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Today I went to one bank to transfer 60k from one account to an account in a different bank. I paid 7.50$ to get a certified check from Bank A. Went to the Ba

Today I went to one bank to transfer 60k from one account to an account in a different bank. I paid 7.50$ to get a certified check from Bank A. Went to the Bank B near my house to deposit it there. Unfortunately the branch near my house isn't where my account is. They tried faxing a photocopy of my certified check to the other branch but the line was busy. They're going to continue trying until 3pm today when they close. After 2 hours I see the funds are in my account but I'm not allowed to access it because I'm limited to only 2000$ per day. They didn't call me as per instruction once the funds were in my account. During that same time I transferred 15k$ from one crypto-wallet to another. It took 10 minutes all told. Sure there are lots of people who are buying crypto because they think they'll make loads of money but a significant portion of us are in it because we dislike the infantilizing ways the current banks hold us hostage.

dclowd9901 9y ago
This is not a problem most people have.
- superquest 9y ago
  Banking isn't an uncommon problem.
  - ac29 9y ago
    Trying to transfer nearly $100k in a day is.
    - robotresearcher 9y ago
      For individuals, yes. For businesses, no.
- xutopia 9y ago
  I get that this doesn't happen every day but I paid for a certified check. Their method for certifying it involved 5 people and will take a few days before it clears. People do certified checks whenever they buy a house, a car or transfer significant money from one institution to another. And don't get me started on sending money to family members overseas!
and0 9y ago
That's an absurdly specific grievance that won't effect 99.9% of people in any given year, and it certainly doesn't answer why Bitcoin isn't in a bubble.
- xutopia 9y ago
  We have more and more remote workers around the world. A few of them are being paid with cryptocurrency already, saving a lot of headache for them.
volker48 9y ago
I had a similar experience recently. I finished a contract job and received a check too large to deposit over my banks mobile phone app and unfortunately my bank doesn't have any local branches. I have a backup bank to do local deposits, but the transfer took 5 days to fully clear at my primary bank.
- lsaferite 9y ago
  I had to call my bank and explain that I needed a mobile deposit limit increase which took less than an hour to happen. Prior to that conversation I was cussing a lot though.
dsugarman 9y ago
If we're talking about bitcoin I think ~$15 and ~4 hours average right now which isn't much better. If we're talking about other currencies, you have a good point. I think lumen (XLM) is the best right now, ~$0.0000015 fee, ~3 second average right now
deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
FLUX-YOU 9y ago
>Sure there are lots of people who are buying crypto because they think they'll make loads of money but a significant portion of us are in it because we dislike the infantilizing ways the current banks hold us hostage. Sure, but if someone scoops your crypto coins, or you leave them in an exchange that's hacked, you basically have no way to get it back. This is trading a serious amount of security granted to us by world governments for convenience. It also increases your cognitive load of handling your crypto safely. That bank sounds terrible, and it can vary from branch-to-branch which is frustrating.
aphextron 9y ago
>Sure there are lots of people who are buying crypto because they think they'll make loads of money but a significant portion of us are in it because we dislike the infantilizing ways the current banks hold us hostage. ...But if you were beaten and robbed on your way to the bank, that check would be worthless to the thief. If your bank went insolvent, the FDIC would cover your $60k. What happened to depositors when Mt. Gox went belly up? What happens when that same thief hacks your wallet instead? There are many positives to our current banking system which you seem to be dismissing. Namely accountability. Perhaps once these things are well regulated and backed by legitimate business it will see mainstream use. But crypto is literally nothing but a speculative game and means for laundering money at the moment.
rdslw 9y ago
Let me guess, do you live in USA by a chance? My first hand experience (2017) is that US banking oferring (from a european guy perspective) is a eyes opening experience. * There is no instant bank wires (free ones) between major banks. Or at least the same days ones, working reliably through most of banks. * You get paper checks from your bank :))))) * Small business (sold a car, got a return from landlord) give you money on checks, also accept only paper checks if you need to pay them on the spot (in the office). * your bank charges you a monthly fee, to protect you from overdraft (wtf is this on debit account??), he shall block from happening at the begining - we call it "protection racket" in Italy. * boa/citi and others have websites with design from 2005, not to mention mobile apps.. * you can't send money from bank account to a different bank to your unsophisticated friend (plumber, maid, or mr sandwich) just knowing his phone. * when you withdraw money from coinbase to your connected US bank account, you pay 1,5% of face value. WHAT? PERCENTAGE FEE? This is USA banking thing, as the very same coinbase, charges fixed 0.15 EUR fee per no matter how big wire if you're european. * major us banks got two factor just two years ago in terms of security. * tap to pay (we call it paypass) is also almost 10 years after europe. * first chip card in citi was offered to me in 2015 or 2016? Still magnetic (easily copied) card is used in majority of points in the USA etc.. Some of them are chaning in the last two years, but mostly for sophisticated customers, small banks, and people not being able to use those features between different banks. It will still take a lot of time to catch up with a Kenya from Africa...
- xutopia 9y ago
  I live in Canada but even when I lived in France banks were silly. I remember asking them to close an account and they said "Oh no... once you open an account we never close it."
- stephengillie 9y ago
  > you can't send money from bank account to a different bank to your unsophisticated friend (plumber, maid, or mr sandwich) just knowing his phone. Banks in the USA do not allow deposits into accounts without account holder permission. They won't let you stop by a branch and deposit into a friend's account (to pay them back) without a formal arrangement, so it's easier just to find your unsophisticated friend and give them cash directly. I'm not sure if this is due to a law, or our culture of security theater.
Nursie 9y ago
Sounds like the banks where you are need to up their game. Transfers are free and fast here in the UK.
atomicUpdate 9y ago
> During that same time I transferred 15k$ from one crypto-wallet to another. It took 10 minutes all told. You conveniently skipped over how much it cost in fees to transfer that much. I'd wager it was significantly more than $7.50.
- Siecje 9y ago
  If it only took 10 minutes it wasn't BTC, so the fees would be much less.
- bastijn 9y ago
  Not that much more actually. Given he paid the normal fee rate. I bet the additional dollars was cheaper than physically taking time off to go to a bank which is only open during (your) working hours.
lucaspiller 9y ago
Also I agree banks in the US really need to modernise their procedures, I don’t really see how this is an argument for cryptocurrncy. Here in Europe I can make a payment to any other EUR bank account in Europe, for free and it’ll usually arrive the same or next day. All I need is the recipients bank account number, and to enter that and the amount on my online banking - I don’t need to go and see anyone or fax anything over. Recently a new initiative was launched where (between participating banks) you can transfer up to €15,000 in a maximum of 10 seconds: https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/what-we-do/sepa-instant-credit-transfer https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/what-we-do/sepa-insta...
- AgentME 9y ago
  Great to know the EU has it better, but it doesn't really help others unless the suggestion is to move.
- baby 9y ago
  Here in the UK it's instantaneous, oh and my bank also supports litecoin, bitcoin and ethereum (Revolut bank).

