The Federal Reserve just launched its own instant payment system called FedNow. It will allow participating banks to transfer money within seconds, the Fed says: 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. No more multiday lags.

Other countries have had this for years. So far, only a couple of dozen banks and credit unions are participating out of the thousands that could. So how does this matter to you, if at all, as a consumer?

Apps like Venmo and CashApp let people send money to one another. “And to the consumer, it appears that the funds are moved instantly,” said Elisa Tavilla at Javelin Strategy & Research.

But she said with most of them, actual money doesn’t usually move for a few days. 

With FedNow, which Tavilla helped develop, you could pay a bill online the day it’s due through your bank, and it would be on time. And “if employers and payroll companies work with banks that participate on FedNow, they would be able to pay employees instantly,” Tavilla said.

That if — “if banks participate” — is key, said Aaron Klein at the Brookings Institution.

“The reality is that banks find slow payments profitable. They get lots of fees from things like overdraft,” Klein said. “So, simply creating a system like the Fed has done will probably do little to help ordinary Americans.”

Unless, that is, the Fed requires banks to start offering instant deposits and transfers to their customers.