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The Secret API of Banks

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Re: The Secret API of Banks

#81

Post by jsjohnst »

tachang wrote: post #50
spookthesunset wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

- Instant, ultra-low cost inner-bank transfers. None of this "wait a day (or more)" ACH business or "send money via paypal, but then have to wait a day (or more) to ACH it into a real bank account". Useful for everything from paying friends back to moving money between two personal accounts. - ubiquitous NFC-based payment systems

Banks do this so they can gain the interest on the delay. Very annoying though for the end usrr

That isn’t the whole story, the Federal Reserve and their antiquated process is another major factor.

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#82

Post by spuz »

kqr wrote: post #35
benbristow wrote: post #31

In the UK the fintech (Financial Tech) scene is becoming more prevalent, for the better. Recently I switched to a new online-only bank called Monzo. It's fully licensed and all accounts are insured up to a certain amount by the UK government. It's great. They're in the top charts for apps in the UK now on the iOS App Store. There's a few other alternatives like Starling Bank and Revolut too. They're very good. They'r…

This is, on one hand, great. I made the switch to a similar bank myself a few years back. What I failed to realise at the time was how exposed I became to the vulnerabilities associated with being cashless. Cash is not just an ancient relic. Cash is an ancient relic and a fundamental component of a free society. My country has, in practise, become nearly cashless and I used to be proud to be one of the very early ado…

Could you elaborate on the risks of not using cash for you?

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#83

Post by jsjohnst »

beamatronic wrote: post #5
eboyjr wrote: post #2

This is an awesome alternative to scraping your own bank transactions. I'm considering using this technique to automatically add rows to my personal GnuCash MySQL database.

Is there a good existing framework that can turn emails into events? Some sort of IMAP client ?

Name your language of choice and I’ll link you to a good one.

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#84

Post by drstewart »

orf wrote: post #38
misterbwong wrote: post #18

This is very clever but makes me sad. It’s 2018 and the best, cleanest way of monitoring and storing my own transactions programmatically is by scraping an email.

*in America Banks provide an API in Europe. In fact it's a legal requirement that's coming into force in 2019, and there are a lot of 'mobile-first' banks like Monzo and Revolut which make this entirely un-needed in the first place (providing spending exports, decent analytics, push notifications, etc etc). Welcome to the future. Contact your local politician if you want to join us. Maybe also ask about chip and pin…

Pretty condescending attitude you've got there.

Since you're so far in the future, can you consider dragging Germany into it as well so I don't have to use cash everywhere I go?

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#85

Post by jsjohnst »

TomMarius wrote: post #29
djrogers wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wrote an Android app [1] that intercepted those SMS messages and parsed out the relevant bits. Sounds like a nice hack, but at a meta level, I find the idea that a mobile platform even allows an app to ‘intercept’ SMS messages to be a little troubling.

Well, it doesn't. You have to do a lot of things in order to allow it that it's impossible to not know exactly what you're doing. I think it's positive that I am in control of my device when I want to.

Actually there are quite a few popular Android apps that bulk harvested SMSes, so your point in defense of its security is rather weak.

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#86

Post by jsjohnst »

exegete wrote: post #76
heinrichf wrote: post #21

Many banks do not actually include any information in the notifications, because of the unencrypted nature of in-transit email. That is, "There has been a debit on your account" instead of "There has been a debit of X$ from merchant Y".

It'd be pretty neat to give a bank your public PGP key and then they could send you encrypted emails with more details.

For the 0.001% of Nanking customers who understand PGP, let alone who can set it up. Yes, I’d love it too, but until PGP is more user friendly for the masses, I wouldn’t hold my breath on any bank bothering.

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#87

Post by TomMarius »

jsjohnst wrote: post #85
TomMarius wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it doesn't. You have to do a lot of things in order to allow it that it's impossible to not know exactly what you're doing. I think it's positive that I am in control of my device when I want to.

Actually there are quite a few popular Android apps that bulk harvested SMSes, so your point in defense of its security is rather weak.

But that was in the past, right? Current version shouldn't allow it unless user explicitly agrees.

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#88

Post by orf »

drstewart wrote: post #84
orf wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

*in America Banks provide an API in Europe. In fact it's a legal requirement that's coming into force in 2019, and there are a lot of 'mobile-first' banks like Monzo and Revolut which make this entirely un-needed in the first place (providing spending exports, decent analytics, push notifications, etc etc). Welcome to the future. Contact your local politician if you want to join us. Maybe also ask about chip and pin…

Pretty condescending attitude you've got there. Since you're so far in the future, can you consider dragging Germany into it as well so I don't have to use cash everywhere I go?

> Since you're so far in the future, can you consider dragging Germany into it as well so I don't have to use cash everywhere I go?

I think that stems from an intense dislike of debt, specific to Germany more than anything.

Not sure why that's relevant to my comment though, or why being 'so far in the future' means 'credit cards everywhere at all times'.

Also the USA is still using cheques. They haven't even got to chip and pin yet. We are pretty much past that and onto contactless. How is that not futuristic compared to squiggling on a bit of paper to verify your identity?

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#89

Post by ceejayoz »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #33
TuringNYC wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd love: - Universal, near-instantaneous per transaction alerts. It helps stop fraud right away rather than after-the-fact. It also helps solve problems while they are fresh rather than trying to resolve a month-old+ issue. Some countries overseas do this almost universally. - On-restaurant-table credit card swipe rather than taking the card away and entering tip later. Many places overseas do this almost universall…

> - On-restaurant-table credit card swipe rather than taking the card away and entering tip later. Many places overseas do this almost universally. This isn't a problem you can solve by changing the banking industry. This is a point-of-sale problem.

I disagree entirely. The problem is that the US banking industry permits this state of affairs. They should require updated, at-table point-of-sale devices within a reasonable timeframe to be able to continue to take credit cards.

Re: The Secret API of Banks

#90

Post by matthewmacleod »

kqr wrote: post #35
benbristow wrote: post #31

In the UK the fintech (Financial Tech) scene is becoming more prevalent, for the better. Recently I switched to a new online-only bank called Monzo. It's fully licensed and all accounts are insured up to a certain amount by the UK government. It's great. They're in the top charts for apps in the UK now on the iOS App Store. There's a few other alternatives like Starling Bank and Revolut too. They're very good. They'r…

This is, on one hand, great. I made the switch to a similar bank myself a few years back. What I failed to realise at the time was how exposed I became to the vulnerabilities associated with being cashless. Cash is not just an ancient relic. Cash is an ancient relic and a fundamental component of a free society. My country has, in practise, become nearly cashless and I used to be proud to be one of the very early ado…

What do you mean by "personal cash services"?

A new-ish bank like Monzo mentioned above still allows you to withdraw cash like any other bank. You can't yet pay it into the account, but my understanding is that this will be provided pretty soon (based on their public roadmap https://trello.com/c/k2zy6WyU/98-cash-deposits-)

Cash is important, but I don't think it's going away any time soon.

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