Quote from: JoelKatz on July 28, 2011, 08:58:05 PM

Quote from: Yeti on July 28, 2011, 08:52:51 PM

Say Alice wants to send money to Bob. She types his bank account number and bank code into her bank's online banking website. And it's free. She has a regular account, so she pays somewhere around $5 per month for that and nothing per transaction. She could also opt for no monthly fee and $.25 per transaction, but since rent, utilities, insurance, groceries, etc. all goes through that account, she's better off with the former. So the transaction is free and it is non-reversible, once sent it can only be refunded by the payee. Sufficient funds are checked before the transfer is initiated by the bank.

Now when is this going to be a reality? Wow, this has been actually possible for the last 28 years! In a far away country called Germany. And even if you didn't own one of those fancy BTX terminals back in 1983, you could send money on a slip of paper, also free of charge or with a small fee. And what's a check (or cheque)? I've only once got one, in the late 1990s. It felt ancient.

So, to be 100% clear, you are saying that if the system tells me that I received some money from Alice, there is no way for Alice to get that money back from me other than to sue me? It doesn't matter if she claims someone hacked into her account? It doesn't matter if she says I promised to ship her a product and never did? The transction is irreversible within the system even if she alleges fraud?

If that's true, that's amazing. But I find that very hard to believe.

That's the way it works in Costa Rica too. As soon as I hit the money is in your account. They all brag that it is a Microsoft Banking program. No way to get it back without going to court. And you will not get it back even then unless it is really big and the newspapers are behind you.

The US system is a scam designed to allow the bankers to fool around with your money while it is in "limbo".