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Bank of America has lost Zelle transfers for many customers

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Re: Bank of America has lost Zelle transfers for many customers

#12
post #4
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What are Zelle transfer?

Instant, no-fee, irreversible transfer between participating US bank accounts. (Like most of the rest of the world has had for a decade or more, but it's new, and because it's new and there's very little education to consumers from the banks it's heavily used in scams. It also has a pretty confusing UX that lends itself to scams.)

> most of the rest of the world has had for a decade or more What specific system are you implying?

In Slovenia, I can't make a bank transfer online when my bank is closed (at night). Money transfer between banks costs me 40 cents per transaction and international transfer in the EU costs me around 7 €.

Maestro card is instant and free and works even when the bank is closed, but it is only used for spending money.

I don't pay any fees for my bank account, since I'm younger than 27.

Re: Bank of America has lost Zelle transfers for many customers

#13
When my older relatives wanted to send money to family/friends, I used to recommend Zelle, which was better than the never-heard-of-it apps they were considering. But with all the problems I keep hearing about Zelle, they're off the list. Most of them have iPhones and so I just tell them to send cash via Messages/Apple Cash. I don't know how reversible that sort of thing is, in the case of fraud, but as long as they can see the messaging history with the person before they send it, it seems like that's a pretty low risk.

Any other suggestions for older adults?

Re: Bank of America has lost Zelle transfers for many customers

#14
post #9
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instant, no-fee, irreversible transfer between participating US bank accounts. (Like most of the rest of the world has had for a decade or more, but it's new, and because it's new and there's very little education to consumers from the banks it's heavily used in scams. It also has a pretty confusing UX that lends itself to scams.)

Instant and no-fee I can get behind but irreversible sounds like an awesome way to lose a lot of money.

Reversibility means risk incurred on the transfer system which means not free. Reversibility to the people you pay also means you pay a premium as the vendor has to self or externally insure the risk the funds will be recalled.

Re: Bank of America has lost Zelle transfers for many customers

#15
post #4
post #2

What are Zelle transfer?

Instant, no-fee, irreversible transfer between participating US bank accounts. (Like most of the rest of the world has had for a decade or more, but it's new, and because it's new and there's very little education to consumers from the banks it's heavily used in scams. It also has a pretty confusing UX that lends itself to scams.)

It’s also limited to 2k a day

Re: Bank of America has lost Zelle transfers for many customers

#16
post #9
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instant, no-fee, irreversible transfer between participating US bank accounts. (Like most of the rest of the world has had for a decade or more, but it's new, and because it's new and there's very little education to consumers from the banks it's heavily used in scams. It also has a pretty confusing UX that lends itself to scams.)

Instant and no-fee I can get behind but irreversible sounds like an awesome way to lose a lot of money.

I've seen it IRL. Zelle claims no responsibility and that they can't track what they sent.

Re: Bank of America has lost Zelle transfers for many customers

#18

When my older relatives wanted to send money to family/friends, I used to recommend Zelle, which was better than the never-heard-of-it apps they were considering. But with all the problems I keep hearing about Zelle, they're off the list. Most of them have iPhones and so I just tell them to send cash via Messages/Apple Cash. I don't know how reversible that sort of thing is, in the case of fraud, but as long as they…

I no longer recommend Cash App (formerly Square Cash) because they explicitly removed the ability to have inbound transactions be automatically deposited into your bank account.

They left it on for anyone who already had it on, but I specifically signed my dad up on the assumption that sending him money would be as frictionless as possible. Instead, Square/Block would love for that money to stay in the Cash App account, not actually available for him to spend in his own account.

I continue to use Cash App because I continue to have this feature; if they ever remove it, I'm gone.

Re: Bank of America has lost Zelle transfers for many customers

#19
post #10

I have long been terrified of something shaped a bit like this. Here in the US we already treat most workers like absolute garbage. If one day the Average Joe wakes up and finds that all his money is merely some electronic scribbles in a database which have mysteriously gone missing, the social unrest is probably something that most people on this site couldn't even conceptualize of. Today it's Zelle, but what happen…

Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Don't daily carry a physical debit card to your largest accounts that could be easily lost or stolen. Take advantage of credit card protections, or cash.

Plopping your life savings in one large savings account has never been a good idea.

Re: Bank of America has lost Zelle transfers for many customers

#20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s also a owned by the 5-6 largest consumer banks in the US (BofA, CapOne, etc). So, they’re complicit in allowing the fraud to continue.

What should the banks do to prevent scams?

Allow reversing transactions that are proven to be scams, as they are required by law to do. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/regulation-e.asp
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