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Comment by guntab-dan | Hacker News Reader

The problem with Zelle is that it's not safe to use for anything except payments to friends and family. The Zelle user agreement [1] puts this warning in all-caps: "YOU SHOULD NOT USE THE ZELLE® SERVICE TO SEND MONEY TO PERSONS WITH WHOM YOU ARE NOT FAMILIAR OR YOU DO NOT TRUST. ZELLE® DOES NOT OFFER A PROTECTION PROGRAM FOR AUTHORIZED PAYMENTS MADE WITH THE SERVICE"

[1] https://www.zellepay.com/legal/user-service-agreement

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And this isn't a hypothetical concern. People have sent money through Zelle to the wrong person, either through scam or by mis-typing a phone number, and Zelle support has been very clear that there's no way to get your money back. There was a previous HN post about it.

Regulation E should apply here, limiting liability to $50 (https://www.federalreserve.gov/supervisionreg/regecg.htm), regardless of what Zelle puts in their user agreeement or the training materials for their support personal. Don't even bother with Zelle: call your bank directly.

I've never heard of any protection like this in the EU banking system. If you transfer money to a scammer it's simply gone.

It sucks for the 0,0001% of people who get scammed some time but is it really needed that the bank takes on this role?

If you initiate it - yes. If the seller charges by IBAN via SEPA - you get 8 weeks to chargeback, no questions asked

Aren't IBANs entry only. You can only debit the IBAN.

not sure where you get the 0.0001% figure.

The protections are part of the regulations.

A consumer can reverse a SEPA Direct Debit transaction at any time. This is called a chargeback. A chargeback is allowed up to 8 weeks after the date of the direct debit with a valid mandate and up to 13 months without a valid mandate. At most banks, the consumer does not have to give a reason for the reversal.

https://help.mollie.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000796469-How-d...

Direct debits are the thing used to automatically pay your electricity bill every month. A different system with different rules to a one-off personal or business money transfer.

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