dclowd9901 9y ago

This is not a problem most people have.

superquest 9y ago
Banking isn't an uncommon problem.
- ac29 9y ago
  Trying to transfer nearly $100k in a day is.
  - robotresearcher 9y ago
    For individuals, yes. For businesses, no.
xutopia 9y ago
I get that this doesn't happen every day but I paid for a certified check. Their method for certifying it involved 5 people and will take a few days before it clears. People do certified checks whenever they buy a house, a car or transfer significant money from one institution to another. And don't get me started on sending money to family members overseas!

and0 9y ago

That's an absurdly specific grievance that won't effect 99.9% of people in any given year, and it certainly doesn't answer why Bitcoin isn't in a bubble.

xutopia 9y ago
We have more and more remote workers around the world. A few of them are being paid with cryptocurrency already, saving a lot of headache for them.

volker48 9y ago

I had a similar experience recently. I finished a contract job and received a check too large to deposit over my banks mobile phone app and unfortunately my bank doesn't have any local branches. I have a backup bank to do local deposits, but the transfer took 5 days to fully clear at my primary bank.

lsaferite 9y ago
I had to call my bank and explain that I needed a mobile deposit limit increase which took less than an hour to happen. Prior to that conversation I was cussing a lot though.

dsugarman 9y ago

If we're talking about bitcoin I think ~$15 and ~4 hours average right now which isn't much better. If we're talking about other currencies, you have a good point. I think lumen (XLM) is the best right now, ~$0.0000015 fee, ~3 second average right now

deleted 9y ago

[deleted]

