And what would money transfer involve (that is different chan using a check)?
Probably a phone app, just like it does in the US. Doesn't your bank offer a person 2 person payment service? I can't think of a big bank that doesn't.
And what would money transfer involve (that is different chan using a check)?
we use "SEPA" to transfer money to recipients all over europe for free. you just put in the number of the bank and the private account id and the money gets taken from your account to his.
also i heard the US is only now implementing chips on their credit cards and you simply have to swipe? no pin?
Yup. When you write a check for an amount that is basically exact without change, like $40.00 or $100.00 you have to write it out as well and your options are to do something like "Forty and 00/100 dollars" or something like "Forty only dollars" essentially.
Not sure how that would work with some entity dispersing funds from a settlement to a bunch of different people.Probably a phone app, just like it does in the US. Doesn't your bank offer a person 2 person payment service? I can't think of a big bank that doesn't.
This is still BS that was one of the worst moves in recent history to advertise the service in the keynote and 6 months later kill it. They should have given them back the full difference between the 3g and wifi models
I think its easier for me to cash a check that comes to me instead of having to find my account and routing number and put it on some other website.
Also yes, the US is starting to get chips on their credit card. However, they will mostly be chip & signature instead of chip & pin. There are some banks which are sending chip & pin cards for traveling abroad, but most of them are chip & signature. It still causes some problems because chip & sig won't work in unmanned terminals, like they have in train stations in Europe. Because it cannot take your signature. You have to let the clerk swipe it and the machine will print out a signature slip. Or you need to get a chip & pin card for traveling.
I would be careful not to associate the US' recent distribution of chip cards as being in the past. While chip cards are safer, the US doesn't really make many offline transactions, unlike Europe where a lot of transactions occur offline. (not connected to the credit company's network). Since credit card information isn't saved in the US, the need and use for a chip is far lower.
we use "SEPA" to transfer money to recipients all over europe for free. you just put in the number of the bank and the private account id and the money gets taken from your account to his.
I used to write Forty Even but now I just write Forty ----------------------------- Dollars
Stupid to write forty dollars when the check already says dollars, so I just draw a long line to make it so people can't tack anything before or after it.
And what would money transfer involve (that is different than using a check)?
OT: always amazes me that the US uses checks. i dont think ive actually touched or seen a check first hand in my entire life
What about iPhone?
In Dec 2012 I signed a 2 year contract for unlimited data on my AT&T iPhone 4S. About two months later I started being completely shut down (they called it throttling but I couldn't open a website) after 3gb.
In a situation like this one though a check seems like the simpler and faster way to go still.I lived in Switzerland for 3 years....they don't have checks. All bills come with an identically formatted blue payment slip which can be taken to a bank/post office and paid for with cash, or can be machine read by an ATM and the money is taken from your account, or you can enter the info from them into your online banking account and pay your bill. Nobody mails a payment back to the biller, all paying is done through the banking system. There are pink versions of the same slips that can be filled in manually and used for one off payments to individuals, charities, etc. Store transactions are all by debit or credit card.
I lived in Australia for 3 years....checks do exist, but nobody has them for personal use. The only one I ever got was when I sold my car and was paid with a bank check. Store transactions are all done with EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer Point of Sale) which is your debit card. Bills come with the biller's BSB and Account number which is equivalent to a Routing and Account Number here. You use online banking to push money to their account. You also make payments to individuals by pushing money from your account to another person's BSB/Account Number. A difference from the US ACH system is that having someone's BSB/Account Number only allows you to push money into their account....having someone else's account info can't be used to pull money from their account. For instance if you have a recurring payment to someone, you go to your bank's website and set up to have a recurring payment pushed to the biller; You don't give your details to the biller to have them regularly pull the money. This seems to eliminate any security risk of having someone know your account details....the worst they could do is give you money!
So other countries are way ahead of the US's antiquated system.
I'm pretty sure starting next year you will have to start using a chip and pin in the US. I've not heard of anyone using chip and sign?
And there's that too certainly--getting money to someone who doesn't have a bank account for whatever reason.it amazes me too (and I work in banking) but SO many people do not have bank accounts here there isnt much else they can do.
You're easily amazed I suppose.OT: always amazes me that the US uses checks. i dont think ive actually touched or seen a check first hand in my entire life
You're right about using the chip (instead of swiping) but most US issued cards will require a signature, not a pin.
http://www.cardhub.com/edu/chip-and-pin-vs-chip-and-signature/
Money transfer, like the rest of the modern world is using. This is really one of the things that the US is stuck in the past. Sending and receiving money on paper by mail.
This all changed after the Target issue last winter. Starting next year, it will be very expense for companies to not take chip and pin cc in the US. Everyone will be getting new cards in the next year.
http://www.qsrmagazine.com/exclusives/are-you-ready-emv
"By October 2015, all restaurants and other merchants will be subjected to new Europay, Mastercard, and Visa (EMV) standards, which reflect a shift from magnetic-stripe credit cards to chip-and-pin cards. Considered safer and widely used across Europe and other nations, the chip-based cards require insertion of the card into a terminal throughout the entire transaction."
"EMV compliance is required for credit card acquirers and processors, though it’s not mandated for merchants and processors. But merchants who don’t meet compliance by October 2015 will assume liability for fraudulent purchases—a shift that is poised to drive many to adopt the new standards and avoid the risk."
Considered safer and widely used across Europe and other nations, the chip-based cards require insertion of the card into a terminal throughout the entire transaction.
Money transfer to where? A personal account? A third party service? You know how expensive it would be for processing fees for all of those people? A paper check is still the cheapest method they can use. And like I said, they are hoping some people don't cash them before the deadline so they don't have to pay those out.
In the US they could use ACH, but people would need to submit bank account information, and have fun getting everyone to do that. Simple, send a check.
It's the easiest and simplest form for something like this, so that works.I agree with you regarding people supplying their individual account information to request a transfer--I'm surprised how comfortable others are doing this in other countries. No matter how secure a system claims to be, there is always somebody working on (and succeeding) cracking it. Every system has failed at some point. That being said, the number of people still using checks here in the US out of a belief that it's the safest method is also ridiculously high.
But check being the cheapest form of transaction--that's nonsense. I might be the least involved method but check transactions are far from the cheapest--there's a reason why financial institutions, business, etc prefer electronic processing.
It's the easiest and simplest form for something like this, so that works.
In a situation like this one though a check seems like the simpler and faster way to go still.