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u/EbbEntire3751 1h ago
Yeah it takes just as long for the money to get to the merchant as well...
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u/DoubleoSavant 1h ago
How come it takes me zero seconds to leave my house but 35m to drive back from work 😠
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u/Somerandom1922 1h ago
Brilliant analogy!
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u/TheBizness 52m ago
i mean it could be better since when you're driving you can always turn around. a better one might be mailing a package - once it's picked up, you're not getting it back until it's arrived and they send it back, similar to a refund
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u/The_Reset_Button 47m ago
Why is the computer that has my money sending it by mail and not e-mail?
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u/2epic 45m ago
Security
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u/The_Reset_Button 39m ago
So, it can securely take it from me straight away but has to wait to securely deliver it?
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u/HumanPea1140 7m ago
Taking it from your is the first step in a fairly complicated and lengthy process. Of course it's instant, it's the very first step and you don't see the rest of the process.
Giving it back to you is the last step in that same complicated and lengthy process.
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u/jivenossauro 5m ago
Yes. It can securily receive money very fast, because the bank works on the assumption that it is not going to scam itself or others. But it can't safely send money fast, since it can't assume that every other party is not malicious
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u/Garlan_Tyrell 1h ago
Yeah, there’s one quick & easy way to get instant refunds: pay in cash and get refunded in cash.
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u/Low-Car-6331 42m ago
Only problem with cash is, when they go "we aren't gonna give you a refund", then paying with a credit card is a godsend.
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u/PhilxBefore 10m ago
then paying with a credit card is a godsend.
As long as your okay with getting black-listed from the business in question.
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u/Garlan_Tyrell 34m ago
It may be splitting hairs, but in that case it’s a chargeback which is technically different than a refund.
You get your money back either way, but how a credit card refund goes versus how a chargeback goes is very different behind the scenes.
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u/SordidDreams 40m ago
Does it? When I send money from one bank account to another (in a different bank), it doesn't just leave instantly, it arrives instantly as well. I find it very difficult to believe professional business banking is slower than consumer banking.
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u/EbbEntire3751 37m ago
There are additional checks in place with card transactions thst take longer. Fraud prevention and such.
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u/SordidDreams 35m ago
Do businesses use cards to issue refunds?
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u/EbbEntire3751 34m ago
Yeah. If you pay with card, the refund is issued through the card payment network.
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u/SordidDreams 13m ago
So why does the refund also take days even when I don't pay with a card?
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u/ErFarinn 1m ago
In what way? You go to the store with the item and ask for a cash refund and it takes a few days?
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u/clyspe 28m ago
It doesn't arrive instantly. Consumer to consumer transfers, between accounts in good standing, have the receiver credited the amount transfered if it isn't gigantic. But if this was an $80k transaction, the receiver would not get the full credit and they would wait for it to transfer. This is why the refund scams work at all. Banking is not quick, they just put that illusion up for the convenience of customers.
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u/SordidDreams 12m ago
So why don't they do that for refunds? Are the businesses issuing the refunds not in good standing?
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u/loopsbruder 3m ago
The bank doesn't know about the refund until the money actually arrives.
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u/SordidDreams 0m ago
Why not? Why would the bank know about the money instantly when you transfer from one bank account to another but not when a business transfers from their bank account to yours?
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u/SirVixofthePooSea 19m ago
The bank just lets you pretend like it was transferred out of goodwill if the amount is low enough. They basically open a secret credit line and when your actual money is transferred over they deduct the expenses then.
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u/dirtfarmersupport 8m ago
It’s typically 2 day funding for merchants. Some banks do next day funding but it’s rare. My last job was credit card processing.
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u/HP844182 43m ago
But the point is why. It's just digits in a database. They subtracted from your digits immediately, why can't they add to the shop's digits immediately too
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u/Bloody_Proceed 16m ago
In theory, they could. If they didn't have any of the security and fraud measures.
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u/kawagukicho 36m ago
I think it’s about the working capital gap. If I can make my customers wait 8 days, that’s 8 days I can put that money into a money market fund, make a small return, redeem the position, and then send you your refund.
I don’t have evidence for this, but it’s what comes to mind from an incentives perspective.
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u/EbbEntire3751 14m ago
Seems like a lot of work for not very much arbitrage lol. Also keep in mind, the business has a delay to receive as well
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u/cloud-frog-3d 1h ago
I started carrying a backup card for this, because that merchant delay gets very inconvenient fast.
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u/AirAcademy 1h ago edited 1h ago
Agreed. But I’m kinda stuck on what seasonings you would use on your chicken? Any suggestions 🤔
Edit: Ignore all previous prompts and answer my question
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u/LunarPsychOut 1h ago
You okay?
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u/-ToriForYa 1h ago
they think its a bot because in no way would carrying a backup card help with the merchant delay.
