3 ms·

Is that American banking? In the UK I can't say I've ever experienced such issues. I do bank to bank transfers fairly frequently.

nostrademons 7y ago
Yes, the American banking system is just ridiculously bad. I remember studying abroad in New Zealand (in 2004!) and marveling at how EFTPOS was universal, everything was chip & pin, and funds transfers could easily be done online (and often clear the same day!). The cashiers would look at me strangely with my American credit card, and they would always check the signature. (Which, it may astound foreigners to learn, most American cashiers do not. How do we prevent credit card fraud? We don't, in general. Fraud losses over $50 are reimbursed by the credit card company, if you report them, which makes it up out of exorbitant interest rates that they charge people dumb enough to carry a balance.) The U.S. finally got some of the security measures the rest of the world has (chip & PIN, for example) around 2017, and in many regards is still behind. America has the downsides of being the first-mover and of being dominant. A lot of our system was built before modern computerization and then retrofitted for the bank's convenience (not the customer's), and because the U.S. economy & military is so dominant, the rest of the world has to deal with the U.S. financial system as it exists now. That means that there's very little pressure on existing U.S. retail financial institutions to improve, and a lot of regulations and institutional inertia keeping out new entrants. It's much the same situation with Internet access (where our consumer Internet speeds are often 2 orders of magnitude slower than in much of the rest of the world) and in health care (where we spend the most but have one of the worst life expectancies of developed nations).
- henrikschroder 7y ago
  I think the biggest tragedy is that most American consumers have no idea how bad American banks are compared to banks in other countries. Moving to the US is like stepping back into the 70's, and then discovering that everyone around you think that everything is fine, their banks are fine, that US banks are somehow modern and cool. Anecdote: I wired some money from my Chase bank account to my Swedish bank account, in USD. I made the transfer through the internet bank, but since it was "after hours" New York time, it was scheduled to transfer the next morning. Early next morning I checked my Swedish bank account, they had received the money, exchanged it to SEK at a decent rate, and the money was immediately available for me to spend there. A couple of hours later I receive an email from Chase, where they're telling me that they've now sent the money, and that I should expect to see the money in my Swedish bank account about three days later. American banks suck.
  - rchaud 7y ago
    That may just be Chase. A person I know uses a credit union for federal staff in Washington, DC and their wire transfers can be done in the currency of your choice, completely online. She recently did an international transfer in a non-USD currency and the email confirmation was immediate. The money was available in the foreign acct within 48 hours.
- thibautg 7y ago
  My European credit card works around the world but is blocked by default in the US for security reasons. I need to call my bank to temporarily unlock it if I ever go to the US. Payments with PIN code are allowed by default though even in the US. So the problems seem to be with the swipe system.

nostrademons 7y ago

Yes, the American banking system is just ridiculously bad. I remember studying abroad in New Zealand (in 2004!) and marveling at how EFTPOS was universal, everything was chip & pin, and funds transfers could easily be done online (and often clear the same day!). The cashiers would look at me strangely with my American credit card, and they would always check the signature. (Which, it may astound foreigners to learn, most American cashiers do not. How do we prevent credit card fraud? We don't, in general. Fraud losses over $50 are reimbursed by the credit card company, if you report them, which makes it up out of exorbitant interest rates that they charge people dumb enough to carry a balance.) The U.S. finally got some of the security measures the rest of the world has (chip & PIN, for example) around 2017, and in many regards is still behind. America has the downsides of being the first-mover and of being dominant. A lot of our system was built before modern computerization and then retrofitted for the bank's convenience (not the customer's), and because the U.S. economy & military is so dominant, the rest of the world has to deal with the U.S. financial system as it exists now. That means that there's very little pressure on existing U.S. retail financial institutions to improve, and a lot of regulations and institutional inertia keeping out new entrants. It's much the same situation with Internet access (where our consumer Internet speeds are often 2 orders of magnitude slower than in much of the rest of the world) and in health care (where we spend the most but have one of the worst life expectancies of developed nations).

henrikschroder 7y ago
I think the biggest tragedy is that most American consumers have no idea how bad American banks are compared to banks in other countries. Moving to the US is like stepping back into the 70's, and then discovering that everyone around you think that everything is fine, their banks are fine, that US banks are somehow modern and cool. Anecdote: I wired some money from my Chase bank account to my Swedish bank account, in USD. I made the transfer through the internet bank, but since it was "after hours" New York time, it was scheduled to transfer the next morning. Early next morning I checked my Swedish bank account, they had received the money, exchanged it to SEK at a decent rate, and the money was immediately available for me to spend there. A couple of hours later I receive an email from Chase, where they're telling me that they've now sent the money, and that I should expect to see the money in my Swedish bank account about three days later. American banks suck.
- rchaud 7y ago
  That may just be Chase. A person I know uses a credit union for federal staff in Washington, DC and their wire transfers can be done in the currency of your choice, completely online. She recently did an international transfer in a non-USD currency and the email confirmation was immediate. The money was available in the foreign acct within 48 hours.
thibautg 7y ago
My European credit card works around the world but is blocked by default in the US for security reasons. I need to call my bank to temporarily unlock it if I ever go to the US. Payments with PIN code are allowed by default though even in the US. So the problems seem to be with the swipe system.