[kevin_b_er]

The banks have been pushing for a cashless society for awhile now.

So once they achieve their goal of preventing me from paying someone else $10 without a 3rd party getting a 2-3% fee for the privilege of exchanging money between two private parties, it won't be them getting the 2-3%? Cry me a river.

[mixmastamyk]

Hmm, most other countries have free transfers between bank accounts. It's just the US (maybe a few others) still stuck in the stone age.

[dkasper]

ACH bank transfers are free in the US too, just takes a few days. Personal transfers with Venmo or paypal are free too in most cases. The fees are for credit cards which make up almost all online transactions and have fees everywhere in the world.

[dragontamer]

> ACH bank transfers are free in the US too, just takes a few days.

One-day ACH has been standardized and has begun to be rolled out.

[nicoburns]

Perhaps, but in the UK I can do instant bank transfers for free. Very useful for settling small debts between friends and such things.

[jopsen]

Lots of other countries have debit cards linked to accounts with standing credit, instead of the "credit card" that you pay off every month.

These debit cards very low fees, sometimes they work as both debit and visa card, so you can use them abroad too.

[jjoonathan]

Who gets the seller fees?

In the US, you only get a piece of the action if you use a credit card. Otherwise you still pay the higher, transaction-fee-included price, but you don't get any part of the transaction fee.

[jopsen]

I see many stores with fees for using foreign credit cards. Like ~1 USD..

Or I guess the seller pockets the fee.

[dkasper]

We have debit cards in the US too... that’s how apps like Venmo work.

[PickledJesus]

The EU limited fees to .3% on credit and .2% on debit cards, and made charging the consumer card fees illegal everywhere though. That's a big improvement on what was otherwise ~3%

[mixmastamyk]

Still not as ubiquitous as it should be.

In NZ for example, folks have their bank account # proudly displayed over a plate of cookies for purchase at 25 cents on a whim.

[JTbane]

It still vexes me that I can't instantly transfer money from my bank to a friend's account without paying, or using a third-party like Venmo or Paypal.

[frockington]

Most banks are using Zelle now, all but instant in my experience

[pishpash]

Zelle is restrictive, daily limits are quite low. It's also not always instant, depends on how much risk your bank considers you.

[wakkaflokka]

I ran into this issue today. Frustratingly low limits ($1000) for my bank.

[mwexler]

Also, Zelle is a third party, but one owned by a bank collective so it gets a deeper integration. Potato, Potahto.

[tialaramex]

Yup. Woke up this morning, FB message with a spreadsheet. Some friends going on holiday together, one has taken responsibility for the house we're renting, got the bill today, cut it up, sent it out. I copy-posted the amount into a web form from my bank and it was in their account later this morning at zero cost to either of us.

[gruez]

you can transfer free between friends using services like paypal, doesn't that count?

[baq]

paypal isn't a bank, though.

[the-dude]

PayPal is registered as a bank in the EU, in Luxembourg if I am not mistaken.

[gruez]

GP mentioned:

>free transfers between bank accounts

does it really matter if it was done through some third party service?

[crooked-v]

Absolutely, given that Paypal can freeze your money indefinitely for arbitrary reasons (and has a long history of doing so).

[skinnymuch]

Does it for consumers? I thought it’s only for sellers. That’s also been my experience.

[mixmastamyk]

Why put another potentially malicious, rent seeking third-party between you and your friend's banks?

[s_dev]

>The banks have been pushing for a cashless society for awhile now.

Since the first loan was regulated banks have been pushing for a cashless society. Your comment is very much an understatement. It is the holy grail of the financial industry.

Because of the liquidity ratio. Banks are supposed to have 10% of their total lending in cash. This is to prevent a run on the bank.

No cash means banks can lend an infinite amount of money as they aren't bound to the liquidity ratio.

Basically it removes the ceiling from what a bank can earn as there can never be a run on the bank.

[aninhumer]

I think you're conflating cash meaning the physical currency and cash meaning the liquid asset here?

A cashless society is about the former, and as far as I know, the 10% limit is about the latter?

(EDIT: I believe in some systems the banks do technically have physical currency in the form of special high value notes, but they're not really cash in any practical sense)

[gruez]

>No cash means banks can lend an infinite amount of money as they aren't bound to the liquidity ratio.

that's not how fractional reserve works. banks have capital requirements (some of which may be cash), not cash requirements. moreover, even if it was somehow cash requirements, they're not obligated to hold physical cash.

[cat199]

To all the downvoters of this persons comment quibbling about the word 'cash' - please focus on the general concept of 'how can you have a bank run without a commodity store of value outside of the bank account itself' please...