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So, I tried Dwolla

blog.goodstuff.im

101–110 of 151 posts

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#101

It is true that Dwolla are not professional but it never was meant to be a real business, it was always intended as a spotlight for Ben Milne. Nothing wrong with that, ego has driven much of civilization but you certainly should build Dwolla into actual business plans, it won't be around much longer.

You can't just drop a bomb like that all innocent and matter-of-factly like that without further explanation. Smells like sour grapes.

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#102
post #79
post #66

America is a funny place. You can get 127 varieties of salad dressing at your local supermarket, but you can't pay for it except with cash, unless you want to be hit with credit charges, and when you do the prices are not as marked. Australia, in sharp contrast, has laws requiring that the price on the shelf matches the price at the register -- some of them even allow you to get incorrectly-priced items for free, alt…

I haven't ever been subject to differing costs between credit/debit card and cash prices, with the sole exception of the liquor store. Are there specific stores in the US that do this?

have you ever used your credit card at gas station?

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#103
post #92
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Interesting, none of my (four) banks have asked for photo ID. Two of which were started online (but are still a traditional bank).

When did you open those accounts? "Know Your Customer" (which basically translates to SSN, government-issued photo ID, and blacklist checks) has been required of all US banks since 2003 thanks to the 2001 PATRIOT Act.

When I was 15, I was able to open a checking account by mail with no ID. Today, every bank I use lists government-issued photo ID as a requirement right on the website before you can start applying.

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#104
post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is something about the US banking system that I find completely crazy. Other banks/companies can 'pull' money from your account. Where I come from, all bank transfers are 'push' as far as I'm aware. Ie. the sender of the money has to specifically authorize an amount to be sent. In the US it appears that in a lot of cases, the receiver of money can specify the amount they want to receive and simply pull it from t…

ANY company can do this including your employer. A dogshit group of villans I used to work for pulled money from an employee's bank account that had been deposited from a paycheck because he took two weeks vacation to train for a new job. Was it legal? Almost certainly not, but it happened.

It's a pain, but setting up multiple accounts can help combat this (an account to receive deposits before moving them somewhere else).

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#105
post #9
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…

Kind of, Trade Hill lost a hundred thousand or so when Dwolla falsified their tranaction record and stuck them with the fraud. This was a bunch of reversed ACHs (which Dwolla claims they don't allow). Very shady company.

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#106
This is why I'm eagerly waiting for Stripe to arrive in the UK (anyone have an ETA?) For some reason every company that has a service like this seems to feel the need to make you jump through a stupid amount of hoops. That wouldn't be that bad if they were completely incompetent at it. Take PayPal: My account was limited out of the blue. I provided them with all the information they needed. 3 weeks later they asked for more. Then after providing that they reopened my account. A further month later they closed it again and started asking for the same stuff.

I understand the financial industry is extremely locked down, but I was hoping itd be a little easier to accept payments now-a-days

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#107
> While there are no really good alternatives to moving money domestically except via check

Does the U.S. really not have customer-to-customer wire transfers from regular banks? I'm continually amazed by how terrible your banking system is.

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#108
post #94
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Credit cards have fees -- interest, account-keeping fees, and so on. It's why banks like them.

Only if you don't pay them off immediately, or you agree to an annual fee for specific benefits.

Depends on the card. I've got one that charges interest on purchases even if they were made in that same month. (In general you're right though)

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#109

> While there are no really good alternatives to moving money domestically except via check Does the U.S. really not have customer-to-customer wire transfers from regular banks? I'm continually amazed by how terrible your banking system is.

They cost about $20 and some banks double-charge (i.e. charge the recipient as well as the sender).

Re: So, I tried Dwolla

#110

> While there are no really good alternatives to moving money domestically except via check Does the U.S. really not have customer-to-customer wire transfers from regular banks? I'm continually amazed by how terrible your banking system is.

It truly is shit. Japan's isn't great either. UK's probably the best I've experienced in all the countries I've lived in. Hong Kong comes a close second.
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