We do business in several countries, and the US is the most backward - by far - for banking services. It's laughable that using a bit of posted paper (even if conveniently generated and sent by your bank) is even an option, let alone the recommended one.
I opened a new account at a bank with a physical branch and walked out with a debit card. I don't plan on using an online bank ever again.
We need better systems for IRL hand-shaking.
"In order to prevent fraud, we require a card with the billing address of either your old, or your new address."
It's actually hidden in the new UI, there was no button that would let me do it, I managed to go back to settings and re-enable the classic UI, then in the view transaction details page I found the missing refund button.
The beauty there is you don't have to win, to win. A £5 dispute costs them more than you, when you get to control the venue.
Once upon a time I shared this sentiment about PayPal, but history has shown me that people continue using them anyway. I mean, every person I talk to has personally experienced a PayPal horror story or knows someone who has experienced one first-hand, and they continue using PayPal anyway. Some feel they don't have a choice, others just don't care, but I no longer feel like making noise about the PayPal horror stories is going to have any impact on them, so I encourage you to contact the ombudsman/FCA regardless.
Edited to correct to FCA - https://www.fca.org.uk/
I can't remember the last time I paid for something with paypal, so I don't know how long it's been like this, but it is certainly annoying that they're forcing people to use their service.
Apparently, that's the sort of thing that happens when you register your 10th credit card for the year. I guess I can understand the reason, even though it's annoying.
Aside from Bitcoin is there actually a real alternative?
It would be very tricky to convince a business to pay your invoice in Bitcoin.
I tried removing my debit account coupling but it refuses citing "a pending transaction" (no specific reference given).
The "close my account" button takes me to an error message. I guess I'm spamming all their email addresses I can enumerate until this is resolved.
Definitely for accepting credit card payments for merchants, Stripe is a great way to go.
FTFY. Zero fees, zero megacorps taking their cut, zero social graphs in the US growing a few extra tuples
If you're transferring to another customer in the same bank then they're free but I've never had that luxury.
Were you referring to bank transfers to same bank customers? Because I've never heard of zero fees for bank transfers
Americans are not historically leery about giving out checks but, fun fact, we put all the information needed to empty an account on every check.
Why? Long story; legacy systems rule the world. The industry's main defense is a) surveillance of use of accounts, b) reversing transactions which appear fraudulent, and c) aggressively prosecuting fraudsters where their identity can be readily ascertained.
Wait, what? The only thing needed to send a payment is a target account number. So, if banks in US consider that enough info to DEBIT the account then something went terribly wrong there. In Europe, to take money out of the account you need to either
- go to the bank, and show your photo ID to prove that you're you.
- login to online transaction system and prove your identity by knowing the login password and one-time SMS password.
That's why many charity institutions simply put their account number on their website and ask for donations - there's zero risk someone will debit their account.
Many banks will take a check deposit by scan or phone camera now, so you can just have someone write a paper check and send the image immediately and deposit it that way.
It's still pretty high-friction, not something you'd typically want to do with a customer, but a reasonable alternative to bank transfer if you don't want to pay the $50.
My bank (credit union) charges a $2 fee for each check I write, regardless of how or where it's deposited. Yes, it's cheaper than a bank transfer, but checks still aren't fee-free for everyone.
Plus, not only can you do everything "on desktop", you can do it on web generally; the browser version works great on phones.
Not something you can just use to pay a stranger.
https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/wire-transfers-what-...
If you want the funds transferred instantly and with certainty, use a wire and pay the fee for the real-time service.
If not, use an ACH (cheap or free). But be aware the funds won't show up for a day or two. And possibly never, if, for example, the sender's account has insufficient funds or doesn't exist.
What we've got are Google Wallet, checks, and a variety of smaller services (Venmo, etc).
Edit: Yes
They are pretty clear on what it costs to send money, I spent a few seconds clicking around on World First and couldn't find the information that Transferwise has on the very opening page: if you send 1000 CAD then the receiver gets... The only thing I found on World First was "The interbank rate [...] is not our offered rate or an indication of price. Call us to find out more." Why would anyone need to call ? It's a horribly inefficient way to use my time.
Also it's really, really easy to use here in Canada where they make you log into your ebank with your credentials -- horrible security? well, that's what sofort does too -- and that's it. I never have used a simpler setup.
In other ways it is simple: when wiring money into Hungary I do not even need to bother with IBAN, local bank account numbers just work. That's how everyone banks there so no problems for the receiver to get hold of the magic numbers -- or for me to convert theirs.
So why we shouldn't recommend a system that is both ridiculously easy to use and cheaper than any alternatives at the same time? Yes, pick two out of easy, cheap and fast applies as in Transferwise is slower -- but it usually takes less than a week and SWIFT also takes a few business days and so I never really had a problem or complaint with the speed. If I had any complaints I wish it had a feature where you entered how much money the receiver gets and it calculates how much should you send.
I don't know of any other companies that do the same but I'll look into world first.
OP, You can refund the funds to the sender less Paypal's 30¢ cut, I believe. That might be the best way to get the money back to your friend, and then they can re-send it to you with something sane like Google Wallet.