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SVB's programmatic payment systems are back online

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: SVB's programmatic payment systems are back online

#41

Post by londont »

dougSF70 wrote: post #20
chatmasta wrote: post #3

Brex and Gusto have been nagging us to setup a new bank account, but is this urgently necessary if SVB ACH is operating normally now? What are other people doing? We'll obviously open a new account eventually but it doesn't seem urgent?

I am going to run payroll from my personal checking account because gusto wants a different bank to SVB. I will then wire funds from SVB to my personal account. Then I will find a new business banking provider.

Hi there, co-founder of Gusto here. Running payroll from your personal account won't work. It has to be a business account. Please see below a msg I wrote earlier in the thread about some advice on how to get that done on time --

*

To clarify — If you have not yet updated your bank account on file to another (see article), you will have to wire funds to Gusto in order to make payroll on time. Log in to the app, run payroll, and you’ll get a prompt with more details and the specific cut-off, but it’s usually 10am PST in the morning of payroll.

In terms, of getting a new bank set up, I’ve seen people open bank accounts same-day with Mercury (online) or Chase (walking into a branch). Wiring funds from SVB to one of these banks should take But yes, you CAN initiate a wire transfer from SVB if you prefer to do that. Note that some SVB customers are seeing issues with the portal right now (probably given high traffic).

Hope this helps.

Oh, also we created this resource hub to help SVB customers with tips like the above: https://gusto.com/company-news/silicon-valley-bank-closure-r...

Re: SVB's programmatic payment systems are back online

#42

Post by JumpCrisscross »

partiallypro wrote: post #25
churchill wrote: post #13

I wonder why no one has said it yet but Mercury will come out the biggest winner from this mess. I can't estimate how the traffic from SVB > Mercury has been but I saw a post by Arc.tech saying they'd received hundreds of millions in deposits between 8 - 10 March. Given Mercury was a more popular contender, I'm going to bet they had an inflow of basically double-digit billions.

But mass inflows of deposits are exactly how SVB got into the situation it's in now. You have to pay interest on the deposits. I'd much rather go to a truly "too big to fail" bank that can easily cover the deposit interest with a diverse line of business.

> mass inflows of deposits are exactly how SVB got into the situation it's in now

It gave them the opportunity to make the mistakes they made. It didn't cause them. If you have more deposits than you can responsibly invest, you cut your rates until you can.

Re: SVB's programmatic payment systems are back online

#43

Post by chatmasta »

londont wrote: post #40
chatmasta wrote: post #3

Brex and Gusto have been nagging us to setup a new bank account, but is this urgently necessary if SVB ACH is operating normally now? What are other people doing? We'll obviously open a new account eventually but it doesn't seem urgent?

Hi there, co-founder of Gusto here. To clarify — If you have not yet updated your bank account on file to another (see article), you will have to wire funds to Gusto in order to make payroll on time. Log in to the app, run payroll, and you’ll get a prompt with more details and the specific cut-off, but it’s usually 10am PST in the morning of payroll. In terms, of getting a new bank set up, I’ve seen people open bank…

Great to hear from you! Thanks for the information. I'm a bit confused though. We have an ACH auto-pay schedule configured to take payment tonight (for payday on Wednesday). I thought ACH from SVB is still working. Is Gusto choosing not to process those payments? And if so, do you plan to eventually resume processing ACH payments from SVB?

Since the ACH payment is scheduled for tonight, we were planning on seeing if it fails, and if it does, sending the wire tomorrow so it arrives by 11am on Wednesday as required.

Re: SVB's programmatic payment systems are back online

#44

Post by dougSF70 »

londont wrote: post #41
dougSF70 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am going to run payroll from my personal checking account because gusto wants a different bank to SVB. I will then wire funds from SVB to my personal account. Then I will find a new business banking provider.

Hi there, co-founder of Gusto here. Running payroll from your personal account won't work. It has to be a business account. Please see below a msg I wrote earlier in the thread about some advice on how to get that done on time -- * To clarify — If you have not yet updated your bank account on file to another (see article), you will have to wire funds to Gusto in order to make payroll on time. Log in to the app, run p…

You are adding a layer of complexity on what is the safest bank in America for the foreseeable future.

Re: SVB's programmatic payment systems are back online

#45

Post by jjeaff »

partiallypro wrote: post #25
churchill wrote: post #13

I wonder why no one has said it yet but Mercury will come out the biggest winner from this mess. I can't estimate how the traffic from SVB > Mercury has been but I saw a post by Arc.tech saying they'd received hundreds of millions in deposits between 8 - 10 March. Given Mercury was a more popular contender, I'm going to bet they had an inflow of basically double-digit billions.

