81–90 of 377 posts
Ah and Bitcoin is so dangerous. We obviously need central banks to solve all it's terrible problems. /s
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've never recommended Zelle. Tales of their complete lack of customer service, consumer protection, and unwillingness to be held accountable are not new. ACH is archaic (and has its own dangers e.g. pull transactions) but it generally works.
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.)
Is this the kind of rumor that starts a "run on the bank"?
How? The lender of last resort is the United State Government. Thank goodness the bankers will always be made whole.
One of the reddit comments says: > Zelle isn't problematic if you use it for its intended purpose and don't send money to complete strangers Why does it matter whether you're acquainted with the recipient?
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…
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…
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.
Cash isn't illegal yet. Use it.
Don't use any one system exclusively. Even if you rely wholly on your normal person checking account and electronic payments, have a few grand stashed away in your house in cash. Sometimes the lights go out, and ATMs with them.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
People have no trouble conceptualizing insurance. We have car insurance, home-owners insurance, life insurance, etc. But what about "every day life" insurance? It doesn't take much cash on hand or some staples in the cupboard to protect against a wide variety of temporary "glitches" in life. Glitches can be anything from surprise weather events to things like your bank accounts becoming temporarily unavailable. Impor…
Heh, I didn’t even notice the covid paper products shortage on accounts of having every day life insurance in the form of a Costco membership and having bought toilet paper some months before. Buying in bulk isn’t even a cost, the cost of capital sitting idle in the form of a shelf of stuff I won’t need for a long time is more than made up for with the volume discount. Not only are the bulk beans a tiny fraction of t…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
People have no trouble conceptualizing insurance. We have car insurance, home-owners insurance, life insurance, etc. But what about "every day life" insurance? It doesn't take much cash on hand or some staples in the cupboard to protect against a wide variety of temporary "glitches" in life. Glitches can be anything from surprise weather events to things like your bank accounts becoming temporarily unavailable. Impor…
Heh, I didn’t even notice the covid paper products shortage on accounts of having every day life insurance in the form of a Costco membership and having bought toilet paper some months before. Buying in bulk isn’t even a cost, the cost of capital sitting idle in the form of a shelf of stuff I won’t need for a long time is more than made up for with the volume discount. Not only are the bulk beans a tiny fraction of t…
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.)
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.