Why do electronic payments take so long to get where they are going?

When they are taken out of my account immediately. I use my bank's online bill pay service to pay most of my bills. One payment for ATT was taken out on May 4. Today I get a bill for a past due amount. I called them and they have no record of the payment, five days after it comes out of my account.

It's just electrons; it should be instantaneous. I should be able to pay on the very day it is due and not have a problem. For many bills I use the company's own website, which (go figure) credits it instantly. But my bank must use Pony Express or something.

you are electronically telling your bank to write a paper check and mail it; the transfer of funds is not electronic. So it takes just as long as if you wrote and mailed a paper check yourself. The convenience for you is that you don't have to do the writing and mailing, and you can easily keep track of the payments that go out. But it isn't any faster than the old way.

I guess I don't get why it isn't all electronic.

For example, if you wanted to send money to, for example, me, you could set me up as a payee in your online bill pay system - all the bank needs is my address (they might also ask for a phone number). So say you want to send me $50, and you get into your online banking system and tell the bank to do that. The bank then produces a paper check and mails it to me at the address you gave them. No signature is needed; the check will say "signature on file," and my bank will accept it when I go to cash or deposit it. But in order for me to accept an electronic transfer, your bank would also have to know which bank I use, my account number, and a transmittal number. Without that information they can't transfer funds electronically. So I'll just have to take that paper check instead. :)

a credit or debit card.
But still many of them have to batch it out on their records before it goes thru.
It's even the same way with online buying or anything with credit or debit. It's a two step process. They put a charge onto your card, which does not go thru' until they batch out their transactions.
Sometimes they do that automatically at the end of the day, or only later when someone reviews their accounts in their office.
dc

Not that you have money from other things made good yet.

So it's a gamble on the bank's part. It takes a while to do it.

If the vendor gives you credit for the payment automatically, that's a gamble on its part, too.

Anyway, it's better than driving across to the country to make a payment with chickens as Sharon Angle believes we should do to pay for hospitalization.

I hope MFM has a few thousand chickens ready...

:rofl:

Aint no picnic either.

They are notified by the creditor and the bank automatically pays the bill. I am notified by e-mail before the due date.

man, i was just scrolling through the topics here and you have asked the question, dude!
i was always wondering about this. it really pisses me off sometimes.
for instance: i recently ordered something from on online reseller (a watch for my dad´s birthday, the website was called chrono24), and the freaking payment took so long (on my bank´s site), that i did not receive the item on time for my dad´s birthday.
i don´t get it. your explanations sound reasonable, but paypal for instance also manages to transfer money the same day!
i find it really weird and annoying...

man, i was just scrolling through the topics here and you have asked the question, dude!
i was always wondering about this. it really pisses me off sometimes.
for instance: i recently ordered something from on online reseller (a watch for my dad´s birthday, the website was http://chrono24blog.com/">called chrono24), and the freaking payment took so long (on my bank´s site), that i did not receive the item on time for my dad´s birthday.
i don´t get it. your explanations sound reasonable, but paypal for instance also manages to transfer money the same day!
i find it really weird and annoying...

man, i was just scrolling through the topics here and you have asked the question, dude!
i was always wondering about this. it really pisses me off sometimes.
for instance: i recently ordered something from on online reseller (a watch for my dad´s birthday, the website was called chrono24), and the freaking payment took so long (on my bank´s site), that i did not receive the item on time for my dad´s birthday.
i don´t get it. your explanations sound reasonable, but paypal for instance also manages to transfer money the same day!
i find it really weird and annoying...

posting the same response three different times, days apart

It's all contracted out to free electrons.

...the banks want to lock the money in their system for a few days so they can use it and get a return on it themselves. One person's monthly payments isn't that much to get some interest on, but when it's millions of people over and over again, it adds up. And you can bet your ass that they won't do that to someone they actually care about (read: big business).

Check this out: http://businessrecord.com/main.asp?SectionID=5&SubSectionID=13&ArticleID=9696&TM=36161.02

The servers use dial up and 1200 baud modems. hence why it takes forever ;)