this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2026
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Not to defend corporations and banks, but it’s kinda true. When you swipe your debit card, your bank allocates those funds for that transaction, but whoever you’re paying doesn’t actually have it yet, and your bank hasn’t sent it yet. That’s just the way the banking system works. It can take days for them to actually get your money, depending on weekends, holidays, etc. When you request a refund, the process just goes in reverse.
Think of it like a check. If I write a check and give it to someone, I write the amount in the check register as if it’s spent, but until that person takes my check to the bank, they don’t actually have the money yet.
I’ve worked for multiple different financial institutions. I’ve been on the banker side and the consumer side of the industry and I can assure you banks absolutely do have the ability to send your money back instantly.
While there are certain federal and international laws that could impact transfer times, this is rare and not something your average Joe would run into.
Most banks want to hold onto your money for as long as possible because that’s how they earn their money. And banks aren’t the only ones who do this. Companies will hold out on issuing refunds for the same reason.
It’s sort of the perfect way to show the penny savings example I guess. Because yeah, the interested earned is pennies, but when you have a million pennies earning another million pennies… it adds up.
[EDITED: to changed an autocorrect from warned to earned]
"That's just the way the system works" say people who built, maintain, and rely on the system working that way for their profit.
Yeah, not true in the EU. Money must reach the recipient within seconds.
But it’s the same thing. The banks just front the money essentially. The actual transaction doesn’t clear until later.
Then they can do that the other way as well
Seems like a good job for a bank, and something reasonable they could do in other countries too.
You got any source for that? From what I read they settle it immediately.
Some places clear all their receipts on a weekly basis, not daily and definitely not hourly. I think for smaller restaurants and stores they pay lower transaction fees for handling it in bulk.
I agree completely; I often do credit card refunds and that can take me a minute on my end, but your own bank might not release your funds back to you for days or weeks.
I know it can be weeks because I had to check in with the same customer a few times to confirm that their bank was being the problem rather the payment processor we had.
I worked in retail for 15 years, and this came up all the time. Yes, your money has been “accessed” in your account, but if I run my journal and show it to you, you would see we don’t actually have it yet.
Wouldn't this create inflation... all that money "in transit?"
Only one party can access it at a time, so I don’t see how it could.
Plus someone always has the money.
What often happens is that your bank is making a profit on the interest off of your money for a few days, which is the reason they delay giving the money back to you right away.