How Long Does A Credit Card Transfer Take?

By Bruce Boswell •  Updated: 12/14/21 •  6 min read
Filed under: Credit Cards

When you are transferring money, you want to make sure that it gets there as quickly as possible. Time is money as the old saying goes and often the more time you lose the more money you lose as well.

This is how you might feel as you consider how you want to transfer your money between your account and another. 

How long does a credit card transfer take

Whilst you might be wondering about the time it takes you might also be considering – how does it actually work? Why does it take a certain amount of time for bank transfers to be paid in?

How long does a credit card transfer take? These are all questions which you deserve to have  answered and this piece will provide them to you. 

How Do Bank Transfers Work? 

First of all let’s work out how bank transfers work in the first place. Bank transfers work by encoded information being set digitally from one bank to another, instructing the recipients bank that they are about to receive a certain amount of money.

That money is then lodged in the recipient’s bank and taken out of the sender’s bank. Whilst the process might seem like magic, it really isn’t. It requires complex banking systems that have taken decades to develop and have been built to ensure the maximum ease of use. 

The process of a bank transfer, whilst often instantaneous, can sometimes take between three to five days to complete from being sent from one bank to another. 

Why Do Bank Transfers Take So Long?

Now that the system of bank transfers has been explained, you might be wondering – why do bank transfers take so long? Given that the technology is there for a bank transfer to be almost instantaneous, why does it take three to five days for the money to go from one account to another?

Well, as mentioned above, this of course isn’t always the case. More often than not bank transfers are immediate. However, some bank transfers do take between three and five days to be completed.

The reason for this is that banks want to make sure that your money is secure, so that if they see an unusual amount leaving your account they are able to check to see whether it is a legitimate transaction or not. This is why the banks take the extra days. 

Equally, this can be a problem that not only effects normal current account users but those who have business accounts. 

If you’ve ever wondered why it takes a certain amount of time for you to receive money from your work, it is because banks often spend a greater amount of time checking payments from business accounts when they are paid out to employees than average current account transfers. 

This is not just to ensure all employees are paid properly but also to make sure that the businesses’ financial transactions are all above board.

If somewhere were to hack into the system and mess up the payment schedule, because of the bank taking time to check the payments it would likely pick up on it and ensure nothing bad happened to the employees pay or the business’ account. 

How Long Does A Credit Card Transfer Take?

Now that we’ve covered some more basic information related to bank transfers, let’s discuss how long a credit card transfer takes.

Credit Cards are of course different from traditional bank transfers because you are not transferring your own or your company’s money to another individual, you are transferring credit that is transmitted as money to the other person.

You will at some stage have to pay off the money you have effectively borrowed from the credit card to pay for your transfer. This means that both the bank and the credit company involved will require more time to check that everything is alright. 

This is why a credit card transfer takes between three to five days. The bank and credit card provider (in some instances they will of course be part of the same organisation) will have to check to see that the transfer is correct and that is falls within your credit limit. 

This is equally important as if there is a transaction from your credit card to another bank account that goes beyond your credit limit then the bank will automatically stop it and begin an investigation – this can be particularly helpful if your credit card had been stolen and is being used by the thief in an attempt to enrich themselves. 

It is also important for the bank to check to make sure that you can make the repayments that you have to based on the transaction. If the account of money that is transferred plus your credit card’s rate of interest is too much for you, then this can be difficult for you to repay.

This means the bank can also stop a payment if the amount that is being transferred seems suspiciously larger for a credit card transaction. 

Why You Should Take Care With How You Transfer Your Money?

Money is important for all of us. This is a fact of life and one that, though often tiresome, is integral to our existence. This is why you have to take care when transferring your money because, although your bank can step in to help at certain points, it doesn’t mean that you can’t or won’t be the subject of fraud or lose your money some other way. 

Transferring money via your credit card can be an easy and flexible way to transfer money. In small amounts and within your credit limit it can seriously help you when you need it. However, it can also have negative side effects when it harms your ability to repay the credit off your card.

If you think that using your credit card to pay off certain bills or to transfer money from your card to another account can work indefinitely, unfortunately it won’t. 

This is why it is important that you should take care with how you transfer your money. Thinking about transferring money carefully is crucially important and this is why you should ensure that you know how to use your credit card not only effectively but responsibly. 

Bruce BoswellBruce Boswell

Bruce Boswell

Bruce Boswell enjoys researching and writing about all things related to investing and saving money. Whenever he has a chance, Bruce loves travelling all around the world with his wife and trying new foods.