monday to Wednesday lag before the payment is shown as posted in Bank B.

 

[Steve]

After you've submitted your payment from your checking account to your credit card, you are given the confirmation number. As long as you executed payment prior to the due date and time, it really doesn't matter when the transaction is finally posted. You are credited with paying it at the moment you confirm and receive your confirmation number. Occassionally, you may see a late fee posted then reversed, if you've paid the card very near the deadline. Keeping an eye on your statement, and promptly calling the bank and/or card issuer will usually resolve any discrepancies.

 

[2ndAmendment]

After you've submitted your payment from your checking account to your credit card, you are given the confirmation number. As long as you executed payment prior to the due date and time, it really doesn't matter when the transaction is finally posted. You are credited with paying it at the moment you confirm and receive your confirmation number. Occassionally, you may see a late fee posted then reversed, if you've paid the card very near the deadline. Keeping an eye on your statement, and promptly calling the bank and/or card issuer will usually resolve any discrepancies.

Not quite so. I had my confirmation number from BoA to Exxon with payment made before due day. Exxon didn't post until 4 days later which was after due day; result, late charge. I complained. The confirmation number from the bank only confirms you have scheduled the payment. It does not indication a confirmation of receipt by the payee. A BoA rep called Exxon with me on the line and explained to the Exxon that the payment had been scheduled 4 days earlier. Exxon rep explained that it did not matter when the payment was scheduled but when the payment was credited. Exxon did agree to take off the late charge as a "courtesy" since I had not been late before.

 

[Steve]

Not quite so. I had my confirmation number from BoA to Exxon with payment made before due day. Exxon didn't post until 4 days later which was after due day; result, late charge. I complained. The confirmation number from the bank only confirms you have scheduled the payment. It does not indication a confirmation of receipt by the payee. A BoA rep called Exxon with me on the line and explained to the Exxon that the payment had been scheduled 4 days earlier. Exxon rep explained that it did not matter when the payment was scheduled but when the payment was credited. Exxon did agree to take off the late charge as a "courtesy" since I had not been late before.

Then I would have paid off and cancelled the card with Exxon, and filed a (probably useless) complaint with the BBB. Delayed processing of on-time payments does occur with unscrupulous companies. I've got plenty of stories I could share about Wachovia Bank. They use to do the same thing. I eventually resolved one particularly annoying problem by calling the office of the Wachovia CEO. One of his Executive Flunkies worked with us and resolved the issue, but we got rid of them anyway.

How did you pay Exxon? By paying the bill from the Exxon website, or by "pushing" the payment from BoA? If paying electronically between different companies, I'd recommend always initiating the payment from the creditor, not your bank. If you'd had Exxon's payment confirmation number, they couldn't refute it.

 

[2ndAmendment]

Then I would have paid off and cancelled the card with Exxon, and filed a (probably useless) complaint with the BBB. Delayed processing of on-time payments does occur with unscrupulous companies. I've got plenty of stories I could share about Wachovia Bank. They use to do the same thing. I eventually resolved one particularly annoying problem by calling the office of the Wachovia CEO. One of his Executive Flunkies worked with us and resolved the issue, but we got rid of them anyway.

How did you pay Exxon? By paying the bill from the Exxon website, or by "pushing" the payment from BoA? If paying electronically between different companies, I'd recommend always initiating the payment from the creditor, not your bank. If you'd had Exxon's payment confirmation number, they couldn't refute it.

Pushed from BoA. BoA takes money immediately but payee is paid according to a schedule of days later. In Exxon's case, the payment days are 2 working days. My payment took 4 working days. I agree that it is often better to "pull" from payee site than "push" from bank. The "pull" is usually, with some exceptions, credited the same day subject to funds being received.

 

[crabcake]

If ya'll didn't wait till the last minute/day to pay your bills, this wouldn't be a problem.

I've never heard of a company saying, "Okay, you mailed/scheduled e-payment on day, so that's okay with us, even though we didn't get it until a week after the due date. Here, have your late fee back." The payment is due on a certain day (and usually says so on your bill). You can't count on BofA or any other web bill pay service to send it out on time for you all the time. Things happen, holidays delay mail (and that's all BofA is doing -- mailing a check for you).

I used to be the worst at paying bills ... wasn't that I didn't have the money. I just didn't have the time to sit down and do 'em. Now I got in the habit of putting all bills that come in on my laptop, and the next time I go to it, the first thing I do is pay (immediately, not a day before the due date) the darn things.

 

[microcomputer]

One thing sort of bugs me about online banking and such.

Why is it that when I do an electronic payment from my bank to my credit card, it takes sometimes 2 - 5 days for that payment to be reflected?

In this information age, shouldn't it be almost instant... or at least within a couple hours?

I don't know how all this works, how these places communicate with one another, so forgive me if it's a dumb question.

I was wondering the same thing.

I transfer funds from one bank to BoA. I do it all through BoA online. The other bank shows a funds transfer to BoA the next day but BoA doesn't move the funds into my account for days.

My money is gone from one bank (it is no longer available to me) yet BoA doesn't reflect the funds for days.

Wonder who is getting the interest on my funds.

What if a bunch of customers do this - could there be thousands and thousands of interest free money "floating" for days?

 

[crabcake]

All banks wait for checks to clear. :shrug: BofA usually makes a certain amount of the money you deposit (once they receive the check) available immediately, but the rest is on hold until the funds are secured from the originating bank. I think it's kind of a CYA thing on their part to prevent from losing money from bad check writers. Just cause it's a company or bank check doesnt' mean it's legit. They have problems with forged/false business/bank checks all the time.

 

[microcomputer]

All banks wait for checks to clear. :shrug: BofA usually makes a certain amount of the money you deposit (once they receive the check) available immediately, but the rest is on hold until the funds are secured from the originating bank. I think it's kind of a CYA thing on their part to prevent from losing money from bad check writers. Just cause it's a company or bank check doesnt' mean it's legit. They have problems with forged/false business/bank checks all the time.

The money in my other bank has cleared and is available. I go on BoA (online) and initiate a transfer. The very next day I go to my other bank (online) and it shows that BoA took the money. If the money wasn't available - my other bank wouldn't have deducted it from my account. I then wait three or more days for BoA to show it in my account. As far as clearing - one bank isn't going to send it if they don't have the funds. Also, when I electronically pay bills at BoA I have the "notification" set to let me know when they send the money. Again - days before I get a notification. It makes absolutely no sense to me why BoA plays this game. I am about to change banks but not sure if ALL banks are the same.