4 ms·

8-10 _weeks_ for a refund?! Jesus Christ. I know that US banking system is something else but this is preposterous.

sokoloff 5y ago
I don’t see any reason to think that most of that delay is in the banking system and have every reason to think the overwhelming majority of the delay is in the US government’s system.
- bombcar 5y ago
  Exactly - I suspect there are internal checks and procedures to prevent scams involving overpayment and immediate refund. Or just as simple as “everything has to settle before we send a check” so you can’t use the US Treasury as part of a check cashing scam.
  - projektfu 5y ago
    Yes, I would think that the ACH to the government can be easily reversed if the account were fraudulent but returning the money is not so easily reversed as a scammer would withdraw it and disappear.
- db48x 5y ago
  Correct. He’ll get the refund the day after a clerk reviews the transactions and clicks the refund button. The “Please allow N–M weeks…” verbiage you find in many types of contracts is just the other party giving themselves time to conduct that manual review. It should never be taken as an estimate of how long the other party thinks it will actually take.
  - Ekaros 5y ago
    More likely process for refund will start when system or someone reviews the refund and approves it. That might also take some time to be processed. I can imagine that their systems generally don't need to be exactly fast and might have very old integrations.
    - db48x 5y ago
      It’s possible, of course. Still, he’ll have it the day after the ACH file hits a real bank somewhere.
archhn 5y ago
That money must go somewhere in the meantime and is probably earning interest.
- bzxcvbn 5y ago
  Earning interest from whom? It's the US treasury, in the end they are the one that create money out of thin air. They don't need to swindle a few bucks here and there to invest in short term schemes.
  - invokestatic 5y ago
    The treasury does not create money. The treasury deposits its money at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
redisman 5y ago
These bond purchases have a 1 year lock up so it’s not really built for rapid moves

I don’t see any reason to think that most of that delay is in the banking system and have every reason to think the overwhelming majority of the delay is in the US government’s system.

bombcar 5y ago
Exactly - I suspect there are internal checks and procedures to prevent scams involving overpayment and immediate refund. Or just as simple as “everything has to settle before we send a check” so you can’t use the US Treasury as part of a check cashing scam.
- projektfu 5y ago
  Yes, I would think that the ACH to the government can be easily reversed if the account were fraudulent but returning the money is not so easily reversed as a scammer would withdraw it and disappear.
db48x 5y ago
Correct. He’ll get the refund the day after a clerk reviews the transactions and clicks the refund button. The “Please allow N–M weeks…” verbiage you find in many types of contracts is just the other party giving themselves time to conduct that manual review. It should never be taken as an estimate of how long the other party thinks it will actually take.
- Ekaros 5y ago
  More likely process for refund will start when system or someone reviews the refund and approves it. That might also take some time to be processed. I can imagine that their systems generally don't need to be exactly fast and might have very old integrations.
  - db48x 5y ago
    It’s possible, of course. Still, he’ll have it the day after the ACH file hits a real bank somewhere.

archhn 5y ago

That money must go somewhere in the meantime and is probably earning interest.

bzxcvbn 5y ago
Earning interest from whom? It's the US treasury, in the end they are the one that create money out of thin air. They don't need to swindle a few bucks here and there to invest in short term schemes.
- invokestatic 5y ago
  The treasury does not create money. The treasury deposits its money at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

redisman 5y ago

These bond purchases have a 1 year lock up so it’s not really built for rapid moves