FLUX-YOU 9y ago

>Sure there are lots of people who are buying crypto because they think they'll make loads of money but a significant portion of us are in it because we dislike the infantilizing ways the current banks hold us hostage. Sure, but if someone scoops your crypto coins, or you leave them in an exchange that's hacked, you basically have no way to get it back. This is trading a serious amount of security granted to us by world governments for convenience. It also increases your cognitive load of handling your crypto safely. That bank sounds terrible, and it can vary from branch-to-branch which is frustrating.

aphextron 9y ago

>Sure there are lots of people who are buying crypto because they think they'll make loads of money but a significant portion of us are in it because we dislike the infantilizing ways the current banks hold us hostage. ...But if you were beaten and robbed on your way to the bank, that check would be worthless to the thief. If your bank went insolvent, the FDIC would cover your $60k. What happened to depositors when Mt. Gox went belly up? What happens when that same thief hacks your wallet instead? There are many positives to our current banking system which you seem to be dismissing. Namely accountability. Perhaps once these things are well regulated and backed by legitimate business it will see mainstream use. But crypto is literally nothing but a speculative game and means for laundering money at the moment.

rdslw 9y ago

Let me guess, do you live in USA by a chance? My first hand experience (2017) is that US banking oferring (from a european guy perspective) is a eyes opening experience. * There is no instant bank wires (free ones) between major banks. Or at least the same days ones, working reliably through most of banks. * You get paper checks from your bank :))))) * Small business (sold a car, got a return from landlord) give you money on checks, also accept only paper checks if you need to pay them on the spot (in the office). * your bank charges you a monthly fee, to protect you from overdraft (wtf is this on debit account??), he shall block from happening at the begining - we call it "protection racket" in Italy. * boa/citi and others have websites with design from 2005, not to mention mobile apps.. * you can't send money from bank account to a different bank to your unsophisticated friend (plumber, maid, or mr sandwich) just knowing his phone. * when you withdraw money from coinbase to your connected US bank account, you pay 1,5% of face value. WHAT? PERCENTAGE FEE? This is USA banking thing, as the very same coinbase, charges fixed 0.15 EUR fee per no matter how big wire if you're european. * major us banks got two factor just two years ago in terms of security. * tap to pay (we call it paypass) is also almost 10 years after europe. * first chip card in citi was offered to me in 2015 or 2016? Still magnetic (easily copied) card is used in majority of points in the USA etc.. Some of them are chaning in the last two years, but mostly for sophisticated customers, small banks, and people not being able to use those features between different banks. It will still take a lot of time to catch up with a Kenya from Africa...

xutopia 9y ago
I live in Canada but even when I lived in France banks were silly. I remember asking them to close an account and they said "Oh no... once you open an account we never close it."
stephengillie 9y ago
> you can't send money from bank account to a different bank to your unsophisticated friend (plumber, maid, or mr sandwich) just knowing his phone. Banks in the USA do not allow deposits into accounts without account holder permission. They won't let you stop by a branch and deposit into a friend's account (to pay them back) without a formal arrangement, so it's easier just to find your unsophisticated friend and give them cash directly. I'm not sure if this is due to a law, or our culture of security theater.

Nursie 9y ago

Sounds like the banks where you are need to up their game. Transfers are free and fast here in the UK.

atomicUpdate 9y ago

> During that same time I transferred 15k$ from one crypto-wallet to another. It took 10 minutes all told. You conveniently skipped over how much it cost in fees to transfer that much. I'd wager it was significantly more than $7.50.

Siecje 9y ago
If it only took 10 minutes it wasn't BTC, so the fees would be much less.
bastijn 9y ago
Not that much more actually. Given he paid the normal fee rate. I bet the additional dollars was cheaper than physically taking time off to go to a bank which is only open during (your) working hours.

lucaspiller 9y ago

Also I agree banks in the US really need to modernise their procedures, I don’t really see how this is an argument for cryptocurrncy. Here in Europe I can make a payment to any other EUR bank account in Europe, for free and it’ll usually arrive the same or next day. All I need is the recipients bank account number, and to enter that and the amount on my online banking - I don’t need to go and see anyone or fax anything over. Recently a new initiative was launched where (between participating banks) you can transfer up to €15,000 in a maximum of 10 seconds: https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/what-we-do/sepa-instant-credit-transfer https://www.europeanpaymentscouncil.eu/what-we-do/sepa-insta...

AgentME 9y ago
Great to know the EU has it better, but it doesn't really help others unless the suggestion is to move.
baby 9y ago
Here in the UK it's instantaneous, oh and my bank also supports litecoin, bitcoin and ethereum (Revolut bank).