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If I understand right, using Plaid means giving bank account credentials to a 3rd party by design. Let's say, for sake of argument, one day a Plaid user logs o
by paws 7y ago
If I understand right, using Plaid means giving bank account credentials to a 3rd party by design.
Let's say, for sake of argument, one day a Plaid user logs on to their bank account and discovers missing funds. Does the bank get to say Plaid users automatically lost consumer protections under e.g. Reg E and similar by sharing account credentials? Not an expert but it seems to me the answer is probably yes.
- justaguyhere 7y agoServices like Plaid and Mint can only read data, isn't it? Has that changed?
- root_axis 7y agoThey have the capability to do whatever they please.
- tehwebguy 7y agoI mean, not if you give them your username and password
- rufugee 7y agoA relatively simple fix for this would be for banks to allow me to create a read-only user ID and a transactional user ID...I could hand the read-only credentials to services like Plaid. I suggested this to Fidelity over a year ago and they looked at me like I was crazy. Banking in the US is so horrible at the moment. there’s an immense opportunity for someone to come through and give a better consumer experience, but I fear the barriers to entry are far too high. I had high hopes for Simple.com, but they ended up destroying about every useful feature they had and falling way short of the mark...
- clintonb 7y agoSimpler (for users) would be using OAuth 2.0 and APIs with proper permissions. Users shouldn't need two sets of credentials.
- saluki 7y agoyes, you would think all banks would have or be required to provide a read only user/pass or api to your data, designed for this. This one reason I never used Mint. Great idea, but not providing them with your full account user and password.
- imgabe 7y agoYes, I've wanted this for years. I still use Mint but I hate the password part. There was a clever hack someone posted here a while ago about using the email alerts feature to essentially get a read-only feed of transactions from a bank account. It does require you to parse the email and build your own system, so it wouldn't work for most people.
- findjashua 7y agoi did this for personal use a while back, but the biggest issue i faced was that the merchant name in the email alert was truncated, so it wasn't the same level of info quality that mint/plaid can provide (since they have the complete merchant name)
- SmirkingRevenge 7y agoSome banks do actually offer this.. Wells Fargo actually does (though I'm no longer a customer)
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- justaguyhere 7y agoSorry, what I meant was - even if Plaid has username and password, they won't be able to login, at least with BofA, they ask security questions, image identification etc
- tehwebguy 7y agoI don't know if Plaid asks for those but other similar systems do (I know, unreal right?)
- toomuchtodo 7y agoAre the credentials you’re providing them, they’re storing, and then using to scrape data scoped to read only permissions? They are not.
- SmirkingRevenge 7y agoSome banks do allow you to create separate credentials that are restricted to read-only views of your account.
- mushufasa 7y agoIt's a little bit of a grey area, but the answer to your question is generally yes. That's why Europe's move to require a modern, unified API for banks, planned to start this fall, is such a great thing. https://www.openbankingeurope.eu/ https://www.openbankingeurope.eu/ Most banks' incentives are not aligned with giving data to third parties ever. This is a case where hands-on regulation to compel banks to participate, and thereby clearly assigning legal liabilities, is such a great thing. Otherwise, we know for a fact that providers like plaid will fill that gap in functionality, kindof like the economics of black markets.
- djakjxnanjak 7y agoPerhaps more relevant for the concerns of the user: has any bank ever used this excuse?