Is this a war on cash or a war on privacy? Or both?

[3930dave]

I'm amazed people actually use BofA and WellsFargo......

Up until recently, my FIL was still using AOL for email..... sometimes people get stuck in ruts (yep, I'm guilty) they aren't sufficiently motivated to get out of....

Rgds, D.

 

[dfkrug]

Well, I have to grudgingly admit that there are some strengths to the Canadian system, at the macro level. Damning
with faint praise in some respects

Sometimes govt regs help things even if only by accident. I am not a fan of central control of
the economy, but we do need a central national bank, IMO. I would rather see market forces determine
prices, wages, and interest rates. The whole crypto-currency thing is to get around
what are seen as excessive central controls. Eliminating the cash economy is not going to
happen in our time, IMO, esp if we have near-0 interest rates and unlimited money-printing.

It is good to know that there are credit unions in Canada. Thx for the inside view.

 

[dfkrug]

Up until recently, my FIL was still using AOL for email..... sometimes people get
stuck in ruts (yep, I'm guilty) they aren't sufficiently motivated to get out of....

My AOL email address is over 25y old. Back before the web, we used to pay for internet access
by the minute. I don't see the rut.

Pls tell me: what advantage do you have changing email providers? AOL archives my emails back
over 10y, and they are searchable. Google mail, which most folks have, does not have any advantages
that I can see. Indeed they are the leader in data-mining, which is not totally avoidable I know.

As for dedicated customers of BoA, Chase, Citi, or WF, I think the answer is momentum.

Sorry for the off-topic post.

 

[3930dave]

Few things (banks - thread title, email - drift subject) in general stay static.

We remember them from a past time a certain way.... examples in this thread of "today's ______" colliding with yesterday's experience/memory.

I will selectively use older implementations (or for that matter, laughably old technologies) for specific reasons. Yes, once in a while momentum (or inertia ) is one factor for me too.

If an older "whatever" meets needs, s'all good. I've seen too many messed up implementations (some of my rants posted on TBN) of some New & Improved BlahBlahBlah...... to automatically be impressed.

(I like non-client based email, and if you look off-shore (ex. vivaldi) less intrusive forms exist than Google. That said, I have zero expectation of privacy on the Net, or in banking).

Parts of the financial world have gone to Peer to Peer microfinancing -if it's implemented digitally, in some cases that is only a secondary consideration.

Choices are out there; sometimes more than we think exist.

But no, I don't advocate change just for its own sake...

Rgds, D.

 

[Jstpssng]

Valid points..... but realistically, any significant criminal exploit ends up with carloads (as in RRoad cars) of cash.

The personal amounts people are talking about in this thread are often in the range of several hundred to no more than low or mid-single-digit thousand dollars.

So...... "Organized Crime" or "National Security" can start to look like beating up on the (innocent) peasants "Just Because".....

I had one big 5 bank here demanding to know the reason for a small cheque issued to me by another Big 5 bank. Small, as in sub $300.00. When I pressed for an answer, the best I got was "We are trying to protect our clients, sometimes people get issued falsified cheques" - total BS in other words..... They had absolutely no reason to be asking for that information.

I understand and definitely expect a certain amount of Due Diligence if I walk in the door with a 6 figure cheque, or a small one from "Publishrz Kleering Howse", but there was absolutely no red flags to the situation I just described.

Rgds, D.

There is some merit to that, as cashier's checks are notoriously easy to forge and many have been taken in by the "Secret Shopper, cash this and ..." scam. I cashed a good sized check a few years ago and deposited most of it, but wanted to take some with me. The manager simply asked if it was something I was expecting, and when I said yes she didn't even put a hold on any of it.
As somebody mentioned previously there are advantages to doing business where they know you.

 

[/pine]

Few things (banks - thread title, email - drift subject) in general stay static.

We remember them from a past time a certain way.... examples in this thread of "today's ______" colliding with yesterday's experience/memory.

I will selectively use older implementations (or for that matter, laughably old technologies) for specific reasons. Yes, once in a while momentum (or inertia ) is one factor for me too.

If an older "whatever" meets needs, s'all good. I've seen too many messed up implementations (some of my rants posted on TBN) of some New & Improved BlahBlahBlah...... to automatically be impressed.

(I like non-client based email, and if you look off-shore (ex. vivaldi) less intrusive forms exist than Google. That said, I have zero expectation of privacy on the Net, or in banking).

Parts of the financial world have gone to Peer to Peer microfinancing -if it's implemented digitally, in some cases that is only a secondary consideration.

Choices are out there; sometimes more than we think exist.

But no, I don't advocate change just for its own sake...

Rgds, D.

The powers that be rely on naivety...and force change...
Outdated technology is generally unsupported and more often than not is not backwards compatible beyond certain limits...
State of the art computers, smartphones and other Internet devices come loaded with intrusive applications often inaccessible to the common user...

 

[TnAndy]

Nothing to do with (regulated) banks...but...
Yesterday I was in both a Tractor_Supply and a Harbor Freight store...both times when checking out I was asked for my phone #...what exactly were they going to do with my phone #?? I for sure don't want either of them calling me for any reason...so they must use it to get other information...from who do they get information they can use ??

When they asked my reply was "NO, I don't have a phone"...!

I make it even shorter: "No".

 

[3930dave]

There is some merit to that, as cashier's checks are notoriously easy to forge and many have been taken in by the "Secret Shopper, cash this and ..." scam. I cashed a good sized check a few years ago and deposited most of it, but wanted to take some with me. The manager simply asked if it was something I was expecting, and when I said yes she didn't even put a hold on any of it.
As somebody mentioned previously there are advantages to doing business where they know you.

Service levels are often higher in the USA..... there were less bad ways to handle that interaction with me. As somebody else commented "Do you know (exactly) why you are receiving this cheque ?" would have received a simple Yes from me. Even, "we have some concerns about this cheque, and will be putting a short-term hold on it" would have been an improvement.

I rarely shoot the messenger, and didn't in this case either. Where I actually started to get irritated was when I asked to speak to a manager - Arrogant and Condescending is never a good place to start in with me.

It's not hard to argue that was just another way to push people out of the branch. (Big 5 really only want to see what they perceive as High Net Worth individuals in their bricks/mortar locations). If I had dropped that cheque into the ATM machine, there is zero chance I would have received a call about it.

Yes, that ^ institution now gets a lot less of my business.

HumInt - always important, but esp. so in today's digitally disconnected world..... Big 5 have invested a lot in tech, and constantly push people to bank on the net. One branch I deal with still is a little less bad than others, but many have pretty high turnover at the front counter - current trajectories have it as a buggy-whip career choice.

Knowing your customer can be a useful tool in any assessment.... but things change/drift there too - some customers at my buddy's service garage had 20 year records of paying every bill, but suddenly couldn't even cover a $500 repair. It doesn't take much of a life-event for people's circumstances to change dramatically.

Finally..... you'd probably have to be Canadian to fully appreciate the irony of one of the Big5 positioning themselves as "protecting" me...... despite the # of scams on the street, many of us need protection more so from the predatory behaviour of the Big5.

Rgds, D.

 

[TnAndy]

I'm amazed people actually use BofA and WellsFargo......

Bingo.......worst banks on the planet.

 

[3Ts]

I'm amazed people actually use BofA and WellsFargo......

Well, I don't especially like either one. My primary banking is with the local credit union. However, I do have a BofA account. When I visit that bank it is a half day trip and is the closest bank that can do international funds transfers. If it wasn't for that, I would never have opened that account, and there are a few other things they provide that my credit union does not.