How soon after your stock pays a dividend should that dividend be credited to your online brokerage account?

My broker seems to credit my account three weeks after the date the company says it pays the dividend.
How soon after your stock pays a dividend should that dividend be credited to your online brokerage account?
The same day or the next day. It's all done electronically.





Remember, there is the date the dividend is announced, the date of record (prior to the ex-dividend date) when you are entitled to the dividend, and the date the company actually issues the payment.
Reply:You may be confusing the ex-dividend date with the payout date. There is a point at which if you own the stock by that date, you are entitled to the dividend. When the company compiles a list of so qualified owners, then they pay the dividend. Some people simply buy the stock the day or week before the ex-dividend date and then sell it the day following (which is why the stock price may have dropped so shortly afterward), so they get the dividend even though they've only been in it a day or two. The company has to have time to add these little roaches to their list before making the payout.
Reply:As far as I know most will credit it to your account the next day after it was paid. It's just the same as with a bank account that will credit interest the next day, although the date of the credit will show the day before it was actually posted to the account. I don't agree with this practice, because even though the interest/dividend is not physically in your account on the last day of the month (the day it is recorded as being posted) for accounting and tax purposes they count the money as being there. For most people it wouldn't matter, it'd be only a few cents difference, maybe a dollar, but I still disagree with it.