TIL USA does not have any equivalent to Swish and it baffles me.

[Kthulhu]

How exactly can the banks control what I can and can't buy or who can spend money? If they were to do that, the banks would just block any transfers from account to account, regardless of the existence of this payment app.

Besides being illegal in my country, and probably all countries with a functioning banking system, any bank that tried blocking transfers would immediately suffer a banking run after the word got out that it was happening.

Also, my credit card company already knows everyone I buy stuff from. All this app sees is money going from one account to another, they can't know exactly what you bought. In the end, this is just a simplified form of money transfer.

You seem to have a very dystopian view of something that's already common in a lot of countries and has caused near-zero problems. I honestly hate having to carry cash and rarely use it these days.

Click to shrink...

Credit card companies already sell your data, with cash not being an option, you now have no way to opt out of data collection.

If you use the app with a store they can tell where you shopped. If you use it to send money they can tell who your friends are. It's not hard to see how this could be used to harvest data for ads or just to sell.

Does the law affecting the banks affect payment apps? If not, then it's has huge potential for abuse.

 

[MrNelson]

I mean, I learned from GAF and ERA a large number of the US still use cheques to pay for their rent. I'm 30 and I've never used a cheque in my life.

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That's news to me.

The only time I've ever had to pay with a check was because my apartment complex's payment portal wasn't working that month, so nobody do do it electronically.

And the only person I know that does pay their rent with a check does it because the house they live in is owned by a couple that lives down the street, rather than a management company.

 

[Lyriell]

I love it when Americans want to remind Europeans how big and sparse their country is..

Here you go, my American friends.

Though to be fair, most of our population is centered in 3 places on the right hand side and one on the left.

 

[Darknight34]

I love it when Americans want to remind Europeans how big and sparse their country is..

Here you go, my American friends.

Though to be fair, most of our population is centered in 3 places on the right hand side and one on the left.

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It is a valid point, and population as well. Australia is insanely sparse though.

 

[Lcs]

Does the law affecting the banks affect payment apps? If not, then it's has huge potential for abuse.

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Loosely translating the applicable regulations regarding payment arrangements and institutions in my country:

"Article 3 - The regulation and supervision of payment arrangements and institutions by "My country's Central Bank" has the following objectives:

I - Blablablabla
...
IV - Non discriminatory access to services and infrastructure necessary to the functioning of payment arrangements;
V - Catering to the needs of final users, specially freedom of choice, safety, protection of economic interests, non discriminatory treatment, privacy and protection of personal data, transparency and access to full and clear informations about the conditions of the service provided.
..."

The definition of final user is in another article and covers everyone using the services to receive or send funds.

 

[Landy828]

OP says there aren't any (I know he found out there are) and I'm over here thinking there are way too freaking many.

I have friends that use different apps....so I have PayPal, Cash, Venmo, etc...etc. I have like 5 or 6 apps that let me instantly send money to people.

I'd like just ONE that everyone has. I usually just use Venmo if the person needs to do an instant transfer to their bank. I'm sure there are 20349343 options, but I know Venmo will do it for .25 cents and they can then use the cash/card to their bank.

 

[Prinz Eugn]

I love it when Americans want to remind Europeans how big and sparse their country is..

Here you go, my American friends.

Though to be fair, most of our population is centered in 3 places on the right hand side and one on the left.

Click to shrink...

Looks like they didn't account for projection so this might not be super accurate. Here is a different version. Note that the land area of the contiguous US is 7,663,941.7 km^2 (wiki) while the land area of Australia is 7,682,300 km^2 (CIA World Factbook), so pretty dang close.

 

[Landy828]

Looks like they didn't account for projection so this might not be super accurate. Here is a different version. Note that the land area of the contiguous US is 7,663,941.7 km^2 (wiki) while the land area of Australia is 7,682,300 km^2 (CIA World Factbook), so pretty dang close.

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Vertically flip Australia and it suddenly has its own Florida and Texas.

 

[Vagabond]

All my friends use the Square Cash app. I've tried to tell them to try zelle but no dice.

 

[Syriel]

All my friends use the Square Cash app. I've tried to tell them to try zelle but no dice.

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This. The US electronic payments system, aside from trust in the operators, is basically XKCD.

 

[Broken Hope]

Doesn't help that America seems to have 1000's of different banks and credit unions.. every time I see a news article on new banks supporting Apple Pay I'm shocked at just how many banks and credit unions there are.

I mean seriously, look at this list and that's only the ones supporting Apple Pay, there's likely 1000's more than don't support Apple Pay

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204916#brazil

Compared to this list

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT206637#Europe

 

[Steel]

Zelle is not very common. Venmo is use to pay other people but I don't see any store accepting money from it. alipay and wechat pay are closer to what OP is talking about and China is close to getting rid of cash.

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Most major banks use Zelle.

 

[hydrophilic attack]

yet another way in which life in america is dire

the list is long

 

[hydrophilic attack]

whenever i read about the usa i feel immense pity and sorrow

 

[Deleted member 4262]

Never heard of Swish but we use Vipps in Norway which is great.

 

[Strafer]

I thought this would be a cheese thread.