Impossible to _never_ hold a balance, since every employer wants to do direct deposit... your only hope is that you can get your money out of there before some scammer gets it. The chances of that happening are low, but not zero.
One account for holding money. Nobody knows it except you.
One account for all money outgoing. Only payees knoq about it.
You transfer all incoming from above first account to second asap.
You transfer money from second to third only on per need basis.
Capital One, Discover offers free multiple checking accounts.
and google pay? this may surprise you but in my immediate family only 1 (out of 6) has an iphone. we basically use zelle to transfer cash around. I personally will not use paypal or venmo, but I do use google pay.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2022/01/paypal-stole-use...
https://www.engadget.com/paypal-lawsuit-freezing-customer-ac...
And to be clear, this is not an isolated event.
Venmo is a mindbogglingly stupid thing that requires you to take active steps just to keep it from broadcasting your financial activity to the world, and last I checked there was no way to keep your "friend list" from being public at all.
On top of that there was a period where they disabled transfer functionality on their website altogether and the only way you could send money was through their proprietary mobile app. Seems they eventually reversed course on this, but I have no idea how long it took.
Instead of asking the user their bank account number, routing number; you simply ask their zelle email or phone number (either of which can be with any bank, no info leaked). You send money.
Zelle ask for phone or email of other party, then it shows their registered name in Bold. If one still confirms to send, its on them.
Zelle options like check options, imagine if people said Oh my God auto check honor system??
TD Canada Trust didn't let me use more than 8 alphanumeric characters in my password until about 2015. The only let you use call or SMS for 2FA to this day.
They are charging $16.95/mo for a chequing account right now.
This is pretty standard across the big banks.
The situation is quite rough indeed.
I'm not arguing it's necessarily more secure. I haven't audited it or looked into how it works.
Hard 8 character limits are often a side-effect of old COBOL "databases" in the backend somewhere.
Hard 16 character limits are sometimes a side-effect of old versions of Active Directory in the backend somewhere or new versions of Active Directory in certain backward compatibility operation modes/certain group policies.
Hard character limits in general are often a sign that someone is storing the plaintext somewhere they shouldn't be.
(Soft character limits today are mostly to avoid possible hash function DDoS.)
Nobody should be using LM or NTLM hashes anymore today, for all that that means... >sigh<
But the problem is really downgrade attacks. There are multiple payment systems (bank wire, check, credit card ) and if there is one insecure way to make payments, then the whole system is broken.
Can you clarify this. Are big banks not secure enough or are they not decent because of the minimum balance and "piles of fees"? I would rather pay something for security.
What's the problem with local credit unions?
Depending on how they have it setup, it may mean that the ATM near you suddenly no longer works for you for free and you have to switch up with another one.
Still using it, it's how they do cards now; they never sent an "embossed" one.
The vast majority of credit unions in the U.S. are, and you can use any co-op branch or ATMs just like your home credit union's branches or ATMs.
It's brilliant, and in my experience, so much more accessible than the giant banks who are often regionally concentrated.
I don't know why it didn't work for you, but it was no trouble for her.
[0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/wiki/identity_theft...
[1]: https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_consumer-...
Why the everloving fuck that's not the default, but something you have to request, I have no idea.
Having seen a bit of the inside: Local credit unions are generally pure trash at security. Hell, a local one had an internal meltdown from the HR person looking up prior employee's personal account to harass them with a LIST OF THEIR PERSONAL PURCHASES. (WTAF)
I take this one a step farther and don't even have a debit card, just an atm/cash card. It cannot be used to make purchases anywhere, only to get cash from an ATM. Any and all purchases I make are either cash, or with a credit card.
Some banks may look at you weird when you request such a card, or act like they don't do them (anymore), but my credit unions have accommodated me.
I did this too, unfortunately I went through multiple banks as they rolled out debit cards for all accounts and stopped offering ATM cards, until now I unfortunately have a debit card. It seems this isn't really an option anymore.
The numbers on the bottom are the routing number and account number of the payer. Anyone can make and sell them, and anyone can buy them.
What's your source on that? As far as I know, Regulation E generally requires banks to make good on errors in electronic fund transfers (including ACH transfers for which the customer is not liable) within 10 days of being notified. That can be in the form of a provisional credit while an investigation is ongoing, though.
It's not a complete guard, but it does prevent ACH attacks.
Some businesses only accept debit cards (like WinCo [0]). :-/ I guess you can just not do business with them.
> * For sending money to friends if everybody has iPhones, Apple's Cash functionality is good enough.
I wish... but how do you transfer money internationally? I don't think Apple Cash is adopted abroad yet.
Wise.com. I lived abroad for a bit and relied entirely on Wise (well, they were called transferwise then). Could send money abroad faster than I could send funds to anybody in USA.
Of course, any international financial service is very KYC heavy and can suspend access to you/lock your funds at any time so always have a backup plan ready as wire transfers are really scary (foreign banks don't want to release funds? no recourse for you!)
* Find a decent bank with 2FA. None of the big banks are decent, they have minimum balances, piles of fees. Credit unions are good, but you want one that isn't too local, which can limit you to credit unions specific to military/veterans/families
* Have multiple checking accounts. Only one of these checking accounts has a debit card attached, or exposed account number anywhere. Never ever hold a balance in this account. Keep the balance in the other account.
* Never use that debit card for anything but the ATM and bank teller authentication. In fact, don't even carry it with you, in case you lose your wallet or somebody tries to take it. Not every bank makes it easy to turn debit card off.
* Only use ACH for rent and loan payments. Never hold a balance in the account used for this. Many rent companies and loan providers are not properly securing that number. Your account number can't easily be changed.
* Keep the bank you use a secret from everybody including friends and family. Only the few payees and your payroll provider need to know.
* For sending money to friends if everybody has iPhones, Apple's Cash functionality is good enough.
* Get a respectable credit card with zero fraud liability. Use it for everything. Have a backup at home. Now your bank is insulated from the outside world. If somebody tries to take your wallet, just give it to them. It's easier to get a card reissued and transactions overturned in that scenario than it is to get drivers licence replaced.
* Don't move outside the country or do a USPS address change to a PO Box. Banks have been known to just shut people's accounts down and mail the balance as a check in these scenarios. Patriot act something something.
This is banking in USA. It was designed for a trust-based society 70 years ago that's still mostly trustful but needs to consider the culture has changed a bit. If the Fed would require member banks implement secure 2FA and the option to disable external ACH from accounts upon request, we wouldn't need to do all this.