Same-day ACH, aka why you now get paid two days earlier than you used to. Check deposits by smartphone camera. Most of the stuff on https://www.bitsaboutmoney.com.
Are these really innovations, or just convoluted workarounds for problems that other countries have actually solved? I don't think anyone under 40 in Europe has ever written a check, for example, because wires are far more convenient there.
Agree. This 40 year old european has seen/used exactly 1 cheque in his life, to buy the house. For some complicated legal reason, houses can not be bought with normal means of payment. We had to walk with the flimsy piece of paper from the bank to the notary, where a bank representative was actually sitting. We gave it to the notary, the notary gave it to the previous owner, and they had to walk it back to their bank. We both felt like stone age caveman, except the previous owners already did it once in the 1980's when they bought the house, so it was the 2nd cheque they saw in their lives.
We asked the banker what would happen if we were robbed. He said he'd just write a new one. The thief couldn't do anything with it, as it was all on name only, and the extremely low daily volume of cheques in use would mean cashing it would stand out like a sore thumb.
There are instant transfers (Zelle, wire transfers, debit cards). There aren't instant transfers with all the same properties as ACH, but later this year there will be.
We have chip-and-nothing, or contactless, which is better than Chip-and-PIN. (Note Apple Pay and similar are basically chip-and-PIN because it's authenticated by the phone passcode.)
> And who still uses cheques these days?!
US uses them for business-to-customer payments, especially unsolicited ones, because we don't want to give random businesses we don't know our bank account numbers.
Those numbers at the bottom of a cheque? Yeah, they include your account number.
There's no inherent information risk to giving out an account number that justifies an outdated paper-based system. Especially when one considers the accompanying fraud risk thereof.
The instant I moved to Europe, I realized just how far behind consumer banking is in the US. It's pitiful.
Not in Europe it's not, which is
monodeldiablo's point: there's no inherent risk to giving out your account number. It's only the primitive US system which makes it a risk.
>> Those numbers at the bottom of a cheque? Yeah, they include your account number.
> Yes, as well as the routing number.
>> There's no inherent information risk to giving out an account number …
>Of _course_ there is. In the US, the account + routing number is sufficient to perform a ACH transfer, write checks against that account, etc.
The risk is enormous.
So… how does writing a check remove this risk then? That was the original point, that writing a check is safer than giving out your account number.
We can, but sometimes you get payments in the mail from businesses you only have an occasional relationship with.
You can pay people instantly by refunding their debit cards - that's how Uber drivers can get paid - but it's not free, which is why most transfers don't go that way.
We have had check deposits with smart phone cameras for over a decade. I’ve done it with Schwab since college, and while I won’t share my graduation year, it’s been well over a decade lol