Sigh. The downside to trying out rather rollercoastery financial options is that for all the days that you're up, there are one or two where you're down.

Take now, for example. Trying to sell the house with the bank breathing down my neck. I mean, I know *why* they're doing it, and the money is *there*, it's just that accessing that money requires going through a whole lot of paperwork and people who say "Oh, we can start on that - next week." I mean, I know intellectually that no matter how growly the bank gets, it will take them weeks to actually do anything (growling is free), but I don't need the stress.

One of these days I should really find out where I can get hold of financial services which don't sit on their hands for days or weeks before getting things done. That applies to banks, too - there is no technical reason why interbank transfers should take three days. I note that if you pay extra, it can be done in one day without any kind of hassle, so I have to ask - what's the fastest that a bank can get a chunk of money to another bank so that it can be used? (In other words, not a cheque which has to clear, or anything else where the recipient can't access the money right away.) Are there business accounts or preferred-customer accounts which offer this?