[Don Plumley]

Did you sell during market hours on Thursday or in the evening?

As the poster above said, 3 business days to clear equities is typical. Sat/Sun does not count and getting access on Wednesday sounds like 3 days, not 4/5. If you are trading the the account you may have access to funds to trade more quickly or if you have a margin account. But taking cash out means the brokerage will want confirmation of funds received from the trade. Remember, Vanguard didn't buy the stock from you, they traded it on your behalf.

BTW, I'm no real fan of banks either, so I'm not defending them - it's just the process seems normal and reasonable for equity transactions.