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The same holds for bank account numbers which seems just as ridiculous to us Europeans.
by raarts 9y ago
The same holds for bank account numbers which seems just as ridiculous to us Europeans.
- sitharus 9y agoI’ve recently seen inside the horror that is the US interbank clearing system. It seems crazy to me. In New Zealand we regularly share bank account numbers for payments, most obviously via TradeMe, our ebay equivalent. If you had my bank account number you could authorise a payment with an approved direct debit provider, who have to keep the approval on file in case of a dispute.
- arjie 9y agoBank account numbers are on cheques. How would anyone keep them secret? By never using cheques?
- afarrell 9y agoI moved from the US to the UK last year. I have seen two paper cheques in that time. It is much more common over here to pay electronically, though both Direct Debit (receiver pull) and Standing Orders (payer push) require one person giving their bank details to someone.
- kevin_thibedeau 9y agoFWIW paper checks are not nearly as popular in the US as they once were. Especially hand written. They are ironically useful as a "secure" form of receiving payment because ACH is such a big gaping security hole. Receiving paper isolates you from handing out an account number.
- eli_gottlieb 9y agoI still pay my rent in hand-written paper checks. It's kind of ridiculous, actually.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- throwanem 9y agoI don't, except among family members. Any payee I don't strongly trust and who won't accept an electronic payment gets a bank check instead - I'd rather pay a few dollars to have one of those made, than save them and risk having my entire account cleaned out through lack of diligence or scruple on the receiving end.
- esrauch 9y agoAnyone can make arbitrary withdrawals or transfers with only the info printed on the check (modulo fraud detection of course). People just don't know or don't think about the total lack of any technical security of their money.