But mass inflows of deposits are exactly how SVB got into the situation it's in now. You have to pay interest on the deposits. I'd much rather go to a truly "too big to fail" bank that can easily cover the deposit interest with a diverse line of business.

I don't think Mercury pays any interest on their regular checking or savings accounts.

They offer treasury accounts that you can move money to and buy securities if you want yield.

So I don't think they have too much risk as far as interest on deposits. But what worries me, as a small business owner that has been using and loving Mercury for a few years now is that they offer free domestic and international wire transfers and I worry that they might start charging for that. It is the first bank I have had that did free international wires and I actually use that frequently. My last bank charged $85 and I literally had to fax a signed form to them to get it done.

The thing I don't know is if there is a per transaction fee that the banks pay. I assumed that there is and that Mercury was just eating the cost as a marketing expense.

Re: SVB's programmatic payment systems are back online

#46

Post by jjeaff »

toast0 wrote: post #35
partiallypro wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But mass inflows of deposits are exactly how SVB got into the situation it's in now. You have to pay interest on the deposits. I'd much rather go to a truly "too big to fail" bank that can easily cover the deposit interest with a diverse line of business.

> You have to pay interest on the deposits. Eh, how much does BofA or Chase pay on deposits? Interest rates have gone up, so they might hit 0.05% now?

Do they pay anything at all for business accounts? It wasn't even legal to provide interest checking and savings to business accounts for a few years after dodd-frank. I haven't seen a lot of bank jump to offer it.

Re: SVB's programmatic payment systems are back online

#47

Post by dragonwriter »

dougSF70 wrote: post #20
chatmasta wrote: post #3

Brex and Gusto have been nagging us to setup a new bank account, but is this urgently necessary if SVB ACH is operating normally now? What are other people doing? We'll obviously open a new account eventually but it doesn't seem urgent?

I am going to run payroll from my personal checking account because gusto wants a different bank to SVB. I will then wire funds from SVB to my personal account. Then I will find a new business banking provider.

> gusto wants a different bank to SVB.

Why the hell would they want a different bank than the one being run by the US government?

The whole point of the herculean effort of a all-deposits-protected federal takeover is to prevent disruption of this kind by providing the firmest possible guarantees.

Re: SVB's programmatic payment systems are back online

#48

Post by londont »

chatmasta wrote: post #43
londont wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hi there, co-founder of Gusto here. To clarify — If you have not yet updated your bank account on file to another (see article), you will have to wire funds to Gusto in order to make payroll on time. Log in to the app, run payroll, and you’ll get a prompt with more details and the specific cut-off, but it’s usually 10am PST in the morning of payroll. In terms, of getting a new bank set up, I’ve seen people open bank…

Great to hear from you! Thanks for the information. I'm a bit confused though. We have an ACH auto-pay schedule configured to take payment tonight (for payday on Wednesday). I thought ACH from SVB is still working. Is Gusto choosing not to process those payments? And if so, do you plan to eventually resume processing ACH payments from SVB? Since the ACH payment is scheduled for tonight, we were planning on seeing if…

Thanks for the reply. That's right, if you use SVB you have the fund payroll through a wire transfer. The wire can come from any account (including an SVB account). ACH won't work.

Re: SVB's programmatic payment systems are back online

#49

Post by jjeaff »

tempsy wrote: post #17
churchill wrote: post #13

I wonder why no one has said it yet but Mercury will come out the biggest winner from this mess. I can't estimate how the traffic from SVB > Mercury has been but I saw a post by Arc.tech saying they'd received hundreds of millions in deposits between 8 - 10 March. Given Mercury was a more popular contender, I'm going to bet they had an inflow of basically double-digit billions.

Why would anyone go from midsized public bank to opaque neobank if they're now spooked about bank solvency issues? The logical move is to go bigger eg JPM.

Mercury isn't really a bank. They are a nice, new UI that uses real banks behind the scenes. The main bank they use is Evolve bank and trust and has been around since 1987. But as of last year, they just had around $1B in assets under management.

Re: SVB's programmatic payment systems are back online

#50

Post by ChickenNugger »

kentonv wrote: post #21
tempsy wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would anyone go from midsized public bank to opaque neobank if they're now spooked about bank solvency issues? The logical move is to go bigger eg JPM.

Because (apparently; I'm just reading from their web site) they deposit your funds into 12 separate accounts at 12 separate FDIC banks so you are insured up to $3M and a single-bank failure can at worst take 1/12 of your deposits. Seems like services like this should be more popular.

Am I the only one wondering why they're allowed to circumvent the $250K cap like this?

Presumably there's a cap for a reason, and presumably it's to protect ordinary Americans who rarely have $250K in assets, and not rich people who can literally afford to lose that much and still be rich.

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