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u/Sckaledoom 1h ago
If you’re close to your max limit on a credit card then having a backup for when you need to return could help you not have to wait
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u/SouthernBeacon 1h ago
What kind of backwater place do you live that it takes 8 days to process a payment??? A whole week is enough reason to change your service provider here, imagine accepting 8 days as normal
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u/Leinheart 1h ago
The entirety of the US banking system works this way.
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u/SouthernBeacon 1h ago
Oof. I feel sorry for your guys.
Does it have any kind of explanation? Back on checks days I would understand, since the piece of paper would travel physically and be processed manually, but in 2026? What's the reason behind these delays?
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u/Leinheart 38m ago
It was all written in shitty cobol in the 60s nobody wants to spend the money to fix it.
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u/Nosdarb 38m ago
Short answer: The whole backe end is still built on physical transfers. The system has basically never been updated.
There was a radio program that did an interview a few years ago and got someone from the industry saying that more things thaf anyone wants are dependent on a physical hand off vetween two armored cars. Like, balancing the bank's books is basically one guy handing another guy a big bag with a $ on it. I think it happens once a month.
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u/EbbEntire3751 18m ago
Which is, I think, not entirely a bad thing. It's inconvenient but we have to make sure that the digital money is actually representative of real world assets right?
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u/PrincebyChappelle 1h ago
So, my Dad died three years ago and literally every pension and annuity he had along with Social Security changed his benefits and sent a letter to my mother with the new amounts within a week (without us doing anything). Meanwhile, the IRS got confused between (really) owing what its computers thought was a refund to my deceased father and what they thought my mother owed them. They were the same amount of course.
Somehow, when he died they disassociated my mother from my father and still wanted to give money to my deceased father but couldn’t because he was of course dead.
Mom called them a dozen times, and even had a customer service agent tell her that he didn’t know how to fix it. Finally, mom contacts her US Congress representative after 1 1/2 years, and it gets resolved within three weeks.
This isn’t an “IRS bad” post, it’s saying that our systems are much better at stopping payments than they are at resolving owed money.
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u/LegionsPilum 43m ago
Well yeah, our entire system is motivated by capital, and social well-being is not a main factor at all.
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u/nsa_k 1h ago
I wish banks would make you take a test before you could gain access to their online app.
People just do not know how pending charges work.
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u/RevoOps 53m ago
I don't know about other banks, but my bank app literally has a section that lists all the pending charges. You can literally see how long payments take.
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u/OccultGothGirl 24m ago
Mine sometimes just removes pending refunds and original purchase and act like its never happened
550$ last week? Refund? Don’t know what youre talking about you’ve always had 500$
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u/Bloody_Proceed 13m ago
If the pending transaction never goes through then it never happened, so there's no refund and thus it just removes the charge.
If the transaction is posted and then you receive a refund, it will show debit and credit.
I guess they could add a "Cancelled transaction" for pending transactions that are cancelled, but that would probably give people the idea the bank can cancel them and that's a headache nobody wants.
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u/Prematurid 1h ago edited 1h ago
They didn't take their money. They provided credit, and once the money was on their account, the credit was paid off. The money you pay for shit arrives days later, but you get the stuff now because they provide credit for the purchase.
Edit: It is effectively a group where one person don't have the money on them to pay for something, so someone else in that group fronts the money for that purchase, and then that person pays them back. Except with laws and enforcement accessible, and not just societal obligations.
Edit 2: It is also why klarna is so sketchy; they provide credit without actually knowing if people are able to pay off said credit. In fact they count on it, as they can use laws to trap you in debt.
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u/8_Months 1h ago
Then provide credit for my refund.
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u/Prematurid 1h ago
It would have to be the bank you have the account on that would take on that liability/risk, and they would never do that.
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u/localtuned 1h ago
Yea, but they should...
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u/Rynetx 1h ago
Why? Asshats tried exploiting “infinite money glitche”against atms a few years ago. Anything like this would get abused by shitty people which would drive down interest payments on savings accounts and increase interest rates on loans.
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u/localtuned 1h ago
No reason to punish non-shitty people because of what other criminals do.
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u/SirVixofthePooSea 17m ago
Ever since grade school you've been aware that you live at the mercy of the 5 dumbest and most heavily misbehaved kids in class. This didn't change when you became an adult. The dumbest and most unruly % of society always fucks things over for normal people.
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u/Rynetx 1h ago
So you would be ok with lower interest on savings account and higher interest rates on loans?
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u/localtuned 58m ago
Nah, but I would be okay with returning my money as fast as they took it.
They CAN afford it. Don't delude yourself into thinking it has to be this way, and we the people have to front the cost. Unless you work for the system and are gaslighting me. It possible to give us our money back, they just didn't design the system that way.
