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I found it really surprising hearing similar anecdotal stories about banking in the US. But how does it really work? Is it done on a requester side - i.e. I ca
by vizzah 10y ago
I found it really surprising hearing similar anecdotal stories about banking in the US.
But how does it really work? Is it done on a requester side - i.e. I can request money to my bank account having details of someone's else bank account wholly without their permissions? How could such lax security be allowed in modern age? When paranoid EU banks decline my transactions to my own accounts with other banks, confirmed by 2-factor auth, it's impossible to fathom how one can electronically take money from someone else's account.
- nerdponx 10y agoYou need the account number and the routing number. Both are printed in plain text on your personal checks. In theory they should also be verifying your signature but I have never actually seen that happen. I suspect if someone in another state cleaned out your account it might trigger some fraud alert, but nothing is really stopping it.
- pjc50 10y agoWhat does one actually do with the account number and routing number? The UK system has account number and sort code but does not seem to have an epidemic of this problem, because you can only use those for direct debits.
- nerdponx 10y agoYou walk up to the bank, fill out a withdrawal slip (http://www.handsonbanking.org/financial-education/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/TEENS_04_08_01.jpg http://www.handsonbanking.org/financial-education/wp-content...), and hand it to the teller. Or sign up for a PayPal account and fill in both of those numbers, and transfer money from your account to your PayPal balance.