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I thought that US banks had to know their customers


KYC only hurts law abiding citizens.

Criminals just use stolen identities (from breaches of KYC data).


Depends on the level of KYC. If you're just doing social and birthdate, its easy to bypass. You could add additional checks like check phone and email which are readily available from data brokers. You could send a physical mail to the address in the credit report with a PIN. It depends on level of the level friction you want your KYC program to go. When I built a KYC at a neobank, we focused more on verifying that you were in the US. We could detect proxies and if you make the signup in a mobile app, you can pin the cert which will stop automated attacks. We relied on fingerprinting devices but a lot of methods don't work due to mobile OS providers cracking down on them.


Gotta love anarcho tyranny


I had to look it up: The term "anarcho-tyranny" was coined by writer Sam Francis to describe a situation where a state oppresses citizens' lives but is unable or unwilling to enforce laws that protect them. Francis believed that anarcho-tyranny is built into the managerial system and cannot be solved by voting out incumbents or fighting corruption. He argued that the political left has dominated politics because of a progressive managerial class that has increased state power and bureaucratization, while eroding the power of other authorities. Francis believed that the only way to restore sanity was to devolve power back to law-abiding citizens. Francis also used the term to describe an armed dictatorship without rule of law. Some commentators have used the term to describe situations where governments focus on confiscating weapons instead of stopping looters. Thomas Fleming has described anarcho-tyranny as "law without order" and suggested that people should follow the advice of a boxing referee and protect themselves at all times.

But in reality it was the right that was setting us up for failure all this time, going back to at least Reagan as California's governor reducing funding to schools. Then Nixon doubled down.


https://www.cato.org/blog/new-k-12-productivity-chart It's hard to believe that education is getting less funding. There seems to be a perception that spending more money on education will result in smarter students or higher test scores but that doesn't seem to be the case. There is more money spent on educating children through K-12. Also Richard Nixon was president before Ronald Reagan so Nixon wouldn't be able to double down on his successors policies. Unless you mean Governor Ronald Reagan who started his leadership in 1967 with Nixon's presidency starting in 1969


The best defense to scams is to not fall for scams.


The best defense to scams is maintaining a high trust society.


I'm having trouble understanding exactly what it is you're trying to say. Could you elaborate?


For thousands of years western societies executed or exiled troublemakers. This created the selective pressure that led to high trust society.


I don't know what kind of education you were brought up in, but lynch mobs are not cool, actually.


The left has done more damage you our education system by removing standards and getting rid of separate schools for the smartest students than the right ever could by cutting funding. Most recently in California they got rid of calculus class in high school. Meanwhile we continue to increase spending and are near the highest in the world and our education system is trash https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cmd/education-exp...


Rest assured, California high school students can still take calculus, in fact they can even take "AP" courses


Bush2 started no child left behind before that.


They don't if they don't have to.


US banks are too busy delaying their customers’ ach transfers for days so they can profit from the float to actually solve customer problems and take responsibility for the many societal benefits they enjoy.


Don't know if this is true, but I read this a few years ago, top answer: https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/se51wb/e...


I've seen a "pay me a few bucks and I'll do it instantly", so pretty sure it's not a technical issue. It's a "we can charge a few bucks if we don't fix it" issue.


Definitely not a technical limitation.

ACH clearing (transaction information) happens multiple times per day. Originating bank sends a list of transactions to the clearing house, Receiving bank is notified of transaction pending.

ACH settlement (bank-bank funds transfer) happens overnight. Funds from the Originating bank are "rehomed" to the Federal Reserve, and then again to the Receiving bank. This is, obviously, a database update.

ACH posting (funds available to customer) happens whenever the Receiving bank feels it's appropriate. Generally, by local close of business on the settlement lot schedule (same day or next day). The receiver may choose to delay posting to customer account if they don't trust the Originator, or the customer, or just for fun.

ACH transactions are reversible. This is the reason posting happens as quickly as it does (!), but also the reason posting takes as long as it does.


I had a bank VP tell me Bill Clinton fixed the US' deficit by moving tax settling to be immediate on them. The strings of my little fiddle broke.


I recently tried to write a check from Mom & Pop's Yeehaw Bank to a major name bank. They put a FIVE DAY hold on it.


i recently wrote a check to another member of the same credit union. they deposited the check to their credit union account. the credit union insisted on a ten day hold!!


I’m 43 and have never written a cheque in my life. Utterly useless things when you have good customer centric regulations.


It’s easy to avoid checks if you don’t mind paying transaction fees


Never paid a transaction fee. I can put money into any account I have the number of right now , free.

Australia and Canada.


we resorted to checks because we hit a non-transparent zelle limit which is not documented anywhere.


Never used Zelle or paid a transaction fee.


if you ever need to transfer money across far enough borders from your home, it’s currently almost impossible to avoid paying some sort of fee afaik (whether an airplane ticket to hand-carry cash or some kind of markup to convert currencies or some sort of blockchain fee to use newer methods). i’m actively looking for methods that are legal and don’t carry a fee. ex ibkr currency convert -> fidelity individual account -> fidelity cash mgmt -> free wire ?? there are all sorts of gotchas at every step atm ostensibly for aml or sanctions “compliance“


In my online banking right now I can enter the account number of any bank anywhere in the world and transfer. No fee.

I’ve done it to almost a dozen countries flawlessly.


thanks! i’d love a pointer or at least a hint..


I live in Canada


thank you!


including china?


I honestly want slower transactions as a service. If I get hacked, my accounts are going to be drained in milliseconds. Instead, I want specific accounts to have a minimum N days to money extraction. Lots of time for me to be able to put a halt on unexpected money movement.


the number of financial institutions that don’t offer yubikey (or any hsm) support shocks me. ditto lockdown mode.

on delays “for security reasons “, see my other comment above about 10 day holds on funds that hsd anyway been at that credit union for months.


The banks have some responsibility here, and the article brings this up. The banks' response involved saying they can't keep up with volume and shifts blame to social media for some reason.

You gotta understand, there's the law, then there's enforcement of laws, then there's punishments for getting caught breaking the law. The banks have done the math. Maybe they've even lobbied to have the penalties/enforcers reduced. It doesn't pay for them to follow this law strictly, so they don't. You'll find this across the legal system. It comes down hard on the poor and marginalized, but gives a lot of grace to the rich, even if at our expense.




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