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Balanced Will Release an API to Push Money to Debit Cards

blog.balancedpayments.com

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Re: Balanced Will Release an API to Push Money to Debit Cards

#11

Post by immad »

tomasien wrote: post #6

Can you explain like I'm 5 why ACH debits won't work and Debit Cards will? It must have nothing to do with fees, so you're saying you assume too much risk because you'd only have 2 days to reverse the transaction? I don't know what that would be true - because you guys aren't compliant with Regulation E or something? You should have 60 days. Edit - reading some of the comments perhaps it's about convenience - 4-5 day…

People have their debit cards in their pockets. ACH account details are not as readily available to most people.

Re: Balanced Will Release an API to Push Money to Debit Cards

#12

Post by rmanisha »

tomasien wrote: post #6

Can you explain like I'm 5 why ACH debits won't work and Debit Cards will? It must have nothing to do with fees, so you're saying you assume too much risk because you'd only have 2 days to reverse the transaction? I don't know what that would be true - because you guys aren't compliant with Regulation E or something? You should have 60 days. Edit - reading some of the comments perhaps it's about convenience - 4-5 day…

Note: I work at Balanced

I think you mean ACH credits (payouts) and not ACH debits. The push to debits cards feature is less about the risk and all about the convenience.

The process of collecting bank account information from sellers/merchants has proven to be cumbersome for our customers for three reason: 1. People rarely have their checkbook on hand 2. People are less willing to provide that information (Whereas people are more comfortable giving out debit card information since they can always change the debit card number as an added security. It is also much easier to file a chargeback on a debit card transaction) 3. Bank account information cannot be validated in real time thus, increasing payout delays cause by typos.

I may have completely missed the mark on your question, if so please correct me.

Re: Balanced Will Release an API to Push Money to Debit Cards

#13

Post by cinquemb »

steveklabnik wrote: post #3
cinquemb wrote: post #2

I think it will be pretty cool to see how this plays out and what kinds of debit cards can be used (pre-paid, tied to checking/savings accounts, etc.). I'm even interested if something like this will make it easier to exchange cryptocurrencies remotely without going through a central exchange.

Hey, Balanced employee here. > what kinds of debit cards can be used This will work with any US-based debit card. Regulation is hard, still working on the international story in general. > I'm even interested if something like this will make it easier to exchange cryptocurrencies remotely without going through a central exchange. Can you expand on this a bit? I'm not immediately seeing the connection.

I was thinking I could use this some how to create a process where two users can initiate and complete a trade between themselves.

Re: Balanced Will Release an API to Push Money to Debit Cards

#15

Post by lettergram »

steveklabnik wrote: post #10
pavlov wrote: post #9

From a European perspective, it seems utterly strange that Americans don't simply use wire transfers for something like this. If someone wants to send me money, I just give them my bank account number (IBAN). Transfers are free within EU and the handful of outsider European countries. Why are Americans afraid of giving out their bank account numbers? The only thing you can do with an IBAN is send money to it, and tha…

Wire transfers are expensive here, $15~$30. You can also withdraw money if you have the bank account information. A famous example is Don Knuth, who had to stop offering rewards checks: http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/news08.html

I know it isn't bad if you know the person is at the same bank, for example most of my friends bank at Chase so we can transfer money via wire for free.

Re: Balanced Will Release an API to Push Money to Debit Cards

#16

Post by lettergram »

pavlov wrote: post #9

From a European perspective, it seems utterly strange that Americans don't simply use wire transfers for something like this. If someone wants to send me money, I just give them my bank account number (IBAN). Transfers are free within EU and the handful of outsider European countries. Why are Americans afraid of giving out their bank account numbers? The only thing you can do with an IBAN is send money to it, and tha…

Wire transfers cost money in the U.S. essentially it seems like a way for a bank to make extra money to me (since it really takes little effort to transfer money). That's part of the reason paypal and bitcoins have been fairly popular in the U.S.

