and I honestly thought our banking system was pretty archaic
It seems like there is some kind of startup idea here. I don't know which. I just know I'd hate to handle cheques as a business owner, or myself mail in cheques using postal services, or stand in line at a bank to pay my bills.
I have a theory that government-owned banks had the "market share" for their system that it was worth it for private companies to implement that system. While in a more privatized bank system it is not worth to implement a system from one bank that only a fraction of your customers have access to.
Why can't I pay my rent with my credit card?
Because, as you point out, credit cards have large transaction fees. This is an inevitable consequence of it being a "pull" payment mechanism.
If you want to fix the paying-rent problem, you need to convince US banks to provide an efficient "push" mechanism for payments such as exists in the rest of the world -- i.e., a way that you can tell your bank "send $X to account number 12345 at bank number 6789".
Do other countries have regulations that prevent banks from charging large sums for wire transfers?
for me to transfer money electronically from one of my checking accounts to the other, it takes maybe 5 days to process and clear. yet if i physically drive to one bank, withdraw the same amount in cash, then drive to the other bank and deposit it, it clears on both sides within a day.
Of course, now banks electronically clear the checks very quickly but take another week or so to actually deposit the money into the client's bank account. During this time they make money off of your money without you having any access to it. It's ridiculous.
Probably because the US banking system is about 30 years behind the rest of the world. Outside of the USA, people pay their rent via bank transfer all the time.