4 ms·

Whats wrong with everyone just HAVING a bank account?

by halfnormalform 5y ago

beberlei 5y ago
Its like forcing everyone to have a Facebook account to talk to their local authorities.
- smt88 5y ago
  It's more like forcing everyone to have an email address. You have a huge variety of choice of bank, including nonprofit, cooperative credit unions that don't do anything evil to their customers.
  - beebeepka 5y ago
    No need for analogies. It's literally forcing the public to use - and give money to - private entities. Banks borrow money cheap. Can a regular person do that? No. Of course not. It's clearly about control/money. Same thing
    - rosndo 5y ago
      > Banks borrow money cheap. Can a regular person do that? No. Of course not. There are a plenty of cheap loans available to regular persons, but of course you have to be an adult to access those.
    - smt88 5y ago
      Depositing money isn't giving money to a bank. It's exchanging money for highly liquid debt and receiving interest in return. Giving money to a bank is a relationship where the bank pays you. Also, the government already forces you to have auto insurance. This doesn't really seem any better or worse.
    - throw0101a 5y ago
      > Banks borrow money cheap. Banks don't need to borrow money, they just create it: * https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1905625 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1905625 * https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/quarterly-bulletin/2014/q1/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/quarterly-bulletin/2014/q1/m... If you still think about banks re-loaning bank deposits you're living in another century. Fractional reserve banking hasn't been a thing since (at least) the 1960s.
  - voldacar 5y ago
    I can set up my own mail server that is completely under my control. So no, it's not even remotely like forcing everyone to have an email address.
  - xdennis 5y ago
    No, you don't have a lot of choice. UK banks have many restrictions about who can open an account. Just by queuing in a branch I've seen immigrants being rejected because they don't have a job yet.
hulitu 5y ago
Every transaction is visible to a lot of entities: banks, card operators, credit rating agencies, state etc.
notch656a 5y ago
Merely having a bank account can in some instance trigger FATCA report, depending on where you open it. This opens up further intrusions to your privacy. I do not know if any foreign nations have an analogue of this. It can also be difficult to open without an address or with certain history, even if you are a citizen or legal resident.
8note 5y ago
Bank accounts aren't given out based on you needing one; they're given based on the bank wanting you. Homeless people don't meet some of the expectations for what banks want in a person - an address
- Symbiote 5y ago
  Bank accounts for homeless people can be done, in Britain probably after 'encouragement' from the government (do this your way or we'll force you to do it our way...). https://www.hsbc.co.uk/help/money-worries/no-fixed-address/ https://www.hsbc.co.uk/help/money-worries/no-fixed-address/
prmoustache 5y ago
Tell that to the homeless
prmoustache 5y ago
You can have a bank account and use cash. As mentionned in the article, some people use cash because they struggle with budgetting. They may get a specified amount of money from the ATM each week in their wallet and get an immediate visual clue of where they at in any moment. Using cash actually make you see the money going out. It is much more tangible than just numbers to a lot of us. We could probably think of other options, like having rechargeable money card with some kind of visual bar indicator showing the amount of money left but that is not there yet. Also as much as I like using my cards and phones for payments, they are really bad for privacy. All you payments get stored in a database waiting to be dumped, stolen and leaked. And it is not a matter of if but rather of when.

Whats wrong with everyone just HAVING a bank account?

beberlei 5y ago

Its like forcing everyone to have a Facebook account to talk to their local authorities.

smt88 5y ago
It's more like forcing everyone to have an email address. You have a huge variety of choice of bank, including nonprofit, cooperative credit unions that don't do anything evil to their customers.
- beebeepka 5y ago
  No need for analogies. It's literally forcing the public to use - and give money to - private entities. Banks borrow money cheap. Can a regular person do that? No. Of course not. It's clearly about control/money. Same thing
  - rosndo 5y ago
    > Banks borrow money cheap. Can a regular person do that? No. Of course not. There are a plenty of cheap loans available to regular persons, but of course you have to be an adult to access those.
  - smt88 5y ago
    Depositing money isn't giving money to a bank. It's exchanging money for highly liquid debt and receiving interest in return. Giving money to a bank is a relationship where the bank pays you. Also, the government already forces you to have auto insurance. This doesn't really seem any better or worse.
  - throw0101a 5y ago
    > Banks borrow money cheap. Banks don't need to borrow money, they just create it: * https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1905625 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1905625 * https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/quarterly-bulletin/2014/q1/money-creation-in-the-modern-economy https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/quarterly-bulletin/2014/q1/m... If you still think about banks re-loaning bank deposits you're living in another century. Fractional reserve banking hasn't been a thing since (at least) the 1960s.
- voldacar 5y ago
  I can set up my own mail server that is completely under my control. So no, it's not even remotely like forcing everyone to have an email address.
- xdennis 5y ago
  No, you don't have a lot of choice. UK banks have many restrictions about who can open an account. Just by queuing in a branch I've seen immigrants being rejected because they don't have a job yet.

hulitu 5y ago

Every transaction is visible to a lot of entities: banks, card operators, credit rating agencies, state etc.

notch656a 5y ago

Merely having a bank account can in some instance trigger FATCA report, depending on where you open it. This opens up further intrusions to your privacy. I do not know if any foreign nations have an analogue of this. It can also be difficult to open without an address or with certain history, even if you are a citizen or legal resident.

8note 5y ago

Bank accounts aren't given out based on you needing one; they're given based on the bank wanting you. Homeless people don't meet some of the expectations for what banks want in a person - an address

Symbiote 5y ago
Bank accounts for homeless people can be done, in Britain probably after 'encouragement' from the government (do this your way or we'll force you to do it our way...). https://www.hsbc.co.uk/help/money-worries/no-fixed-address/ https://www.hsbc.co.uk/help/money-worries/no-fixed-address/

prmoustache 5y ago

Tell that to the homeless

prmoustache 5y ago

You can have a bank account and use cash. As mentionned in the article, some people use cash because they struggle with budgetting. They may get a specified amount of money from the ATM each week in their wallet and get an immediate visual clue of where they at in any moment. Using cash actually make you see the money going out. It is much more tangible than just numbers to a lot of us. We could probably think of other options, like having rechargeable money card with some kind of visual bar indicator showing the amount of money left but that is not there yet. Also as much as I like using my cards and phones for payments, they are really bad for privacy. All you payments get stored in a database waiting to be dumped, stolen and leaked. And it is not a matter of if but rather of when.