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Planet Money did a piece on ACH seven years ago. It’s a batch system written in COBOL in the 1970s: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/229224964 https://www.npr.o

Planet Money did a piece on ACH seven years ago. It’s a batch system written in COBOL in the 1970s: https://www.npr.org/transcripts/229224964 https://www.npr.org/transcripts/229224964 And that’s why the Feds want to replace it, not refactor it.

tyingq 6y ago
Your Visa transactions are running through older TPF 360 assembler. Old isn't an excuse for bad.
- TedDoesntTalk 6y ago
  It’s not bad. It is simply a product of its time: according to planet money in that 2013 piece, ACH batch processing runs only once per day and only during bank hours (no weekends, etc). Presumably, increasing that frequency would break something in the system or it would already have been done. In the ‘70s, no one predicted 24/7 banking or even ATMs let alone internet payments. I remember my father using an ATM for the first time in 1981, I think. Perhaps it was 1980. But we had to drive 7 miles to get to it. Stocks were still traded in fractions, not decimals!
  - lyrrad 6y ago
    Things have improved somewhat since then, with the introduction of Same Day ACH, which provides two additional ACH processing periods each business day. https://www.nacha.org/rules/same-day-ach-moving-payments-faster-phase-3 https://www.nacha.org/rules/same-day-ach-moving-payments-fas... It's more expensive than regular ACH transactions. The above page seems to indicate the sending bank has to pay the receiving bank 5.2 cents per same day transaction on top of regular ACH fees (that appear to be 0.0185 cents per transaction sent or received for 2020).
  - tcbawo 6y ago
    Funnily enough, US stocks were trading in fractions until 2001!
  - dlubarov 6y ago
    I think credit card transactions are even worse -- most transactions (besides authorizations) are also communicated via daily batch files, and there are several middlemen involved, with potential delays at each step. Hence "refunds usually show up in 5-7 days."
- CyberDildonics 6y ago
  That wasn't an excuse. It was an explanation and context for why it is bad and why it was acceptable when created.

tyingq 6y ago

Your Visa transactions are running through older TPF 360 assembler. Old isn't an excuse for bad.

TedDoesntTalk 6y ago
It’s not bad. It is simply a product of its time: according to planet money in that 2013 piece, ACH batch processing runs only once per day and only during bank hours (no weekends, etc). Presumably, increasing that frequency would break something in the system or it would already have been done. In the ‘70s, no one predicted 24/7 banking or even ATMs let alone internet payments. I remember my father using an ATM for the first time in 1981, I think. Perhaps it was 1980. But we had to drive 7 miles to get to it. Stocks were still traded in fractions, not decimals!
- lyrrad 6y ago
  Things have improved somewhat since then, with the introduction of Same Day ACH, which provides two additional ACH processing periods each business day. https://www.nacha.org/rules/same-day-ach-moving-payments-faster-phase-3 https://www.nacha.org/rules/same-day-ach-moving-payments-fas... It's more expensive than regular ACH transactions. The above page seems to indicate the sending bank has to pay the receiving bank 5.2 cents per same day transaction on top of regular ACH fees (that appear to be 0.0185 cents per transaction sent or received for 2020).
- tcbawo 6y ago
  Funnily enough, US stocks were trading in fractions until 2001!
- dlubarov 6y ago
  I think credit card transactions are even worse -- most transactions (besides authorizations) are also communicated via daily batch files, and there are several middlemen involved, with potential delays at each step. Hence "refunds usually show up in 5-7 days."
CyberDildonics 6y ago
That wasn't an excuse. It was an explanation and context for why it is bad and why it was acceptable when created.