Re: Balanced Will Release an API to Push Money to Debit Cards

#17

Post by pavlov »

steveklabnik wrote: post #10
pavlov wrote: post #9

From a European perspective, it seems utterly strange that Americans don't simply use wire transfers for something like this. If someone wants to send me money, I just give them my bank account number (IBAN). Transfers are free within EU and the handful of outsider European countries. Why are Americans afraid of giving out their bank account numbers? The only thing you can do with an IBAN is send money to it, and tha…

Wire transfers are expensive here, $15~$30. You can also withdraw money if you have the bank account information. A famous example is Don Knuth, who had to stop offering rewards checks: http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/news08.html

Wow. At that cost, I assume American banks must be using a combination of telegraphs and the Pony Express to settle their wire transfers.

"You see, sending money across state lines is not easy. There needs to be insurance in case wild natives attack and steal the leather bag containing those money orders... It's only fair that we pass that cost on to the customer."

Re: Balanced Will Release an API to Push Money to Debit Cards

#18

Post by tomasien »

rmanisha wrote: post #12
tomasien wrote: post #6

Can you explain like I'm 5 why ACH debits won't work and Debit Cards will? It must have nothing to do with fees, so you're saying you assume too much risk because you'd only have 2 days to reverse the transaction? I don't know what that would be true - because you guys aren't compliant with Regulation E or something? You should have 60 days. Edit - reading some of the comments perhaps it's about convenience - 4-5 day…

Note: I work at Balanced I think you mean ACH credits (payouts) and not ACH debits. The push to debits cards feature is less about the risk and all about the convenience. The process of collecting bank account information from sellers/merchants has proven to be cumbersome for our customers for three reason: 1. People rarely have their checkbook on hand 2. People are less willing to provide that information (Whereas p…

Not at all, I get it. This, and I'm just trying to give feedback, wasn't a very well written article for someone who doesn't already understand the problem. After I understood the problem, the post was much, much easier to understand.

If you'd like a method for processing ACH where those three things aren't a problem, gimme a holler - tommy@paidez.com

Re: Balanced Will Release an API to Push Money to Debit Cards

#19

Post by tomasien »

immad wrote: post #11
tomasien wrote: post #6

Can you explain like I'm 5 why ACH debits won't work and Debit Cards will? It must have nothing to do with fees, so you're saying you assume too much risk because you'd only have 2 days to reverse the transaction? I don't know what that would be true - because you guys aren't compliant with Regulation E or something? You should have 60 days. Edit - reading some of the comments perhaps it's about convenience - 4-5 day…

People have their debit cards in their pockets. ACH account details are not as readily available to most people.

Agreed - I was trying to figure out whether or not this was actually the problem. That's the problem I'm setting out to solve with ACH, so I was trying to see if myself and Balanced are at least seeing the same customer problem.

Re: Balanced Will Release an API to Push Money to Debit Cards

#20

Post by steveklabnik »

cinquemb wrote: post #13
steveklabnik wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, Balanced employee here. > what kinds of debit cards can be used This will work with any US-based debit card. Regulation is hard, still working on the international story in general. > I'm even interested if something like this will make it easier to exchange cryptocurrencies remotely without going through a central exchange. Can you expand on this a bit? I'm not immediately seeing the connection.

I was thinking I could use this some how to create a process where two users can initiate and complete a trade between themselves.

Gotcha. Thanks, I thought you meant sending BTC to cards somehow.

Cryptocurrency exchange is currently against our terms, "Prohibited Transactions" -> "(18) currency exchanges or dealers" and "(49) virtual currency or credits that can be monetized, re-sold or converted to physical or digital goods or services or otherwise exit the virtual world," in https://www.balancedpayments.com/terms/selleragreement . This is due to our upstream providers.

We're interested in working with them to work around such things, but haven't been able to yet: https://github.com/balanced/balanced-api/issues/204

I've been heavily involved in Dogecoin, and I'd love to see BTC/LTC/DOGE payments, but there's a lot of unresolved questions.

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