Thank You
 

Manu,

That is exactly the answer I was looking for. I want to be sure that the bank is not taking advantage of the consumer (me) by using extended payment periods. As -fad mentioned earlier, I'd be hurting myself if I made any harsh decisions without having the facts.

Considering this I will continue to use my online banking as it is much more convenient than any other method I've found.

BTW it is very possible the extended payment occurred since this was the first transaction to this account.

Thanks again everyone.

If you look at the website for your country's clearing systems you will find all kinds of info. I recently researched the ins and outs of CHAPS and BACS transfers for a case in which I was involved and there was a fascinating explanation of the system and process. A starting point would be your country's central bank site (presumably the US Federal Reserve).

I agree...it's far less grief for me as well.

If the bank is making any money (mine doesn't charge a fee either) it would be during the "float" period of the transaction. If the payee subscribes electronically (or not) the float in my bank is either 2 or 5 days. If your transaction is for example slated to go out on the 1st of October, the funds aren't actually posted to the payee until 2 days later. In the meantime, your account has had the funds withdrawn and probably placed in a holding account for that period of time.

Add up the accrued daily interest of all of those funds being accumulated by several account holders using the online bill-pay service...more than pays for itself, dont' you think? ;)

G-Benz,

That was my point exactly, but if you read Manu's post above you'll find that this is not the case. I was getting pretty worked up over this for a while.

Caught Manu's post...very accurate as I'm not a banking industry professional.

Glad that puts all of us at ease...