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Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

nytimes.com

211–220 of 274 posts

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#211
post #4

Does anyone know the cause of the large and long standing difference in banking in US vs Europe? In europe: -for 15 or so years already, web banking has been with 2nd factor authentication (since its inception I assume). In previous decades we would get devices where you need to type numbers from its lcd screen into the webpage login. Today mobile auth apps are taking over. -I have never seen a bank have security que…

> -"wiring" money between european bank accounts is free (and not called wiring, not sure what in english though), for as long as I remember. It's not some special type of transaction, it's the main way to pay bills, get salary, pay each other, ... Many business accounts in Europe do charge per transaction however

You mean SEPA transfer?

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#212
post #4

Does anyone know the cause of the large and long standing difference in banking in US vs Europe? In europe: -for 15 or so years already, web banking has been with 2nd factor authentication (since its inception I assume). In previous decades we would get devices where you need to type numbers from its lcd screen into the webpage login. Today mobile auth apps are taking over. -I have never seen a bank have security que…

While most of those points generally are true I'd say that banking in Europe is only marginally better. They still have weird, mostly paper-based processes and decades-old mainframes (though that's not necessarily a bad thing). Not long ago the 2nd factor consisted of a paper slip with enumerated transaction numbers. You'd have a hard time finding a bank that allows you to easily export data to accounting software. A…

There's Revolut, Monese, N26 to name a few where you can sign up without ever stepping foot into their office (via a phone app, by proving your ID either via video call or make a photo of your ID) and the entire process takes a few hours at most to verify on their end. After that, use your phone security (fingerprint, face ID?). Do you have that in U.S? Probably not.

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you say fraud, do you mean theft or identity fraud? 2FA is extraordinarily relevant when it comes to theft with regard to online banking. The purpose of 2FA is mostly to prevent automated attacks or remote account entry via password resets by email or something similar. I'm not sure if you're aware, but Europe has proper 2FA in the form of a dongle type device, and not this SMS BS many companies in the US use ou…

>2FA is extraordinarily relevant when it comes to theft with regard to online banking If theft through online banking even exists, it's at such a low volume as to be irrelevant. Most online banking interfaces are a read-only view of recent transactions. Some provide the ability to transfer funds between your own linked accounts at the same bank. Fewer still provide bill pay for a specific set of partner institutions,…

> Most online banking interfaces are a read-only view of recent transactions.

What year is this, 1997? Is this normal in the US? I'm beyond amazed. Using online banking for transferring money is such a normal activity here (has been for at least 10 years).

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#215
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> maybe a slow cobol mainframe somewhere Inter-bank money transfers in US are handled by a system that needs multiple "business days" for a transaction to be finalised so you're on the money here: https://engineering.gusto.com/how-ach-works-a-developer-pers...

> Inter-bank money transfers in US are handled by a system that needs multiple "business days" I wired some money from my US bank account to my Swedish bank account. The US bank obviously operates on a batch process basis, because around 6AM EST I got an email from my US bank saying that they've sent the money, and I should expect it within three days in my destination account. It was already available in my Swedish…

What do you suggest we do, start our own bank?

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In France yes, they are an exception (with the UK too maybe). But in Germany banks don't issue chequebooks anymore.

They don't issue checkbooks at all, or you just don't get a bunch of free ones when you sign up? Most American banks that I know of don't give you any either, anymore, just a debit card, but you can get them if you want them.

Modern banks really don't. In Germany you truly have no use for cheques anymore. SEPA works both ways (wire transfers and direct debit from your account are free for you and very cheap for business accounts).

While for instance in France, Orange launched their own bank recently, they're 100% mobile, yet you can request a checkbook (for free, afaik they cannot legally charge you).

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#217
post #189
post #4

Does anyone know the cause of the large and long standing difference in banking in US vs Europe? In europe: -for 15 or so years already, web banking has been with 2nd factor authentication (since its inception I assume). In previous decades we would get devices where you need to type numbers from its lcd screen into the webpage login. Today mobile auth apps are taking over. -I have never seen a bank have security que…

Paper cheques are still super common in at least France and Germany.

Living in Germany and have never seen one in more than three decades.

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#218
post #202

I always thought security questions were a ploy to get you to take surveys without explicitly being told you were taking a survey. If your bank (or any company who has your gender and birthday) asks you what your favorite color is, they could now come up with stats such as "83% of women in between the ages of 23 and 38 prefer purple". That type of data could be sold to and be used by clothing vendors and other busine…

In EU they need to explicitly state that data is collected and reason. Data uses for authentication cannot be used for marketing.

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#219
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow exactly the situation in india! We’ve had 2FA, mobile alerts, etc. ever since the dawn of the Internet banking in late 90s. Wasn’t so in the US even as recently as 2010.

But in other respects things are stuck in the past in India too, like your account being tightly coupled to a particular branch of the bank, and many commercial establishments charging extra for card transactions.

I have banked with five different banks (private and public) and have never had to face the tight coupling with a particular branch that you talk about?

Indian banking system is actually a joy to use compared to the first world systems that I have seen.

Re: Your Mother’s Maiden Name Is Not a Secret

#220
post #161
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(and not called wiring, not sure what in english though) Giro is I think the standard English term for this although it is rarely used because it is a push system while (particularly in North America) banking systems in the Anglophone world typically use cheques which are pull based. Even coming from Canada, I was rather surprised at how ancient the US banking system is. Like it was stuck in the 80s for 2-3 decades.…

Not heard the term Giro in years, not since people stopped using the Post Office for banking services.

Just had a flashback to "Boys From The Black Stuff" [0].

[0]: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083689

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