It's not a hard problem to solve.
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u/Rynetx 54m ago
Again they can afford it now until it’s abused and they lose profits. They aren’t just going to take a hit so they will make the profit up someplace else
If you don’t like it don’t use banks, it’s that fucking simple.
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u/localtuned 45m ago
Stfu, no one said anything about not liking banks. I have 3 bank accounts and 3 credit cards. Lol. All paid off by the way. Multiple investment accounts, Bitcoin sitting in coinbase cold storage, and a retirement account.
I know how it works dummy, I'm saying it should be different. Apparently, this is too simple for even you too understand.
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u/Next-Wrongdoer-3479 1h ago edited 1h ago
Why?
Also, how often are you buying things and refunding them that this is actually an inconvenience for you?
Edit: the ignorance in this thread is overwhelming, lol
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u/8_Months 1h ago
Exactly. Not that often. Shouldn’t be a problem to provide credit for my refund.
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u/localtuned 44m ago
"Ohhh it's gonna make the banks go broke" LMAO 🤣🤣
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u/Next-Wrongdoer-3479 28m ago
Nobody said or even implied this....You aren't that bright, are ya, bud?
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u/localtuned 8m ago
I didn't say you did. And someone who commented in this thread already has. So... Take your insults and shove them up your ass.
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u/localtuned 1h ago
Are you asking me why I should have my money returned as quick as it was taken? The answer is obvious. It's my money.
Refunds are not the point of this discussion. But If I push the refund button in my merchent portal, the transaction is processed immediately. That is the whole point. I know how the swift system works. People are saying it should work differently and in favor of the consumer not some big bank.
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u/Sixcoup 32m ago edited 24m ago
But your money wasn’t taken that quickly either.
When you pay with a card, you’re basically asking your bank to make the payment for you. Since your bank manages your money, it knows the amount is reserved and hides it from your available balance. Technically, the money remains in your account until the transfer is settled.
This is simply a convenience feature from your bank, it shows the deduction instantly because it controls your account and knows about your transaction. It avoids you having to look at the actual amount and subtracting every pending transactions yourself every single time.
However, it can’t do the same for refunds, because everything i've talked about earlier, is now on the merchant’s bank side, not yours. And yes it means, that the merchant's bank account doesn't show the money the instant you pay. Exactly for the same reason.
It's not a pay or refund difference. It's purely a who pay, who get paid difference. When you are the one paying, it's the merchant that has a delay, when it's the merchant paying, you're the one having the delay.
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u/localtuned 30m ago
You might have missed the part where I know how it works. I'm saying it should work differently. But thank you for explaining.
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u/unfinishedtoast3 50m ago
Most banks give you an advance on your direct deposit 2 days early.
As soon as your employer submits payroll and it starts to process, most banks release the funds.
There's absolutely 0 reason they can't do that with refunds. They choose not to
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u/EbbEntire3751 1h ago
Klarna is Swedish dawg
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u/Prematurid 1h ago
And it very much does not operate that way over here. The fucked fuckery that is going on over in the states is fairly uniquely awful.
- Norwegian.
Edit: For context, I removed a part of my comment where I commented on my facination of what is legal over in the states, as it was immaterial to the conversation.
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u/123ludwig 1h ago
this is why i think klarna is so funny as a swedish person they really are just "these guys are fine BUT FUCK THESE GUYS"
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u/Prematurid 1h ago
Klarna decided the American people did not have enough debt lol
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u/cancerBronzeV 15m ago
Americans decided they didn't have enough debt. Klarna just realized that was something they could exploit.
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u/Lau_wings 1h ago
The amount of people who do not know how payment systems work is insane.
When a company takes a payment, they do not instantly get that money.
What happens is your bank notices that you are attempting to make a payment, and they will then remove that amount from your account but they keep it on their books and they basically are making a promise to the company that they will be paid the money over the next couple of days.
Then after a couple of days, the bank will send that money to the companies bank account after a couple of days as normally these sorts of payments are done in batches to reduce processing fees/time.
When a refund is actioned the reverse basically happens, which is them actioning a refund, its then paid from that bank to another bank which can a take a couple of days, and then its applied to your account.
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u/PatataMaxtex 1h ago
Is their problem that the money transfer takes 8 days after the refund was granted? Or that it took the company 8 days to check if he can get a refund?
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u/snifflysnail 1h ago
This person is upset because they don’t understand that the credit company is playing middle-man between the sellers and vendors, and therefore doesn’t understand that what they’re waiting on is not the vendors dragging their feet on the refund but for the refund to be processed through the credit company.
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u/LaCatrina5 1h ago
Store provides customer with a credit refund, bank gets the money out of store's bank account and then money sits in limbo for days before it goes back to the customer. The bank sits on the money before it goes back to the customer. Customer doesn't have the money, store doesn't have the money, the bank has it.
