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Root – Programmable bank account for software developers

root.co.za

131–140 of 427 posts

Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers

#131
post #9

I'd like to have something like this for Germany. I am willing to pay 10€/month for a simple API access to my bank account. I need neither hosted code nor push. Just give me remote access for my scripts. Probably I'm asking for the impossible because of the heavy regulation in Germany but just wanted to put it out there.

I doubt it's even regulation, just inertia. There used to be (still is?) an API called HBCI, but to my knowlegdge that required a smartcard (maybe not to bad an idea) and was mostly read-only. I think in the early 2000s you could use things like Quicken and MS Money to do homebanking (is this why some people in Germany still have the impression that it is dangerous and complicated?) I think what "Sofortüberweisung.co…

It still is though it's recently called FinTS. Most german banks implement it and it's read/write usually. Every bank has some specialities (even sometimes some bank branches have specialities) so it's usually not _that_ easy to implement if you want support for all banks.

Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers

#132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How about streaming your transactions to a budgeting service to approve or deny if you've gone over budget for the month. Or build your own rules to deny certain transactions if you are approaching 0 balance. I think there are lots of use cases you could think of that are custom to you that no bank would ever build.

Personally, I would rather rely on self control and not have my card forcefully decline transactions. But maybe that's just me!

Ability the decline transactions is my dream. Personally I want to approve every charge as it happens rather than have to scan my statements for anything unusual

Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks! Founder here. Currently in private beta, but if you're with Santander, Nationwide, RBS, Natwest, Ulster Bank NI, or IOM Bank I can give you access - sg@teller.io.

Is support for Barclays in the pipeline?

Barclays has already been integrated. We temporarily took the integration offline in good faith, pending commercial negotiations with them. Sadly, this seems like it was a ruse to buy themselves time to make changes to the app that break the integration. Their app is the most hardened app I've ever seen and it's challenging to reverse, but it's in progress. Don't worry, it will be back soon. :)

Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers

#135
When can I have direct control of recurring payments? I want to be able to "push" money instead of having it "pulled" from my account.

This is a totally reasonable feature. If a merchant wants assurance that they will be paid, they should charge a deposit.

The closest I've had is Entropay, but I don't really trust them for large payments.

Recurring payments are so abused, I can't count how many times I have been mislead. And there is a strong financial incentive to mislead people. And having to contact my credit card company after the fact is not good enough.

Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of the issue with cashless is that banks/financial service provided making money of of the money i.e. $100 making more than $100 with out adding any real value in fees (100 time circulation). I know time is money in most western countries but my place we do one crop a year and sit idle for 9 months. So time is not a money and we would rather give cash to a person get that much worth of a product. E.g. My sons sch…

The example of your son's school is fine, but imagine that your son lives in another country. Cash has other problems beside being slow. It's insecure - a person could steal your $20 bill from your mailbox or his, or from the Post Office. It's untraceable - if your son's school says "We never got your payment" but your son swears he gave them the cash, you're stuck in a situation where either your son or the school i…

That's why you always get a receipt when you pay in cash - it serves as proof that you paid.

Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers

#137

When can I have direct control of recurring payments? I want to be able to "push" money instead of having it "pulled" from my account. This is a totally reasonable feature. If a merchant wants assurance that they will be paid, they should charge a deposit. The closest I've had is Entropay, but I don't really trust them for large payments. Recurring payments are so abused, I can't count how many times I have been misl…

I think most bank's, websites already allow for this. Look under payees or pay bills

Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers

#139

When can I have direct control of recurring payments? I want to be able to "push" money instead of having it "pulled" from my account. This is a totally reasonable feature. If a merchant wants assurance that they will be paid, they should charge a deposit. The closest I've had is Entropay, but I don't really trust them for large payments. Recurring payments are so abused, I can't count how many times I have been misl…

Hey (founder of Root here), our platform gives you full API access to, for instance, do any of the things you do on the normal banking interface through code - like initiating a transfer to someone else, or building your own recurring payments system using a simple cron job :)

Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers

#140
post #88
post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious, to what end?

As an extension to customizing your bank account. It'd be nice to be able to pull funds from cryptocoin accounts or make calls to smart contracts, etc. I'm thinking this could be the IFTTT of bank accounts, so I want to see as many connections as possible.

Well that makes sense, but not what I would call "backing it". I think the terminology confused me, integrating other accounts, etc. is a clearer target.
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