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Comment by kevindong | Hacker News Reader

> Silicon Valley Bank gives us no paperless billing option for our account

I find that absurd. A bank that primarily serves the tech industry doesn't have paperless statements. My banks, all of which are the very definition of entrenched corporations, offer paperless statements.

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Silicon Valley Bank exists based on understanding startups, more than being one. Startups can survive with antiquated banking systems. (If anything it gives them ideas!) Startups can't survive with an antiquated banking mindset.

They funny thing it is not that they dont have e-statements it is that they dont allow you to opt out of the paper statement. Any other bank would force you to paperless only the first time they saw the bill for shipping you an giant box with a thousand page statement

But they're disrupting the paperless statements industry! /s

Cost of one box of ridiculous statement per month: $41

Cost of a team of developers, a team of QA, and security penetration testers for replacement: >>> $41

Break it down that way, and it's easy to see how it's not a priority. Likewise, in the article they talk about a 30-min download. So what if a snowflake customer has a slow download - fixing that is much more expensive, and as it currently stands, things are working.

My company is with SVB because we couldn't find a good alternative that had decent rates for international transfers (US 100% remote company, international founders).

Open to suggestions...

How about a combination of any other US bank + Transferwise? This is what I do (using Bank of America in the US). The transfers to Transferwise go through their US account (thus can be done as a no- or low-cost ACH) and the rates by Transferwise are pretty close to market rate.

Considered it, then SVB came back with a better offer. "Other banks" not being that attractive or much better than SVB in the first place, either, and having to deal with two systems rather than just one.

Wish there was something like Simple / N26 for businesses.

Simple seems great, but its daily/monthly transfer limits are really scary. I'm not in the habit of wanting to exceed them, but I can think of some one-off events where you might want to (restructure your investments, do something with your bonus, buy a car, buy a house, etc) and the idea that you straight-up can't should give anyone pause.

Where are you getting this 'straight up can't' from? You can just call them and they will temporarily raise it for you.

And, when/if they say no?

That's pretty much the state of banking in the US, already.

Word of warning: I used to love Transferwise, but they completely shut down a good friend of mine's account and froze his funds, stranding him in Europe without any money. They flagged his account, saying he was selling illicit substances and being paid through his Transferwise account, which is completely absurd. If you knew this guy... Anyway, it took him weeks to get the money released, and even then most of it was not deposited into his account, but instead sent back to the senders (his family). Minus fees, of course. Which, granted, aren't very much. :P

Currencyfair.com is pretty awesome. It's not a bank but you can keep money in it and send international transfers. It's basically a p2p currency exchange company.

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