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So, I tried Dwolla

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Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#41

Post by kenmck »

ok_craig wrote: post #6

The other day I was trying to make some kind of transaction with Dwolla, and before I could, they asked me a series of questions to verify my identity. The questions had obviously been pulled from a background check based on my name that I didn't know they had done. It was asking me what the price of a house was when I originally bought it, and what street I lived on in a given time period. Outside of this being real…

Sounds like they pulled a credit check. I got the same kind of questions when I applied for regular merchant (credit card processing) account.

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#42

Post by mikec3k »

kbuck wrote: post #12
ok_craig wrote: post #6

The other day I was trying to make some kind of transaction with Dwolla, and before I could, they asked me a series of questions to verify my identity. The questions had obviously been pulled from a background check based on my name that I didn't know they had done. It was asking me what the price of a house was when I originally bought it, and what street I lived on in a given time period. Outside of this being real…

FYI, those sound like credit check questions. They probably did some sort of credit pull. (They know the answers to these because the credit reporting agencies know how much the house cost, where it was located, what previous address(es) you've had on your credit accounts (including credit cards), etc.)

Yes, those are exactly the questions I've seen on credit checks to verify my identity.

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#43

Post by SomeCallMeTim »

mikec3k wrote: post #42
kbuck wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FYI, those sound like credit check questions. They probably did some sort of credit pull. (They know the answers to these because the credit reporting agencies know how much the house cost, where it was located, what previous address(es) you've had on your credit accounts (including credit cards), etc.)

Yes, those are exactly the questions I've seen on credit checks to verify my identity.

The problem with this theory is that a credit check needs an SSN. An SSN wouldn't have confused OP with his father.

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#44

Post by phantomcircuit »

wmf wrote: post #9
ok_craig wrote: post #6

The other day I was trying to make some kind of transaction with Dwolla, and before I could, they asked me a series of questions to verify my identity. The questions had obviously been pulled from a background check based on my name that I didn't know they had done. It was asking me what the price of a house was when I originally bought it, and what street I lived on in a given time period. Outside of this being real…

My understanding is that Dwolla is trying a fairly unusual approach to handling fraud, which is that they pay out of their own pockets for fraud (instead of kicking it down the line as all other financial institutions do) but this requires that they actually prevent fraud, not just identify it after the fact. And the cost of really stopping fraud turns out to be something that many people do not feel comfortable payi…

That is completely wrong.

Dwolla has to keep fraud below a very low threshold to stay in business, any more and their partners will stop working with them.

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#45

Post by jgoodwin »

I have both bitcoin and dwolla, and between the two I've found Bitcoin much more useful. Dwolla has a difficult business model these days, and I will be sorry to see them fail. But they will fail.

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#46

Post by g_h »

ok_craig wrote: post #6

The other day I was trying to make some kind of transaction with Dwolla, and before I could, they asked me a series of questions to verify my identity. The questions had obviously been pulled from a background check based on my name that I didn't know they had done. It was asking me what the price of a house was when I originally bought it, and what street I lived on in a given time period. Outside of this being real…

Dwolla did not perform a "background check" in the sense that you may think. When dealing with online fraud, it's common to use identify verification services like IDology (and a few others) that basically provide an API to generate these types of questions based on public records matching your name/address. Many banks use the same verification services.

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#47

Post by mutagen »

I had some minor issues with Dwolla or at least my perception of how they work that left a bad feeling for their brand and operations.

A buddy paid me money he owed me through Dwolla. I made the 'mistake' of leaving it in the Dwolla account instead of pushing it on to my bank account. A month later his bank was allowed to pull that back out because he had overdrafted.

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#49

Post by eco »

SomeCallMeTim wrote: post #43
mikec3k wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, those are exactly the questions I've seen on credit checks to verify my identity.

The problem with this theory is that a credit check needs an SSN. An SSN wouldn't have confused OP with his father.

SSN data isn't flawless. My brother and I somehow had the same SSN until I was in my teens (right as I started working but before he did so thankfully it wasn't too difficult to fix).

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#50

Post by aidenn0 »

uuilly wrote: post #40

I tried to use Dwolla and it it was absurd. I set my account up fine. My friend sent me $1200 for a ski lease. I withdrew it and it appeared to work. Days later when the money did not appear in my bank account, I checked back and it said, "processing withdrawl" (or something like that.) It said that for many days before I contacted them. They said I needed to scan my drivers license and send it to them. The only acco…

Every bank I've opened an account with has asked for photo id...
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