I could have sworn I saw a TV ad (about a year ago) that went
something like this:  Two 20something guys are in a coffee shop. One
is saying something to the effect "no way, it won't work".  The other
says "you'll see, just watch".  Now while this is going on they're
seated with a notebook computer, that must have internet access. (I'm
speaking of a "cool" coffee shop with a comfortably unique interior
and expensive lattes).

So at this point, the guy who said "just watch" goes up and buys a
coffee with his credit card and comes back.  They are on-line and
logged into the bank account of the credit card that was just used to
buy the coffee.  After a bit moe banter the transaction shows up on
the screen.  Voila, it did work (within seconds rather than days).

Watching this I thought "Hallelujah! Tracking my account is about to
get a lot easier." (Balancing finances has never been my strong suit).
 "Wow, this is going to be big. This is going to be popular", Soon
'every' bank will have to offer this to be competitive.  I think I saw
this ad twice, then never again.

My question is, will we see credit card transaction time come down to
seconds any time soon.  Also, if any banking folks happen to peruse GA
and would like to explain why it's actually better to wait nearly a
week for a purchase to show up as a line item, I'd welcome that
education as well.

If anyone else remembers this ad I'd appreciate the confirmation.
Thanks for any help in advance.
Patrice

I've seen that commercial, but I can't recall which bank it was.

- Hammer

The commercial in question is Bank of America:
http://www.imediaconnection.com/content/5190.asp

It appears that Helpfulguy is correct.  Now the reason that it ran a
limited number of times probably has to do with the fact that BofA
credit card transactions don't post that fast -- in fact our account
never updates over the weekend.  Debits appear instantly but not
credit transactions.

Patrice: my guess is that credit transactions are handled slower
because they clear at the end of a day and may be going through
inter-bank transactions that take several days:
http://www.inc.com/articles/1999/10/13789.html

Google search strategy:
"credit card" clearing process

Best regards,

Omnivorous-GA

As you note, omnivorous-ga, "debits appear instantly" and indeed, the
commerical in question had a debit, and not a credit card.

From a CNET article titled "Beware your evil twin (hot spot, that is)"
as written by Robert Vamosi, Senior editor, CNET Reviews and dated
January 28, 2005.
http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-3513_7-5630181-1.html

"There's a Bank of America (BoA) TV ad that shows two young men in an
Internet cafe, one using a friend's debit card to purchase a latte,
while the debit card owner, sitting beside a wireless laptop logged in
to his BoA account, repeatedly hits the refresh button on his Internet
browser. The ad illustrates how quickly debit purchases post to your
online banking account. Unfortunately, the ad also illustrates a new
vector for criminal hackers (crackers): impersonating access points in
public wireless hot spots to steal personal information by outpowering
the legitimate signals."

I think the commercial probably just ran its natural life, as well as
most people not appreciating the level of granularity the process
provides, at least not as much as you appreciate it, Patrice.

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher

Howdy Patrice,

It does not appear that credit card transaction time will be as fast as
debit card (see comments above) processing in the near future.

It has to do with batch processing of the credit card charges, as least
according to this "/n software - IBiz Integrator Credit Card Processing
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)" page.

Here are the key points, but you should read the page for details.

"What happens during a typical Internet Credit Card transaction?"
http://www.nsoftware.com/ibiz/faq/creditcard.aspx

- A customer provides their credit card information to a merchant
- A merchant submits the credit card information ... for approval
- The processor runs a check on the card ... approval or rejection
- The amount of funds requested ... held on the cardholder?s account
- At a later time, usually at the end of the day or week, the merchant
(or if the merchant is using a gateway, then the merchant?s gateway)
will settle the transactions it has performed that day.

I think the above, which points out the many possible "middle men" in
credit card, versus debit card processing, as well as security/fraud
checks that are no doubt done (the difference between the purchase of
a cup of coffee with a debit card, and a plasma screen monitor with a
credit card) just builds such a "paper" trail that the actual posting
of a credit card charge to your online statement will be delayed for
a bit of time.

Might I suggest you accept my colleague's (omnivorous-ga) comment as
the answer, as that outlined the information that I merely fleshed out
a bit.


Search strategy:

Google search on: "credit card" "processing FAQ"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22credit+card%22+%22processing+FAQ%22

Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher

Profit is the reason it is better for a transaction to take weeks to
show up on a credit card statement.  Other than the real and personal
property of a bank, all bank assets earn interest.  In the weeks from
purchase to the posting of your account various banking organizations
are earning interest on the asset.  The asset is derived from the
merchant accepting the credit card.  Numerous banking procedures that
are down right irrating to the consumers are driven by interest earned
on assets.  After all, Bankers are smart people that generally don't
want to upset their customers.  However, they are not charties.

What you saw in the commerical is very "doable".  Don't hold your
breath, because streamlining the process would significantly influence
the revenue stream of the banking industry.  Historically, such
consumer service innovations  have required changes in Fedeal Law. 
Given, the political contributions from that industry, it just not
going to happen.

I know that banks have the technology to view all details of a credit
card transaction immediately, whether or not they make it available to
their customers is a different story.  If I purchase something that is
outside my typically amount or type of purchase, I get a call within 1
minute from the fraud department of my credit card bank verifying I
did indeed authorize the purchase.

This is immaterial to the question, but I believe  mdwilt-ga's comment
is incorrect.
Credits to a customer's account are not bank assets but rather
liabilities (the bank owes the money to the customer, it is his
asset).
On a collection item, the bank's asset is the claim on the other bank
are a credit card company, a receivable, and it won't earn interest
until it is charged to the customer's account.
Myoarin