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The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
byCaptain_Chaos ( 103843 ) writes:
One thing I'm noticing in this discussion is the fact that apparently in America the concept of sending money directly from one person to the next is considered alien and revolutionary by many, even though you can do that with good old USD too. It's called a bank transfer. I think it's because the use of cheques is still so widespread in the US.
I've never understood that strange preference for paying by cheque. I did an internship in the US, and I could choose between receiving my wages as a cheque, or having it directly deposited into my bank account. I chose the latter, as I am used to that and it makes much more sense. I think I was the only one in the entire company.
I don't get it. Really, a piece of paper? That you can lose? That can be stolen? That's a hassle because you have to physically bring it somewhere to get your money? That can bounce (a really weird concept to me)?
Here in the Netherlands (and certainly most of Europe as well, I don't know about the rest of the world) it's extremely common to pay each other by direct bank transfer. It's how everybody receives their wages and pays their bills. If you go out to dinner together it's common for one person to pay the bill and everybody else to transfer their share to their bank account. It's fast, easy, safe, and secure. With the phone apps every bank has these days it's a matter of seconds to do. There is no "bouncing", once you receive the money it's yours. Very odd that it just doesn't seem to want to catch on in the US.
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byjgtg32a ( 1173373 ) writes:
When was the last time you were in the US? I'm in my late 20's and I've used 9 checks, still on my first checkbook. Last check I used was because their CC system was down.
byCaptain_Chaos ( 103843 ) writes:
Admittedly the internship was 15 years ago; I'm sure the situation has changed since then, although I still noticed people paying for things with cheques when I was last there on holiday, three years ago, and my (Dutch) friend who runs a company in the US tells me that almost all his employees still want to receive their wages by cheque. 9 cheques is not many, but it's still 9 more than I ever used in my life (and I'm in my late 30's)... ;-)
bydltaylor ( 7510 ) writes:
No 1, for me, is that US Banks are not only not terribly secure on their network interfaces, but, more importantly, if ANYTHING goes wrong, it is the CUSTOMER'S FAULT. Since our "regulators" are owned,. "lock, stock, and barrel", by the industries that they are supposed to regulate, that is unlikely to change.
No 2, really, is that Americans are generally very, very, stupid; "No, don't make me use inconvenient two-factor authentication; it's too much work"; so we'll never have any real security on the tran
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