@zigmund Good point about the debit card. Here are my thoughts. One, I definitely think many of the banking rules are total bullshit and onesided so they can hold onto your money longer. Now, with debit cards, I think there is money that is on hold, but possibly not actually taken from the account yet, like a temporary amount reducing your balance, not actually gone from the account. I think they do it with hotels and gas pumps, set aside maybe $300 at a hotel, but then at the end of the stay only your true bill amount is subtracted. I don’t know exactly how it works, but I know there have been big complaints and frustration over it.
When I worked in retail, the charge amount was charged right away, but if we voided the transaction right away because we made a mistake, it did not immediately come off the card. Our Venezuelan customers by their laws could only charge a certain amount per day, and if we screwed it up, they could not buy anything else that day.
All sorts of seeming unfairness in the system.
The laws are probably to ensure the bank cannot hold onto your money for an extended period, but with computers now, it probably all happens much faster than what the laws allow for. Not sure if the laws still are different for in state and out of state checks clearing? That really seems like total ridiculousness with everything computerized now.