Hacker News Reader

Comment by cj | Hacker News Reader

I can think of 0 occasions where I’ve given anyone my bank account info who isn’t a commercial organization (employer, electric company, etc).

I had no idea it was the opposite in the UK.

Edit: with the exception of writing physical checks, of course. I use those when the receiver doesn’t accept Venmo or Apple Pay.

View on HN

When you give someone a physical check, you are giving them your bank account info. It is written on the bottom of every check.

People outside the US stopped using cheques ~decades ago. At 40+ from New Zealand I've literally never paid anyone with one and have been paid with them only a handful of times.

Oddly, given the context of this thread, the UK is an exception. Or at least it was until a few years ago (I left in 2019). They have Faster Payments, but they also still use (used?) cheques more often than any other non-US country I've interacted with. For example, a number of UK universities still do (or until recently did?) expense reimbursements in the form of paper cheques, when reimbursing people not employed by the institution. One university even mailed a paper cheque, made out in British pounds and drawn on a UK bank, to our French invited speaker! The speaker found it inconvenient/expensive to have to deal with that, but their bank was fortunately able to figure out how to deposit it.

I've never used or seen cheques been used. Anecdotal though.

The only time I've seen a cheque in the decade since I moved to UK has been from DVLA. They send refund as a cheque, and for relatively small amounts likely expect a significant fraction of people to never cash it in because handling the bloody things is just annoying.

My bank's mobile app supports cashing them in via camera. Niche use case, but nice to have it for this attempt at government agency nickle-and-diming the populace.

You probably have a very small illegal population, here in the US, if you don’t wanna hand someone a ton of cash but wanna pay them for something and they’re not allowed to open a bank account, a check is the easiest way to give them money. They can go to a check cashing place pay the 1-3% fee and cash the check. Otherwise you’re giving them cash or doing some complicated load to a prepaid card.

They are still in use in France from time to time. Typical use cases I have seen are security deposits, and for small non-profits to expense volunteers and getting paid without bothering with payment terminals.

I remember my father had a checkbook in the 1970's. I never had one, not sure they even exist here anymore (Belgium).

For payments to friends we use bank apps. Usually the receiver generates a QR code for the payment on their phone, which you scan from your bank app, sign with a pincode, and the payment is executed immediately. If you are not near you can also use their account number to transfer money instantly.

I got a cheque book with my first real bank account in 2004, and felt like a real grown up. In the time since, I have written 2 cheques.

However, I have cashed some cheques - a tax refund cheque and a refund for my remaining balance when I closed a utilities account.

They have the advantage, for the sender, that you can discharge your responsibility to offer a refund by sending a letter, rather than having to interact with the other party. Of course these days you could email them a link to a web form.

I am currently disputing an international payment and wire transfer (or walking/driving my happy ass to their office and paying cash) is the only method allowed by the lawyer representing me. That's at least one occasion you are not accounting for (a foreign entity that needs the equivalent of cash to proceed)

Right, but it’s likely a law firm you’re wiring to, not an individual.

The GP was saying they use wire transfers between friends day-to-day which isn’t the case in the US.

Touche

To clarify: they only take wire transfers and not ACH debit/credit? This seems highly unusual.

They accept ACH. Timing doesn’t allow for ACH to be useful. I could have showed up and handed them cash but would have cost 3x the wire fees!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com