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Comment by toomuchtodo | Hacker News Reader

Europe in general would be my example for how banking should be done.

Would you be willing to go into more detail on why banking is better in Europe? They seem to have their own problems, too.

If France is part of Europe, then no f’ing way. It’s a nightmare: arbitrary limits on debit cards, large transfers have to be done in person at your specific branch. The security requirements are Byzantine. For example, to get a new pin code, they actually mail you paper, you can do it in a branch. International money transfers require permission (only obtained at your specific branch.) They charge a monthly fee to have a Visa debit card and to get a “Gold” version with higher limits, you have to pay them more. Paper checks are still vastly preferred in France (for paying school fees, etc.) Banking in France is just one step above banking in Korea or China. French bank fees make American fees look positively discount by comparison.

That you have to go into your specific physical branch to do certain things is ridiculous. I can go into any Chase in the US and do anything I could do at my normal “home” branch.

N26 (a German bank) was vastly superior but even that had limitations, especially with moving money around internationally.

The grass is always greener on the other side.

YMMV I guess. I'm in France too and none of those points apply to my experience (except the monthly fee for the debit card and the snail mail for the new PIN). I have not set foot in my physical branch in 10 years, and have not written a paper check since 2011.

I'm from France and I'm using an online bank. Almost none of these apply to me - yes the pin code and the card come by mail but I can transfer arbitrary amounts online, I have a free gold card, there are basically no fees at all: the account is free, the card is free, transfers are free, I don't think this account cost me anything at all. I had to open the account with a significant amount to get the gold card but you can open it with a much lower amount or by receiving your salary there, and the only difference is that you get a regular card instead.

The only downside is that you don't have a physical branch you can go into but you can do basically anything online without ever interacting with anyone, or at worst you can always call them. Those are real banks btw, not pseudo-bank fintech companies.

I think what you are looking for is a direct bank. It's weird to complain about having to go to a branch when you sign up for a bank account at a bank whose primary selling point is the availability of a local branch.

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