I was just wondering if anyone else noticed that merchants and banks seem very quick about taking money out of your account but on returns it can take over a week to put it back.
Am I the only one who thinks that if they can take it out real time they should be able to put it back real time?
I also wonder if anyone has thought about how much money they have to use that isn't theirs because of this? It is like they are forcing us to lend them money for a week. Yet one more reason I use the debit w/pin whenever I can, then they have to give you cash back. :)
Marda now you have piqued my curiosity. I haven't had a return since I stopped banking at B of A so I am wondering if was my bank and not the merchant holding on to my cash....hum
thats's why I don't send in my money to the government until April 15th. I don't want them to get any interest till they have to have it!!
I'm with you!
We also don't buy into the "refund" for IRS. We are good planners and we prefer our money make interest for us, not be on loan to the government.
We don't do escrow on our mortgage either. We are smart enough to know that we have taxes and insurance to pay by the end of the year so we are disciplined enough to save the money and make our own interest (although it is little interest, at least it is ours)
That said... We run our company from home and what really IRKS me is that I can make a deposit and the bank will put a hold on it for 10 days. I know darn well they have the money, they are just using my deposit for a week before releasing it to my account. I've even called the bank business line to confirm the collected balance and have been told the check is cleared... they just use our money. Strangly, it usually happens when I deposit a check over $30,000. SO, when I get multiple checks in 1 day, I just make separate deposits because I know the bank will use the larger checks. I plan my business financials around these games the banks play to avoid any charges that I may not be aware of. I feel bad for the folks who don't figure out the games and end up with excessive fees. I am not talking overdraft.. that does not happen in my personal or business accounts... I'm too OCD with my books.
Honestly I THINK it's on the banking end. The merchants are at the mercy of the processing process.
I've not experienced this in the past couple of years. When I use a credit card the refund is immediately applied to my account. I did write a check and that does take time to give it back because they have to be sure the check clears so that they'll have the money to give you. It usually takes a day or two for the check to clear. ie. it doesn't come out of your account immediately, either.
Agreed.
This is the same reason I don't buy into the "big refund" concept for Income tax. I'll take my money all year long, thanks, and save it myself.
It's the bank. I worked in a department once where we could tell the bank to return the money and they would hold onto it for 3-4 weeks before it would appear to the customer.
I use debit or cash...nothing else. No checks, no CC...
Yeppers - J. - I hear you.
it bothers me when I have to wait up to 7 days for the bank to return MY MONEY to me...urgh!!! So I switched to USAA and don't have that problem anymore!
Yup. It's a racket all right. I think paypal is the worst offender with holding cash though in my limited experience. They take it from customers easy as pie but when you ask them to transfer the cash to your "real" bank... days and days.
Well that is kind of why they hold your money for free basically,,,,,,,,,,so they can use it. But im with you............also i HATE overdraft fees. Ive come across a situation so many times where it was their and it was like pulling hairs to get them to rectify it.
