re: If you ever pass by an ATM at midnight and see a crowd of people

quote:

---

The transfer may happen at 12:01, but the money is usually not accessible at 12:01 it’s only pending at 12:01. That’s my point. For example if you have $80 in the account, transfer is $300, and you try and remove more than $80 it won’t be allowed until the transaction actually goes through which would be a couple hours or more later.

Most people especially those with near $0 balances can’t pull out money that is pending.

---

My paycheck will show pending for most of the morning on payday. But I use Chase and I assure you they make all of that amount available while it's pending. That may not be the case for all banks but direct deposits are pretty guaranteed unlike depositing a paper check(that still takes half a day for me to access after depositing one).
So it makes sense in this modern era they are able to access direct deposit funds at 12:01.