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The US is about the only place where people are scared to give out bank account details and that is because in theory you could initiate an ACH bank transfer fr
by pelle 17y ago
The US is about the only place where people are scared to give out bank account details and that is because in theory you could initiate an ACH bank transfer from the other parties account. What many people don't understand is that that same information is on a check.
In most of mainland Europe everyone pays everyone through online banking. In Denmark people put their account details on their web sites and letterheads.
There is really reason why you couldn't do the same here even with first time vendors. Except that some banks make it really hard to do.
My old bank Wellsfargo had me sign up for something called I think DirectPay where you could do it easily. But my new bank CitiBank make it just as easy as in Europe from both my personal and business accounts to send money.
This love afair of checks that American business has is all about float and frankly I am incredibly annoyed that all my clients insist on paying me by check.
- anApple 17y agoIt's required by law in the EU to put your bank account details on the web if you run a company.
- ErrantX 17y agoI know it's an obvious comment but that's only if you sell online :)
- Jem 17y agoIs it? I've never heard of this before... and yet have had to comply with a range of other laws on the web. Do you have any links about this? I don't like to think we have clients unintentionally breaking the law.
- Luc 17y agoMaybe. I guess it's possible there's a EU guideline that has to be implemented by the member states, but hasn't been implemented yet e.g. for me in Belgium. Here's the guidelines (in Dutch): http://www.vbo-feb.be/files/ondernemingsnummer.pdf http://www.vbo-feb.be/files/ondernemingsnummer.pdf So the website needs to contain the company registration number, the way it's incorporated and a bunch of other stuff, but not the bank account number afaics. Though the bank account number does need to be displayed on invoices.
- DrJokepu 17y agoPaying by cheque in France is very widespread. It is a lot more common that paying by bank transfer.