My pet peeve of the US banking system: Why does an ACH transfer take 2-3 days in the US, yet in other developed countries, the transfer is instantaneous? Two w

My pet peeve of the US banking system: Why does an ACH transfer take 2-3 days in the US, yet in other developed countries, the transfer is instantaneous? Two words: vested interests. Banks in the US want the ACH system to remain slow to prevent money from moving too quickly so that they can prevent quick movement of funds to the higher interest bearing accounts at another bank, and to make interest off of your principal in your non-interest bearing checking account. If Americans only know that banking was better in other developed countries, they'd demand a faster ACH service. There have been a few attempts by the government to speed up ACH transfers, but banking lobbyists have successfully quashed the attempt each time.