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Comment by toomuchtodo | Hacker News Reader

TransferWise

do you find yourself to often use the card or wallet ? also, do you also use wise for domestic txns?

Zelle or Venmo for dollar P2P transfers, Wise for international (both P2P or using local payment rails if possible, SEPA in Europe for example). App whenever possible vs wallet or card. Failing all of that, a US credit card or cash. My optimization is lowest cost possible between me and target entity receiving value transfer.

The ideal is an app that gets you as close to Pix [1], UPI [2], and SEPA [3] as you can for low or no cost value movement on instant payment rails [4].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pix_(payment_system)

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Payments_Interface

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Single_Euro_Payments_Area

[4] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_payment

> optimization is lowest cost possible between me and target entity receiving value transfer

it's definitely an interesting perspective as a consumer

Payment cost inflates product and service costs, and is a tax on those who pay cash and don't receive cash back rebates. You have to cut out the middlemen who are skimming the economy for little to no value. You can move up to $10M in value in the US on FedNow instant payment rails for a few pennies, instantly (~20 second SLA 24/7/365), for example [1].

Now, with regards to your specific inquiry, your unsophisticated consumer probably cares more about points and cash back. How do you disincentivize that? As a merchant, you offer free instant payment options and surcharge the customer to use more expensive payment rails (credit cards, for example). At least in the US, we're on our way in that regard (Walmart is offering pay by bank using instant payment rails to avoid billions in interchange costs [2]).

You might find this latest CFPB report helpful [3], as well as this McKinsey report on payments [4] for further reading. I'd also recommend the Fintech Takes mailing list [5].

[1] FedNow Service will raise transaction limit to $10 million to meet increased demand, unlocking higher-value use cases - https://www.frbservices.org/news/fed360/issues/091625/fednow... - September 16th, 2025

[2] Walmart Plans Instant Bank Payments, Cutting Out Card Networks - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41593450 - September 2024

[3] CFPB: The Consumer Credit Card Market Report to Congress - https://web.archive.org/web/20250601000000*/https://files.co... - December 2025

[4] The 2025 McKinsey Global Payments Report: Competing systems, contested outcomes - https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-i... - September 26th, 2025

[5] https://fintechtakes.com/

Cash transactions have real costs including employee theft and risk of being robbed both holding it and transportation.

https://sbecouncil.org/2024/07/01/the-cost-of-cash/

People also spend more when using credit cards where it is a net benefit to merchants.

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