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Holding onto funds is how you mitigate risk as a bank or money transmitter.

Do you think they're running loads of security tests all the while or something? I'd imagine a majority (if not all) of the checks are done up front- especially given it's 2015.

Pretty sure they get a nice bump on their balance sheet for cash "in-transit" - and keeping the timeframe to 3-5 business days only magnifies that effect.

It's not about balance sheets, it's about having time to cope with any unexpected problems with the transaction, like fraud.

It's frustrating, and ideally not necessary, but it's essentially a safety net for the middle party.

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