This would be welcome in France. We have middle-age grade banking where "instant transfers" are very limited and they are presented as a revolution.
I recently visited Poland and their banking/payment system is amazing (especially Blik). Anything that moves is France ahead will be great.
I do not even touch the question of the login screens that are atrocious. Boursorama (largest online bank) had me chose exactly 8 digits PIN to log in. Fortuneo broke their logging screen.
I was never talking about what can be accomplished with an IBAN. I was only saying that the idea of a world where everyone is going around buying things in the street with bank transfers is very unlikely as it contradicts the general advice given out about not using bank transfers and giving out bank details to strangers. Seen as you are also Irish you will appreciate this example: https://www.citizensinformation.ie/…
> Under the header 'Protect your money', the first bullet point is never use bank tranfers. The first bullet point is "Never send money by bank transfer unless you are absolutely certain you are sending it to someone you know and trust. Sending money by bank transfer is like sending someone cash and generally, once you send it, it’s gone" which is about paying by bank transfers, and very different from "never hand ou…
Yes, the full bullet point is more specific, but the average joe/jane reading that is quite likely to takeaway 'Never send money by bank transfer'or maybe just simpler, 'bank transfers are dodgy'. That website is a very reputable source of information in Ireland so Irish people are going to follow it's advice. For decades a lot of information about staying safe online and avoiding scams has given the GENERAL advice to avoid bank transfers and never give out your bank details to strangers, this isn't something I've just made up today for the sake of this HN thread, it's the GENERAL advice given out by financial institutions for a long time. So a system where everyone is giving out their bank details and paying for everyday expenses with bank transfers seems pretty unlikely, even if those transfers are instant.
Interac transfer is a nightmare to use. I want to send money or request money from someone? 1. Ask for their info (e-mail or phone number) 2. Login to my banking service (web or app) 3. Create a new contact with 1. 4. If they did not setup auto-deposit: setup a security question 5. Send/Request money (+ security question, if needed) 6. Wait few seconds~minutes for an email/SMS 7. If you did not setup auto-deposit: Cl…
I didn't really see any of those steps as a nightmare :-) But perhaps we have a different level of tolerance. For me, it's convenient.
I use interac because I don't have a choice.
I don't understand the whole security question plus having to create a user account. Just send the money. If you made a mistake, your fault.
In this context, “universal and government regulated” also means “inescapable and absolute”. Your health insurance might not go up, but you could find procedures being denied if, based on your purchases and behavior, the cost would be a poor investment for society and the state.
In most EU countries offering a Universal healthcare insurance, you have still a private market of insurances for services/products not covered by the government insurance (i.e. glasses, dental, cosmetics, etc.) If you get denied of a procedures because of previous purchases and behaviour that the government insurance does not want to cover; the private sector will be happy to serve you.
So pay the insurance... and then pay full procedure price?
Many people wouldn’t see an issue until they’re either personally affected or are the kind to look at privacy and freedoms deeply. The question for you is whether the government has a need or the right to know every penny (or whatever fractional currency you can legally use) that you move around. This shouldn’t be confused with the government having a need to know about incomes and/or wealth for taxation purposes. Sa…
> The question for you is whether the government has a need or the right to know every penny (or whatever fractional currency you can legally use) that you move around. First, there is nothing like the government in Europe. Secondly, the organisms that are tracking as extensively as possible European citizen are mostly private firms (whose parent companies are typically not European). European directives like GPDR ar…
> First, there is nothing like the government in Europe.
technically no... but in practice, yes.
EU decides something, and local governments must implement the EU-wide changes into local laws.
If EU decides to do something, they do it... the states are not as sovereign as it might seem.
I’m curious, what cars are you buying for $200k? Do you mean USD?
And why are you showing up with a bag of cash?
The other option when buying cars from Germany is to wait for the seller to receive your transfer, which could take a while if the seller is with a shitty bank.
This leaves the seller with both your money and your car.
If I wire 200k to buy a car, I want that money to arrive instantly. I certainly do not want to spend hours at some parking lot waiting for the money to arrive, I want to sign the papers right there and then and take the car with me. No fucking way I’m gonna leave some random with both the car and my 200k. So instead of sending a bank transfer, I still have to show up with a big bag of cash in 2022 . The amounts where…
I’m curious, what cars are you buying for $200k? Do you mean USD?
I just bought a Mercedes Maybach GLS for 270k EUR.
The tech for instant tranfers is already there, they just charge ridiculous amounts for it. Eg. my bank charges 7€ for an instant transfer, slow transfers are free. This proposal would make all transfers free and instant.
It's impossible to make anything free. The likely outcome is the costs will be moved around so that its paid indirectly.