Real-Time Payments Disrupt Backward Banking Balderdash

If you’re down with RTP, then you’re just like me…and most people in the world, to be honest.

The need for real-time payments is strong among consumers and businesses who are fed up with dealing with their banks. Before Chase and Capital One decided when you could send and receive funds, businesses generally made cash transactions by hand. However, when this is not possible (like during a pandemic), real-time payments (RTP) become a lifesaver, and those with an RTP system in place become highly sought after thanks to their ability to settle financial dealings quickly.

Bank of America and Wells Fargo certainly have antiquated ways of allowing their customers to make and receive payments. Ways that work for them, since the longer they hold your money the better, but definitely don’t work for the ‘instant gratification generation.? Sadly, even eCommerce businesses operated just as slow as banks when it came to collecting payments and paying other businesses for their goods and services. Those days are behind us, RTP has arrived just in time.

A major advantage RTP has over conventional payments is, well obvious, real-time money in real-time. For instance, providing an instant refund to a customer for an unwanted service or item is a great way to satisfy a customer. Another advantage is the ability to send money to a loved one in need without long waiting times.

Banks face several detriments when compared to RTP networks. Banks operate on strict payment schedules, meaning you must wait until the bank tells you your money is ready to use. You must also work within a bank’s operating hours, meaning if you make a transaction too late it’ll take even more time to complete. Having an RTP network in place to provide instant payment options helps your business move money when you want to, whether that’s after regular business hours, on a holiday, or during a weekend.

Gig workers pretty much depend upon RTP daily - especially since their personal and business lives converge all day long. Gig sites like Fiverr and UpWork will cater the speed with which your payments clear to the level of worker you maintain on the site. The higher ranked you are on a gig site, the faster you’ll have access to your money.?

Real-time payments are too beneficial for banks to ignore. After all, how much longer can they hoodwink customers into thinking that it takes 4-5 business days for your money, albeit a bunch of “1’s” and “0’s” at this point, to travel from their vaults to another bank’s vaults.? It’s all digital money, no one is running around with Brink’s trucks anymore (other than to fund ATM machines) to load and unload stacks of cash. Digital money moves around in real-time and banks are grudgingly waking up to this fact.