How quickly does a customer get access to funds he has deposited? It’s a complicated a question — and that’s the whole problem.

From the Ford Model T (1908) to the Tesla Model S (2012), not much has changed with the ways banks handle checks. They are still sent to The Clearing House, according to the Bank of America video released last Friday and appearing below, and then distributed back to the banks from there. The Clearing House was founded by the nation’s banks in 1853 to help process checks, and it seems the process, despite the use of digital check imaging, has not improved substantially since.

The Bank of America video is part of a series on “Better Money Habits,” and explains in great detail why customers may have to wait to access they money they’ve just deposited. What the video illustrates better, however, is the pressing need for real-time settlement of funds and why so many Americans rely on nonbank players to get faster access to their funds, through services such as check cashers and Ingo Money.