Comment by jack-r-abbit | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jack-r-abbit | Hacker News Reader

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But I shouldn't have to give you my account number for you to send me money. I don't really want to maintain a mental list of who has my account number and who to update if I change banks or something. I'm not saying checks are the best solution for all situations but they have enough use cases to make them somewhere better than ridiculous.

Every time my cleaning lady comes, I just leave a check for her on the counter. I could leave cash but then I have to make sure I have that much cash on hand every time. I could probably get an account number from her and do some sort of transfer each time. But honestly, that doesn't sound at all easier for me than just writing a check. I think that is the only check I write on a regular basis anymore. I used to send my gardener a check but I started paying his invoice online through my bank. And I'm pretty sure they actually print a check and mail it to him on my behalf. :)

That's why you need a Cleaning App where you will pay 10% to the App owner, but save yourself from seeing the lady and don't have to feel bad about her life. Although you just taken off 10% off her.

Isn't your account number on the check?

Yes. My concern is not of security for my account number. But if I have to supply someone with my account number before they can give me money, then that is not the most ideal thing, IMO. They should just be able to give me the money without knowing my account number.

This is like saying that handing over a paper note to someone is more convenient than sending them an email, because you don't need to know their email address, and even if you did you can't be sure whether they still use the same email address.

That may be true but most people seem to have decided that the convenience of not needing to transfer a physical item outweighs those problems.

You're overcomplicating things... Really. That's like saying "I want people to be able to call me without my phone number"

You already give your acc number for your job.

I do that (sending and receiving money) and guess what, most of the people never changed bank acc numbers (including me). If it changes it's a non-issue.

Especially because payments either happens frequently (paying rent, for example) or it's a one-off thing.

I don't get why should I have to write a check to a landlord when they could give me they account number and let me set up a recurring payment (that's exactly what happens in Europe)

This is no longer necessary in the UK - you can send money via a phone number instead of an account number.

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