Comment by sundvor | Hacker News Reader

Comment by sundvor | Hacker News Reader

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Wow, what a massively convoluted process. So you don't have the concept of bank account numbers in the US?

Speaking as a Scandinavian expat, in Norway, a bank account number is all that's required for an IB transaction - whether to a private individual or an institution for paying bills etc (which will also require a reference, typically). The account number incorporates all required processing information.

In Australia it's slightly more complex by the availability of options; the routing info is split out into a BSB (bank branch identifier) so you need that as well as account number - and account name - for a payment to an individual.

For bills you have BPay through your Internet Banking (very similar to a BSB+Account No payment yet a different method, and it doesn't require you to enter a name as the BPay number will resolve to a named organisation). There are typically no transaction fees.

Outside of Internet Banking there is also a similar Australia Post system, as well as credit card payment methods.

Anyway I thought the Australian system was a bit hard or confusing at first, but the concept of creating digital images of cheques sounds outdated and painful.

> So you don't have the concept of bank account numbers in the US?

Was that really called for? Checks have account numbers on them. And checks aren't the only way to pay for things.

The signature is a security measure. Not a very good one, but in terms of the process is the same as your password or whatever authentication you use. You do authenticate, right? You do need more than a single bank account number to complete your transaction, no?

By comparing the security procedure of US checks to the information needed without security elsewhere, you're exaggerating the difference. It is easier like you say, and checks should die as fast a death as possible, but the process you replied to takes 30 seconds to perform, not massively longer or more difficult than authenticating with your bank and doing it online.

Sorry by "account numbers" I meant a standardised system of these, serving as foundation for electronic banking.

In Norway: That single account number is all that's required to send someone money, with amount mandatory and an optional reference. From what I know, they've tightened security down a fair bit and require TFA devices etc, so it may not be as easy as in Australia.

In Australia: On my Android device I use biometric authentication (fingerprint) as a shortcut to the username password that is required on first time login; the username is different to my account number.

When transferring to a new recipient, an SMS confirmation code must be entered. I already explained what destination information was required, but omitted that for BPAY, we require our customer number reference.

Once entered it is saved, which means a manual bill payment is easy as: Log in, select payments, select recipient, dollar amount, submit then confirm => done. (Including login I can pay say my ISP bill in less than 30 seconds). Of course these can be made recurring.

I would say this electronic, biometric model sounds significantly easier, but then I've never lived in a place where banking is so paper based so that's just my world view.

(I received a bank cheque some time ago and honestly had no clue on how to cash it, so rare is this. I learned that our ATMs now feature scanners for depositing, but it took nearly a week to clear).

Yep, it's pretty antiquated. Wells Fargo only added the ability to transfer money to an account number online a couple years ago and I think it still only works with some banks.

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