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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

#181

Post by astrange »

explodingwaffle wrote: post #44
gnicholas wrote: post #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…

Brit here- I usually send money to friends and family using bank transfers with internet banking- it’s instant, there’s no fee (AFAIK) and all you need are someone’s account number, and sort code, which everyone has. Is this just not an option in the states? It’s insane to me that y’all use (need??) third party apps for something as simple as sending money around.

Zelle, what they're complaining about here, is that. It's not a third party app.

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

#182

Post by tinsmith »

humanistbot wrote: post #171
pavlov wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did they get access to the bank app on your phone?

If you close the BofA app after you are done, you have to log in again with either password or biometrics. If you don't and just go to the home screen, it stays logged in.

This seems like a remarkable oversite on BofA's part. I'm with a comparitively tiny US credit union, and even their app demands a pin code to return to it if I switch to another app mid-session.

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

#183

Post by ceejayoz »

snotrockets wrote: post #123
ceejayoz wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why does it matter whether you're acquainted with the recipient? Because the transfers can't be canceled/reversed, so there's no recourse if the recipient is scamming you.

This isn't true. All bank transfers and reversible. Some easier then other, but none are no-recurse, regardless what a low tier customer service agent insists. It may require more effort, and maybe someone above their pay grade, but it is possible. And Zelle itself, like all electronic bank transfers in the US, is subject to regulation E, which puts the responsibility for unauthorized transfers on the banks (minus $5…

Sending money to a scammer tends to be an authorized transfer; you made it yourself, intentionally. The Zelle page you said itself states "Because you authorized the payment, you may not be able to get your money back."

I would not hang my hat on a Regulation E complaint in this scenario.

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

#184

Post by astrange »

wtracy wrote: post #64
explodingwaffle wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Brit here- I usually send money to friends and family using bank transfers with internet banking- it’s instant, there’s no fee (AFAIK) and all you need are someone’s account number, and sort code, which everyone has. Is this just not an option in the states? It’s insane to me that y’all use (need??) third party apps for something as simple as sending money around.

In the USA, sending a wire transfer is usually $15-$20, and some banks charge $20 to receive a wire transfer.

Sending an ACH is nearly free, banks just don't expose it because of the very poor experience when you get one of the numbers wrong. You can ACH people all day with Transferwise.

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

#185

Post by Spooky23 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #36
notch656c wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have enough money in the bank to buy groceries you have enough money to take out of the bank and put in your mattress for groceries. Also HN will probably get upset for me saying this but a few grams of gold or silver or other goods easily tradeable like whiskey or ammo never hurt anybody and might buy you a pig to slaughter or something.

> few grams of gold or silver I remember, a few years ago, Cupertino being targeted for burglaries because the Indian and Taiwanese immigrant populations had a penchant for storing wealth in gold and silver and cash under the mattress, respectively. The victims’ recovery rates and timelines were far poorer than these BofA customers’ will be.

That happens a lot in many segments of the population. When my uncle was detective, there were similar incidents among the orthodox Jewish community, as the cultural preference from the diamond trade was instant settlement. It’s also easier to move gold across borders. Many folks were hesitant to call the police which made it worse.

Prepper people get targeted alot as well. One dude in my hometown was a victim of a home invasion, held hostage and lost about $250k of guns, ammo and silver. You don’t hear alot of about this stuff because typically these communities are not exactly following the letter of the law from a tax perspective.

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

#186

Post by MuffinFlavored »

whartung wrote: post #176

I guess I'll be the lone voice in the wilderness. We've been perfectly happy with Zelle. We use it a couple times a month to pay service providers, send money to family. Never had any issues with it, don't need an "app" for it, works with our normal bank stuff. Similarly, at the same time, we got a check recently from a settlement. We plonked it into our account, and it bounced. It was a large settlement (i.e. lots o…

> pay service providers, send money to family

how does the recipient of a zelle transaction know if it’s tax worthy (aka needs to go on 1099) or just sending money to family? i don’t see a way to “tag”/“flag” transactions

same goes for cashapp

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

#187

Post by astrange »

basch wrote: post #61
gnicholas wrote: post #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…

It wont be a popular answer here but Facebook Pay now Meta Pay is a great product. It is instant, as in, you can send someone standing in front of an ATM money, and they can pull the money out seconds later. Not pending, but completed deposits. For free. It is the "it just works" way to move money between peoples debit cards in the US. It is rock solid, a large network of us use it all the time, and it is significant…

PayPal/Venmo/Apple Cash also support instant transfers through this method - basically it just charges a negative amount to your debit card. It's not always free though, and most people don't actually need "instant" unless they're standing in front of an ATM.

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

#188

Post by bluedino »

sschueller wrote: post #111

I don't understand why overdraft hasn't been outlawed. It's literally a tax on you if you make one tiny mistake or your bank make a mistake. If I dont have the money block the transaction and offer a line of credit with specific apr for those that want to be able to overdraft.

> I don't understand why overdraft hasn't been outlawed.

It's a felony to write a check that you don't have the funds for.

Oh, you mean for the bank.

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

#189

Post by SoftTalker »

notyourwork wrote: post #177
dcist wrote: post #147

I got scammed by a Zelle transfer when someone used my phone (without my authorization). I didn't even know I had Zelle but it's built into the BofA app. I lost $3,000. BofA refused to refund any of the transfer or reverse it. Total trash feature. I didn't sign up for it. I don't want it. BofA signed me up for it. I'm changing banks because of it.

You let someone use your phone and they were able to open BoA app and transfer funds without your knowledge? I don't fault BoA for ignoring your claim, that's like handing someone a credit card and acting surprised when they use it and wanting the CC company to refund your money.

If you let someone into your house to use the bathroom it's not OK that they rifle through your dresser drawers and take any cash that they find.

People "hand someone their credit card" every day at restaurants. That doesn't mean that they are waiving fraud protections.

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

#190

Post by Throwaway69294 »

notyourwork wrote: post #177
dcist wrote: post #147

I got scammed by a Zelle transfer when someone used my phone (without my authorization). I didn't even know I had Zelle but it's built into the BofA app. I lost $3,000. BofA refused to refund any of the transfer or reverse it. Total trash feature. I didn't sign up for it. I don't want it. BofA signed me up for it. I'm changing banks because of it.

You let someone use your phone and they were able to open BoA app and transfer funds without your knowledge? I don't fault BoA for ignoring your claim, that's like handing someone a credit card and acting surprised when they use it and wanting the CC company to refund your money.

Not sure about the US, but in Europe they would actually refund me if my CC was stolen. It's part of my standard insurance package.
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