>>When I charge something against my bank card, debit or credit, my available account balance almost immediately reflects that amount. When I have money tranferred into my bank account, PayPal or a refund on a purchase, I usually will not see anything regarding that transaction from 4 to 10 days. Why is that? It makes me feel that
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>The real reason is that the entire commerce system is evil and only out to screw with your money.
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>Same here. Time was when I withdrew from an ATM and the balance shown was of that day. Now I see the deduction as of that xaction on the screen straight away. No matter which way I pay my credit card bill: phone, web, cheque in bank branch, post, they all state that up to 4 days are required for it to clear.

Should be a lot better when fastpayments is fully functional (supposedly 97% of transactions) : http://www.fastpayments.co.uk/index.htm