How do bank payments actually work?
I was just complaining to my wife about this earlier this morning (we are in the US).I made a credit card payment last Thursday (1/14) in the mid morning, maybe 9:45 AM. Ideally this should happen pretty quickly, but I know in the US the infrastructure just doesn't match my current expectations. Seemingly there was zero movement until my credit account was credited the payment Friday afternoon, but the money was still in my checking account (no holds or pending transactions).The weekend goes by, no movement. Monday (a bank holiday) comes and goes, as does Tuesday. I get a text message early this morning (~6:45 AM) that there was a large withdrawal from my checking account - the payment showed up! Nearly three full business days before the money was actually moved, and as of right now it's still a pending transaction.The cynic in my wants to think that it's so people who don't pay attention to their finances are more likely to overdraw/double-spend the money, but part of me thinks it's just because the US infrastructure around banking and payments is so old it just isn't capable of anything approaching real time transactions. I would love to see a logistical/technical explanation of why it takes so long for this type of thing in the US.