Exactly how "available" is an available balance?

Malory

I have a scheduled monthly wire transfer that goes from a US bank to HSBC in the UK.

When I look at the US account online, it shows that the transfer is still pending.

But when I look at my HSBC account, it shows that the money is already in the account and that it is in my available balance, i.e., I can spend it.

When I looked at the HSBC website, it said that my account information was updated at 11:05 AM.

The US website doesn't say how far behind they are in updating their info.

The money could not have got to my UK HSBC account without leaving my US account (not HSBC).

Is this just a matter of the US bank not updating their web pages as frequently, or is it possible that HSBC still has to do some checks and (although unlikely) they could potentially remove the money from my account?

Superheavy

Not so sure about payments to and from the US, but I know with the new regulations on European payments has put the onus on banks to ensure the money arrives on time, so that has loaded the scales where they focus on making sure the payment arrives within the timescales required, and then go back and debit the funds later.

Equally possible is just that the US website only updates once a day or something like that.

Malory

Well, I sent a message to the US bank and got a confusing reply, but I think I've figured it out.

When the transfer was listed as pending, there was one transaction showing the money that was being transferred.

Now that it has showed up as completed, two transactions show up. The first is the transfer. The second is the wire transfer fee.

So I guess they don't count the transfer as completed until they have added the fee.