6 ms·

Ok but part of the reason people lower their skepticism is because they see their bank’s UI heavily implying that the check has cleared. The main point of the p

by Liron 6y ago

Ok but part of the reason people lower their skepticism is because they see their bank’s UI heavily implying that the check has cleared. The main point of the post is that banks’ UI about whether a check has cleared is very misleading and really needs to be changed.

fakedang 6y ago
Somebody who uses/deals with cheques in this day and age though kinda deserves it in my books. Cheques are themselves bad UX today.
- perl4ever 6y ago
  Local/county governments and landlords tend to pressure people to use checks in my experience (northeast US). Property taxes where I live, for instance, you can pay with a credit card or EFT but the fees are absurd. I don't know why people don't want to at least take an e-check, but that's the way it is.
- srtjstjsj 6y ago
  Please don't blame the victim.
- throw_m239339 6y ago
  > Somebody who uses/deals with cheques in this day and age though kinda deserves it in my books. Cheques are themselves bad UX today. Nobody deserves to get scammed. This is puritan thinking, to blame the victim. People aren't supposed to understand every single thing and systems, and banks should do a proper job at educating their clients, if they care about good PR. Obviously, Chase and many more do not.
- GeneralMayhem 6y ago
  In the United States, cheques remain the most reliable free-to-the-user way to move amounts of money above about $2000 from one individual to another. There are a bunch of companies that effectively give you ACS access, but they tend to have low limits due to KYC concerns. There's wire transfers, but those are pricy ($50/transaction is normal) unless you have very large deposits with the bank. Most banks will let you do transfers online, but often only to other account holders at the same institution, or else with Zelle or one of its clones, usually with the aforementioned ~$2k limit. The use case here is paying rent. I write exactly one cheque a month, and I haven't found a better way to do it that wouldn't either be expensive or require action on the landlord's part to set up a portal or something.
  - sofixa 6y ago
    > There's wire transfers, but those are pricy ($50/transaction is normal Holy crap Americans are getting scammed ( for reference, bank transfers in the SEPA space are free). How the heck did N26 and others fail at such a broken market where the competition is stuck in 1995?
adkadskhj 6y ago
Yup. I think this is true for all sorts of aspects on the UX of financial related institutions. Not just banks, but anything you use money on. My mortgage is paid through something that frankly looks like a scam site. You connect to it with an odd domain. When you login, it hops all over the place changing domains and forwarding you repeatedly. The UI is old, odd, and breaks with modern and safe UX patterns, like password managers (can't paste). When you finally land on the site to enter your payment information, it no longer matches the domain you went to. I don't think a single one of my online payment hubs for standard bills like mortgage, utilities, loans, etc don't at least have one glaring pitfall that helps to introduce confusion to uninformed customers. Hell, i consider myself reasonably informed and i still fear i'm logging into a poorly thought out phishing attempt every time i pay my bills. We've given very little consistent information to the average person about how to safely interact with the web. And that's just obvious issues, not even straight up incorrect data like what the OP seems to describe.
- alistairSH 6y ago
  Interesting. My mortgages have always ended up with a known retail bank and can be paid through their normal websites. Is your mortgage held by some fly-by-night bank? The only sites I visit frequently that do the domain forwarding and have ancient designs are local government sites (for paying taxes and fees).
  - mgkimsal 6y ago
    > Is your mortgage held by some fly-by-night bank Even if it's not, it might be if someone decides to sell it. years ago, I went with a well known company, and in the disclosures they have fine print saying "we may sell this". 2 months after closing, they sold, and the new servicing company required $5 per payment 'fee'. I never agreed to that, but... essentially have no choice in the matter. Options? Spend another 4 figure amount to refinance and hopefully get a different servicing company?
    - alistairSH 6y ago
      Interesting. My mortgage has always gone the other way - initiated someplace small and unheard of, and then bought by a name-brand bank. Just luck or the draw, I suppose.
ZainRiz 6y ago
This exactly. I get that banks have to release the funds by law, but they should show the status of the checks to their customers in a way that shows the potential risk those customers are taking on

by Liron 6y ago

fakedang 6y ago

Somebody who uses/deals with cheques in this day and age though kinda deserves it in my books. Cheques are themselves bad UX today.