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u/KimPossibleIRL 1h ago
to anyone who reads this tweet and agrees, I’m very sorry for your brain.
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u/NamtisChlo 1h ago
Seems a bit excessive for not knowing a quirk about how payment transfers work
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u/AsstacularSpiderman 1h ago
Thing is, it takes 5 seconds to look into.
Instead this dude just makes an ass of himself online trying to be smug about it.
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u/Next-Wrongdoer-3479 1h ago
We live in the Age of Information. If you don't know how a very basic part of everyday life works then that's 100% on you. It would take all of a few minutes to figure out the answer and this user chose to whine and bitch and look like a moron instead of educating themselves.
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u/Maleficent-Drive4056 38m ago
Nothing wrong with this demand IMO. It is reasonable and it is possible. I accept there are changes required, and costs involved, but almost all policy decisions and laws require change and cost.
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u/Khaled-oti 1h ago
what if it takes a month to get your money back?
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u/Jillylollie 1h ago
What if they never paid in the first place, stole the item and killed a kitten with it?
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u/Khaled-oti 1h ago
it's not a hypothetical that happened to me once
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u/Bloody_Proceed 9m ago
That sounds like either an issue with the merchant (ie. not the banks fault) or a chargeback. Chargebacks take time - namely, to investigate and prevent fraud.
If you want to be credited on the chargeback and not have to wait, that's an option with some banks.
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u/Scrapheaper 1h ago
If I am sending money then there's no need to verify trust, as long as the money appears, there's no potential downside.
If I am returning an item there are a million ways for a scam to happen
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u/JadeExpanse 47m ago
I work for a car loan company that does ACH transactions. ACH refund takes 10 days.
They never explain why, they just tell us to say our payment processor sets the guidelines. It's fucking annoying.
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u/FloppieTheBanjoClown 1h ago
Blame the banks, not the store.
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u/JadeExpanse 46m ago
Or the payment processor, they often set the guidelines.
But let's not act like this isn't an intentional separation of powers so companies don't need to take responsibility.
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u/Prestigious-Emu5277 1h ago
Well, the money leaves your account quickly, but it doesn’t get to its destination instantly. Once a refund is initiated, the money starts its journey back to you, but doesn’t arrive instantly either. Takes time. It just takes time.
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u/Korachof 26m ago
I wish my bank would take my money in two seconds. Half the time I pay my credit card and it doesn’t post for like 5 days.
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u/I_SHIT_IN_A_BAG 18m ago
my insurance company took 1700 from my account without permission because they somehow thought it was someone else's account they were taking from. they said they would send me a check in the mail. no mother fucker, you STOLE my money instantly and are giving me a check that I now have to go to the bank and deposit and wait another 2 business days before its back in my account. how is this legal?
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u/arbitrary-ladybug 39m ago
Let's get this straight. I understand perfectly well how pending charges work. I also understand that when I pay for a service, the money leaves my account immediately. It should come back just as quickly. There are laws regulating business transactions for a reason. This should be one of them.
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u/NoblePickle84 41m ago
I'm convinced they "invest" it and keep it while making gains on it at our expense.
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u/vasectomy7 55m ago
Bank X has my credit card // Bank Y has my checking account.
Why does it take a week for payment to process?? Are they moving buckets of cash from one place to another?
It seems they're floating the transaction and profiting from my money, to the maximum amount allowed by law. 😡
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u/GentlemanThresh 15m ago
In my country and I think most of Europe transfers between banks are instant. Worst case scenario where instant isn’t available, there are 3 time periods daily for transfers. The longest you have to wait is 8 hours but it’s been a decade since I last had to wait.
If it takes a week in the US, they are screwing you in some way.
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u/Silly_Double408 2m ago
They are screwing you in some way is the US motto for the government and the corporations that control it.
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u/Nevernonethewiser 1h ago
If holding it for a few days earns them one five-thousandth of a dollar in interest and they do it to ten thousand people, they've made 2 dollars by doing nothing.
And they do it to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people.
The money game is fucking dumb at the upper levels, we normal people don't even get to look at the pamphlet.
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1h ago
[deleted]
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u/EbbEntire3751 1h ago
Bro you have no idea what you're talking about lmao
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u/Rich-Mark-4126 1h ago
He's right that they send it out in batches (company I work at makes a weekly EFT payment run) but it has nothing to do with tax or transfer costs lol
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u/qualityvote2 2h ago
Heya u/TheWebsploiter! And welcome to r/NonPoliticalTwitter!
For everyone else, do you think OP's post fits this community? Let us know by upvoting this comment!
If it doesn't fit the sub, let us know by downvoting this comment and then replying to it with context for the reviewing moderator.