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The fact that HNers are so adamant that payments should happen faster displays a complete lack of understanding of user needs. In fact inter-bank transfers in t
by pbreit 9y ago
The fact that HNers are so adamant that payments should happen faster displays a complete lack of understanding of user needs. In fact inter-bank transfers in the US via ACH have worked just fine for many decades.
Further, the US is one of the only countries where you can pull funds from a bank account.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- seanp2k2 9y agoYeah, amazing how the public routing number and secret can be used to empty an account without any further auth. We need to end this madness. I was hopeful for chip&PIN but we just got chip&recurring transaction fraud. Places don't even try to check your ID, but now the card verification takes at least 4x as long without any additional meaningful security factors. As someone who has had cards stolen from their mailbox and activated + used, this is frustrating to say the least.
- zaroth 9y agoI am no fan of chip&sign, but there is added security from the terminal to the merchant gateway, where a very significant amount of card theft has traditionally occurred. The POS system can be compromised and your card number is still safe.
- johncolanduoni 9y agoThe majority of fraud is via counterfeit cards (which chip is effective against), not stolen cards. Most of the US credit card industry decided that they'd lose more by being the "difficult card" in your wallet than those transactions cost them. They're not just lazy or incompetent.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- kerkeslager 9y agoDoes it occur to you that HN users are probably users of the banking system, and therefore quite qualified to comment on what users need?
- akhatri_aus 9y agoI always used to wonder why Venmo exists, now this explanation covers it: There are people on HN who are adamant that they understand users needs.
- pbreit 9y agoVenmo processed about $20 billion in 2016. ACH: $45 trillion. And Venmo would not exist without ACH.
- akhatri_aus 9y agoNonetheless Venmo exists for a reason, User need. It would also be more comparable if one were to be able to buy Government bonds as a corporation using Venmo to make your comparison aapt, alas you can't do that. If one were to compare sub $50 payments on retail banking ACH vs Venmo you would have some valuable information indeed.
- afarrell 9y ago> Further, the US is one of the only countries where you can pull funds from a bank account. Huh? You can do this in the UK, Eurozone, Sweden, Australia, South Africa, Canada, and lots of other countries. https://gocardless.com/direct-debit/introduction/ https://gocardless.com/direct-debit/introduction/
- AnssiH 9y agoCorrect. However, at least in Finland this (SEPA direct debit) is not really used. It is not free for end user (~1€/payment) and banks have it disabled by default for security reasons. For domestic recurring payments we normally use "e-invoice" which requires the user to authorize payments per-invoicer on the bank web service, or if one prefers, just a traditional invoice paid manually with a traditional bank transfer. Both are normally free for the end user.
- pbreit 9y ago12 out of 200 is not a lot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_debit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_debit
- kwhitefoot 9y agoIn Norway we have a similar system called AvtaleGiro but the bank gives me a lot more control over it than a UK direct debit. For instance I can specify the maximum amount that each recipient can demand and I normally set that to as near the expected amount as possible. If the creditor demands more the payment is refused and I get an email so that I can investigate and, usually, just increase the limit and re-enable the transaction. This doesn't cost me anything. In the UK the banks will pay the direct debit even if you don't have any money and then charge you a fee for the unauthorized overdraft and another fee for the letter telling you about it.