Founder here :) Feel free to ask me any questions
Please come to Canada! I will cry of joy if this becomes available up here.
Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
351–360 of 427 posts
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#352Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mate it's called a sandbox and reviewed apps... We're not talking about hooking up some PHP script to your bank account... and I'm not even affiliated with them!
Mate the entire point here is that it's your own code , not reviewed by anyone else.
Hey andrewflnr, he's pretty right. We've also worked on some mechanisms to prevent accidentally making unwanted/mistake transfers :)
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#353At first I was wondering what I could possibly use this for, but as I sat and thought about it, I realized the possibilities are enormous. I'd like to know if the following are possible: 1. Forcing me to stay on budget, unless there's an emergency (perhaps allow purchases over budget after the third attempt). 2. Automatically distribute paychecks or other income into different accounts (some to retirement, some to sa…
5. Due to a bug in _your_ code, accidentally have your mortgage payments bounce because of lack of funds, and get evicted from your home. With great power comes great responsibility. The number of times you say 'perhaps', 'unless', 'so if', or 'could' is so high that you would have to thoroughly review your code before trusting it.
I imagine open source projects emerging out of this. Those would hopefully be well-reviewed and -tested, and give you simpler access to common features.
It could be in the form of frameworks/libraries, but also full-blown clients. Even if it wasn't your custom code, you could still chose which software fits your needs best.
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#354Earlier quoted context omitted.
In all honesty, that sounds reasonable for a holiday purchase.
Yeah, but if transaction 1 is in person (card present) in your home area, then transaction 2 is card present 800 miles away in a short amount of time, shouldn't that raise a flag somewhere?
If that's the case then sure, but it probably isn't. People who still use cash for small purchases probably use their bank card two or three times a week at most. That "short amount of time" is likely to be days. And that's just for people who use one card; anyone with more than one card could go for weeks between transactions on a particular card.
Even then, if I telephone a business on the other side of the country and order something over the phone then the transaction will originate hundreds of miles from where I am. You don't need to be physically present when your card is used. There are many scenarios where a card could appear to move around the country (or world) while still actually being legitimate transactions.
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#355Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actual Zimbabwean here: you are so wrong I'll have to ask: have you ever been to Zimbabwe? > Absolutely -- the police can be very corrupt in Zimbabwe so you don't want hard cash hanging around or it will be taken. Yes, the police are corrupt but they won't rob you[1], they might try and coerce a bribe. > The actually official Zimbabwe currency can't really be taken seriously because of insane inflation rates. This is…
Is there really much practical difference between a police officer demanding a bribe and being robbed? (I've never been to Zimbabwe: if there is a difference between cops "coercing" a bribe and what I'm assuming you mean I'd appreciate the clarification!)
> Is there really much practical difference between a police officer demanding a bribe and being robbed?
Yes: you can say no to coercion but you have no choice when you are being robbed.
Violence (or the threat of it) is a hallmark of robbery: Zimbabwean police will not do that at traffic stops - they are usually not armed. They will, however threaten to impound your vehicle for minor infractions (which would be illegal in most cases) and/or threaten to jail you to wait for your court date. Either of these situations will require paperwork and the money goes to the state and not their pockets, so they make you wait and reconsider the bribe, but eventually let you go. Usually.
Also, in the context of this thread, having cash or money in the bank makes no difference because traffic stops now have portable card machines for "spot fines"!
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#356Earlier quoted context omitted.
"ahead of the West" Ahem, ahead of the US, really. Canada and the EU can be cashless already, with chip cards and direct bank withdrawal at the POS a reality for 99.99% of merchants.
China is cashless. Stores don't accept your cash much. And you have to show a government id to buy anything. And they track you. But it gets worse than that. If the government wants to punish you, they can just cut you off. Can't buy food, can't pay rent. Oh you think your friends can help you? China has that covered too, with its shiny new credit system. Being associated with - let alone helping - people cut off fro…
China is nowhere near cashless. Though, they do do a lot of payments by mobile apps like Alipay and WeChat. I was there for 3 months recently and I used Alipay for almost every cos Im from NZ and whilst we have cash here I never use it, every transaction is done via debit card. Was so good when I got Alipay in China cos I hate cash. Still... China definitely isnt cashless.
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#357At first I was wondering what I could possibly use this for, but as I sat and thought about it, I realized the possibilities are enormous. I'd like to know if the following are possible: 1. Forcing me to stay on budget, unless there's an emergency (perhaps allow purchases over budget after the third attempt). 2. Automatically distribute paychecks or other income into different accounts (some to retirement, some to sa…
Like you, I thought that this was pretty unimpressive at first. It seemed to me that this is just a regular bank account and that they expose some API and you have to program the web/mobile app yourself. The homepage is rather uninformative and I didn't really get what this is about until I went to their press release page: https://root.co.za/press/ . Then it hit me. You can write small pieces of code, sort of like s…
Replying to myself here because I can no longer edit my comment. Just wanted to say that, while this is potentially a huge thing, there are certain things that need to be taken into account.
First of all, there's heavy regulation when it comes to banking software. There are laws and bank regulations that are here to prevent people from losing their money and/or suing the bank for some reason or another. Root needs to take great care to ensure that the software written by their users stays within the boundaries of south african law and their own bank regulations.
Second, the software absolutely needs to be reviewed not just by people from Root but also by a reputable independent consulting company.
Third, Root mustn't allow direct initiation of transactions from their platform to prevent potential disastrous effects due to bugs. You should be able to write code that does something when the money is being received or sent from your account but not code that charges your account.
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#358Earlier quoted context omitted.
I had someone buy $200 worth of jeans 800 miles away from my home a few months ago... for some reason Visa did not find that suspicious. I was smart enough to thoroughly read my statement that month and dispute that charge.
IDK, unless you were using the card in your home location a few minutes prior, that wouldn't look too suspicious to me. 800 miles is flyable in only a couple of hours.
Tell it to google...
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#359Earlier quoted context omitted.
Mate the entire point here is that it's your own code , not reviewed by anyone else.
Hey andrewflnr, he's pretty right. We've also worked on some mechanisms to prevent accidentally making unwanted/mistake transfers :)
You mean you actually are leaning on packaged, reviewed rootcode to prevent errors? That seems somewhat inconsistent with your stated mission.
Re: Root – Programmable bank account for software developers
#360At first I was wondering what I could possibly use this for, but as I sat and thought about it, I realized the possibilities are enormous. I'd like to know if the following are possible: 1. Forcing me to stay on budget, unless there's an emergency (perhaps allow purchases over budget after the third attempt). 2. Automatically distribute paychecks or other income into different accounts (some to retirement, some to sa…
Assuming we're talking about bank card transactions, SMS confirmations for every purchase are not really possible. The issuing bank has a very short amount of time to respond to an authorization request message. By the time you've sent an SMS, unlocked your phone and replied, the merchant terminal or payment network operator would have timed out.
All the rest are great ideas though! ;)