# Would this work?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-work/74683>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 2, 2001, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-work/74683 "2001-08-02T19:34:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Chubbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/47e85d/32.png) [@Chubbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chubbs)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2001, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-work/74683/1 "2001-08-02T19:34:30Z")

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Would it be possible to collect interest from both savings and checking by transferring funds on the 12th hour? Then repeating the steps every 12 hours. Thus having a daily balance in both accounts. Or could you transfer back and forth every few seconds throughout the entire day. Or is this wrong and be classified as stealing?

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**Author:** ![ninja\_rydr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8491ac/32.png) [@ninja\_rydr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninja_rydr)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2001, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-work/74683/2 "2001-08-02T22:02:37Z")

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Call the I.R.S. and ask them. Then report back to us no later than Aug. 6th thanks.

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2001, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-work/74683/3 "2001-08-02T22:20:32Z")

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I can’t answer this question authoritatively but as a financial systems software developer I would say that the interest is calculated based on the balance at a given point in time (not the max during an interval). Therefore you can’t have the same money in two accounts at the same point in time.

You can bet that the banks thought about this one long before you did.

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**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-this-work/74683/4 "2001-08-02T22:22:38Z")

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Some of the newer banking services offer ‘overnight sweeping’ (which I _think_ means moving the balance of your current account to your (higher interest) savings account) - the implication of this is that interest is calculated on a finer level of detail than whole days; if the money is in one account, it’s not in the other; so it can only earn interest in one or the other, or am I wrong?