The US has bank transfers: they’re usually either slow as balls (eg, standard ACH settles during business hours in 1–3 business days for ACH credit, 3–5 business days for ACH debit) or cost a fee (eg, wire transfer).
Standard real-time payment common in other countries is still uncommon in the US.
20 years ago, I also wondered “why in the electronic age of the developed world is changing some ledgers still this stupid?”.
The US has bank transfers: they’re usually either slow as balls (eg, standard ACH settles during business hours in 1–3 business days for ACH credit, 3–5 business days for ACH debit) or cost a fee (eg, wire transfer). Standard real-time payment common in other countries is still uncommon in the US. 20 years ago, I also wondered “why in the electronic age of the developed world is changing some ledgers still this stupid?”.
Zelle operates over ACH. It achieves “instant transfers” through banking platform integrations.