perl4ever 6y ago
Local/county governments and landlords tend to pressure people to use checks in my experience (northeast US). Property taxes where I live, for instance, you can pay with a credit card or EFT but the fees are absurd. I don't know why people don't want to at least take an e-check, but that's the way it is.
srtjstjsj 6y ago
Please don't blame the victim.
throw_m239339 6y ago
> Somebody who uses/deals with cheques in this day and age though kinda deserves it in my books. Cheques are themselves bad UX today. Nobody deserves to get scammed. This is puritan thinking, to blame the victim. People aren't supposed to understand every single thing and systems, and banks should do a proper job at educating their clients, if they care about good PR. Obviously, Chase and many more do not.
GeneralMayhem 6y ago
In the United States, cheques remain the most reliable free-to-the-user way to move amounts of money above about $2000 from one individual to another. There are a bunch of companies that effectively give you ACS access, but they tend to have low limits due to KYC concerns. There's wire transfers, but those are pricy ($50/transaction is normal) unless you have very large deposits with the bank. Most banks will let you do transfers online, but often only to other account holders at the same institution, or else with Zelle or one of its clones, usually with the aforementioned ~$2k limit. The use case here is paying rent. I write exactly one cheque a month, and I haven't found a better way to do it that wouldn't either be expensive or require action on the landlord's part to set up a portal or something.
- sofixa 6y ago
  > There's wire transfers, but those are pricy ($50/transaction is normal Holy crap Americans are getting scammed ( for reference, bank transfers in the SEPA space are free). How the heck did N26 and others fail at such a broken market where the competition is stuck in 1995?

adkadskhj 6y ago

Yup. I think this is true for all sorts of aspects on the UX of financial related institutions. Not just banks, but anything you use money on. My mortgage is paid through something that frankly looks like a scam site. You connect to it with an odd domain. When you login, it hops all over the place changing domains and forwarding you repeatedly. The UI is old, odd, and breaks with modern and safe UX patterns, like password managers (can't paste). When you finally land on the site to enter your payment information, it no longer matches the domain you went to. I don't think a single one of my online payment hubs for standard bills like mortgage, utilities, loans, etc don't at least have one glaring pitfall that helps to introduce confusion to uninformed customers. Hell, i consider myself reasonably informed and i still fear i'm logging into a poorly thought out phishing attempt every time i pay my bills. We've given very little consistent information to the average person about how to safely interact with the web. And that's just obvious issues, not even straight up incorrect data like what the OP seems to describe.

alistairSH 6y ago
Interesting. My mortgages have always ended up with a known retail bank and can be paid through their normal websites. Is your mortgage held by some fly-by-night bank? The only sites I visit frequently that do the domain forwarding and have ancient designs are local government sites (for paying taxes and fees).
- mgkimsal 6y ago
  > Is your mortgage held by some fly-by-night bank Even if it's not, it might be if someone decides to sell it. years ago, I went with a well known company, and in the disclosures they have fine print saying "we may sell this". 2 months after closing, they sold, and the new servicing company required $5 per payment 'fee'. I never agreed to that, but... essentially have no choice in the matter. Options? Spend another 4 figure amount to refinance and hopefully get a different servicing company?
  - alistairSH 6y ago
    Interesting. My mortgage has always gone the other way - initiated someplace small and unheard of, and then bought by a name-brand bank. Just luck or the draw, I suppose.

ZainRiz 6y ago

This exactly. I get that banks have to release the funds by law, but they should show the status of the checks to their customers in a way that shows the potential risk those customers are taking on