Why fast means different things
The timing of a transfer is not one number but the sum of several stretches: how long agreeing the deal takes, how long the sending itself takes and how long the recipient waits for the delivery. Services usually name only the middle stretch, while a person counts all three.
Hence the gap in expectations. A transfer that takes minutes can take a day if the recipient does not reply or if their bank has no overnight processing of payments.
Timing by option
The figures below are not a guarantee but an order of magnitude. The exact timing always depends on the destination, the recipient's bank and the time of day.
| Option | Typical timing | Works on weekends |
|---|---|---|
| A bank transfer by SWIFT | Several business days | No |
| A transfer inside one banking group | From a few hours | Partly |
| National instant payment systems | Minutes | Yes |
| A transfer through cryptocurrency | Minutes for the transaction plus the exchange | Yes |
| Cash at an office | As the meeting is arranged | Yes |
What stretches the timing
The reasons for delays are almost always the same, and most of them can be removed in advance.
- Incomplete details — the recipient's bank asks for clarification, and the payment waits until it gets an answer
- Currency control — on some destinations the bank requires grounds for the payment: a contract, an invoice, proof of family ties
- A check at the receiving bank — large amounts and new counterparties are checked longer
- Holidays in the recipient's country — a non-working day there stops the payment even if yours is a weekday
- A mistake in the name — the most annoying reason: the payment comes back and everything starts over
Weekends, holidays and time zones
Bank transfers live by the schedule of business days: a payment sent on Friday evening starts moving on Monday. Cryptocurrency and national instant payment systems know no schedule and work around the clock.
A time zone adds a few more hours of difference. A transfer to Asia sent in the evening Moscow time arrives there at night: an instant payment system will credit it, a bank will not.
When the timing is critical
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Rent due on a date
What matters here is not the average timing but the guaranteed one. Send a day or two ahead rather than on the payment date.
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Urgent help for family
Choose a route that does not depend on a banking schedule: instant payments or cryptocurrency.
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Paying a contractor
Agree the option in advance: a contractor waiting for a bank transfer will not take coins, and the other way round.
How to speed a transfer up
- Collect the full details before sending rather than along the way
- Check the spelling of the name with the recipient — in Latin letters, as at their bank
- Send in the first half of the business day in the recipient's time
- Choose a direct currency pair instead of a chain through the dollar
- Ask the service in advance what timing it names for your particular destination
What to do if a transfer is delayed
First find out what stage it is at: sent, moving along the chain, or already credited but not seen by the recipient. These are three different situations with different actions.
- Sent but not moving — write to the service you arranged it with: it has the status of the operation
- Moving along the banking chain — the waiting period is up to five business days, banks do not start a trace earlier
- Credited but the recipient does not see it — check the currency and the account: the money often lands on another account of the same client
Our timing
With us a transfer takes from 15 minutes. That is not an average across the board but the lower bound for routes that do not depend on a banking schedule.
On destinations where delays happen, the manager warns before payment rather than after. Naming a timing you do not know is not care for the client but a way of passing the uncertainty on to them.
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From 15 minutes
The lower bound for the fast routes.
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The timing is named before payment
Together with the final amount, not separately.
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We work on weekends
Routes that do not depend on a banking schedule are always available.
