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Comment by constantcrying | Hacker News Reader

>FedNow doesn't work outside of the US.

And Europe has IBAN transfers, which didn't kill Paypal.

Although I am not quite sure why paypal hasn't been killed. Using my bank account is almost always as simple as paypal and most stores offer some form of it.

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I have been in the EU a lot over the last few years and no one I know uses anything but direct bank transfers.

I don’t think any of my EU friends have a paypal account.

I don't think you have been to France. I am french, and I use Paypal all the time because I don't want to give my CC numbers and a majority of online store offer Paypal as an option to pay. Direct Bank transfer to pay online is not widely offered.

I have not spent much time in France, and I guess that use Apple Pay to accomplish the same goal of not sharing credit cards.

I'm from the USA but been living in Spain for ages, and I'm the only one I know that uses PayPal. Everyone does bank transfer.

Depends on the country. In Poland, most banks use a standardized interbank instant cheque system which is integrated with your phone number, and everyone would use that for settling small sums between each other. Sweden has a similar system that's even more flexible.

Meanwhile, German banks offer a similar solution (giropay), yet - in this privacy-obsessed society - everyone uses PayPal instead.

>yet - in this privacy-obsessed society - everyone uses PayPal instead.

I don't get why to be honest. Banks are far more regulated than Paypal...

I know someone who uses it because they can't get a bank account. If you're unbanked, your options are pretty limited.

Can you share why they can’t get a bank account?

I don't know the details, unfortunately, but I know it's connected to a financial disaster they suffered.

It's not as rare as you might think, though. 4.5% of US households are unbanked.

Valid reason I guess. Being unbanked should certainly be illegal.

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