[jacquesm]

Yes, that's a good way to get payments from customers to you, but it sucks as a way of paying for auction goods and freelance work, which is how I used to use paypal.

International wire transfers are a lot harder to do without actually visiting a branch of the bank I'm with and filling out a bunch of forms, and they take much longer to process too.

[nkassis]

"International wire transfers are a lot harder to do without actually visiting a branch of the bank I'm with and filling out a bunch of forms, and they take much longer to process too."

That's my personal problem too. Sending money from US to Canada or Canada to the US is a pain. If only they had the same check clearance system, it would solve so much. Same as how having similar phone numbers makes it so much easier.

[btilly]

Heh. jacquesm lives somewhere that doesn't even have checks!

When I needed to get paid by a Dutch company, the easiest solution turned out to be for me to open a new bank account.

[vegasbrianc]

Well I think the US is one of the only countries left using checks. Everyone else (Most of Europe) has moved on to direct bank transfers for everything.

[mkramlich]

> Heh. jacquesm lives somewhere that doesn't even have checks!

I pictured jacquesm needing to use a custom silver DeLorean to drive there and back. Flux capacitor and all.

[caf]

I can do international wire transfers straight from my bank's online interface - is there a regulatory reason that US and Canadian banks can't offer something similar?

[John212]

Nope, we have this too. I know Chase & BoA both do it online.