Why does direct banking not work in America?

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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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16 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

I think regulation in the EU, through PSD2 and which facilitated Open Banking allowed standardisation across the region, which means banks can talk to each other – reducing the need for third party apps.

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