[bediger4000]

payment processors like Visa, MC, etc., really shouldn't exist

Agreed. When it's cheaper for a large company to do checks (physical or ACH) then we can pretty much assume that putting electronic money in the hands of for-profit entities like Visa and MasterCard is a real mistake. The cost of a credit card transaction is too damn high.

I will grant that a (US) government agency is cumbersome and inefficient and risible, but putting that amount of control in private entities is a mistake on many levels.

[darkmighty]

Payment processors are a cartel. I'm not from the US, and no other processors have really come up. It's basically an underlying tax on all products -- as much as I don't agree with the rest of parents post -- it really is absurd such simple tech isn't done by the government. It would be like delegating private presses for the dollar and in turn giving them a huge fee for bank deposits.

Not only checks, but the hallmark of irony in this is we still use paper money. It should be a lot cheaper and simpler to move bits!

It all goes to funding those cartels, and most of their spending is not to improve service but maintain the absurdity.

[eru]

> It would be like delegating private presses for the dollar and in turn giving them a huge fee for bank deposits.

As a mildly amusing aside: the Hong Kong dollar is printed privately, and issued by three private banks.

[darkmighty]

Haha that's nice trivia. Of the sort you hold onto for just the right moment :)

[eru]

My previous employer was amongst the three. So I specifically got one bill printed in their name, Standard Chartered.