In Europe “everyone” uses bank account numbers to move money.
* Friend owes you $20? Here’s my account number, send me the money.
* Ecommerce vendor charges extra for card payment? Send money to their account number.
* Pay rent? Here’s the bank number.
However, in the US people treat their bank account numbers like social security, they will violently oppose sharing them. In internet banking the account number is starred out and only the last two/four digits are shown. Instead there are these weird “pay bills”, “move money”, “zelle”, tabs, that usually require a phone number of the recipient, or an email. But that is still one additional layer of complexity deeper than necessary.
Why is revealing your account number considered a security risk in the US?
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Why use your bank account number when a phone number is much easier? I know my own phone number and can verify that it’s me on zelle/Venmo/Google pay/etc very quickly. I have no idea what my bank account number is because I only need to reference it like once every 5 years.
The US banking system was indeed stuck in the Stone Age for quite a long time, but not so anymore.
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