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The account number is literally on the bottom of your checks. It's not a secret and shouldn't be treated as one. Also in Australia/NZ, transfers are two direct
by djsumdog 9y ago
The account number is literally on the bottom of your checks. It's not a secret and shouldn't be treated as one.
Also in Australia/NZ, transfers are two directional as well. But just like the US, transfers happen in batches and through authorized banks (well until very recently when AU implemented instant transfer). As long as it's within the same country, you can track down fraud and close down those accounts.
ACH is the US is restricted in a very similar way. It's very difficult for a non-bank to submit ACH files unless via a bank. The US could easily have a system just like AU/NZ/much of Europe (and in many EU country, they just add a TAN number, a one time non-reusable token to transfer funds).
I wrote a post about this a while back:
https://penguindreams.org/blog/the-american-banking-system-is-still-in-the-1990s/ https://penguindreams.org/blog/the-american-banking-system-i...
- JadeNB 9y ago> The account number is literally on the bottom of your checks. It's not a secret and shouldn't be treated as one. Both parts of your second sentence are true, but, I think, irrelevant in practice: much like the SSN, which isn't meant for and shouldn't be used for identification but nonetheless is, the account number shouldn't be treated as a secret but is, in the sense that banks permit withdrawal activity on the basis of just the account number. They shouldn't! But they do.