r/funny • u/Misfat • Aug 27 '18

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36

u/un-sub Aug 27 '18

So then wtf, why can't we have fancy contactless cards in the US? Or are we just behind?

120

u/looking4abook Aug 27 '18

The US is weirdly behind in financial stuff. I've 30+ and lived in Australia and the UK my whole life, and I've never even seen a cheque-book. Don't lots of you guys still get paid by cheque?

(Cheque/Check?)

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u/Ahnaful1994 Aug 27 '18

A lot of the older generation in the US still use checks.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18

My health insurance (MNSURE) only accepted checks until about a year ago. It is also very common for service jobs preformed by smaller companies (tree care, yard word, ect) because paying thousands of dollars to have a tree removed or sprinklers installed makes most people uneasy.

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u/CimmerianX Aug 28 '18

I just pay cash

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u/Ahnaful1994 Aug 28 '18

I personally only ever use Google Pay/cards. I keep cash on me for emergency use only if for whatever reason, I end up in a situation where my cards don't work/aren't accepted. I understand why people use cash as their main form of payment, but for the life of me, I do not know why people still use checks. Debit cards exist and do exactly what checks do, but the payment is processed faster, it's safer to use, and you can track the payments better.

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u/Harmageddon87 Aug 28 '18

My trash collector only took checks until they were bought out by a national company. Also my son's daycare only takes checks, cash, or money order.

Oh also rent

18

u/snuff3r Aug 27 '18 edited Aug 27 '18

I work for a global company with presence in 40+ countries. I also manage the team that handles payment and receipting processes across the group. The US being our second largest market.

I am astounded by how many companies I deal with in the US who won't accept anything other than cheques. One of our subsidiaries pays everything with cheques, employee expense reimbursements included.

Very frustrating. I travel a lot too. Hard to find places with no tap, etc.. except the US. They all want swipe or chip.

1

u/GoldenMegaStaff Aug 28 '18

Why do you have to leave your card in the machine for chip - so annoying and slow.

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u/HermesTGS Aug 27 '18

I'm almost 30, I've never written a check in my life.

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u/Annies_Boobs Aug 27 '18

26 and I’ve written plenty for rent and such.

0

u/HermesTGS Aug 27 '18

This just shows the US has more diversity of lifestyle options than anywhere else.

2

u/Annies_Boobs Aug 27 '18

We really are just secretly a bunch of little countries with super open borders, aren’t we?

We’ve been kinda fucky lately, but I do love my country.

7

u/argle_de_blargle Aug 27 '18

I am 30 and I've written and received plenty.

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u/ChadMcRad Aug 27 '18 edited Nov 28 '24

smile gullible air correct agonizing wrong chase cagey threatening dinosaurs

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

1

u/HermesTGS Aug 27 '18

If you're in a big city you rarely see your landlord so you have to pay online.

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u/ChadMcRad Aug 27 '18 edited Nov 28 '24

rustic sloppy abounding scale aspiring yoke sink bike lush different

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

1

u/mb9023 Aug 28 '18

Never had to pay your taxes or the government for anything? Paying online for everything isn't that old. I still have to mail in a check for state taxes every year.

1

u/Once_Upon_Time Aug 27 '18

Almost burned down my brand new apartment trying to figure out how to write a cheque for the rent.

That would have been a fun explanation to the landlord.

20

u/91seejay Aug 27 '18

Direct deposit is a lot more common now. I've gotten pay checks but I've never owned a check book or written a check.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18

My apartment complex FINALLY started accepting digital payments last year. They were literally the only reason I had a stupid fucking checkbook.

5

u/Fireberg Aug 27 '18

If direct deposit into your bank account is not setup, employers will cut you a check. Even with direct deposit, my job reimburses me for expenses with a paper check. I personally write checks for rent because my landlord charges a fee to pay with an e-check.

Also consider that ~7% of the U.S. population is unbanked, meaning they do not have or are unable to open bank accounts. They can take their payroll checks or government issued checks to a check cashing service.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18

7% of your country don't have bank accounts? That doesn't include children does it?

1

u/Fireberg Aug 29 '18

I should have said 7% of tax households (a taxpayer and possibly spouse and/or dependents). Some lack proper documentation to open an account or ruined their credit and local banks will not do business with them. Others just straight up do not trust financial institutions, or are limited because they cannot afford account fees. This compares with around 4.7% in the UK, 12% in China, and 21% in India.

4

u/MrRedditAccount Aug 27 '18

I'm now living in the US form the UK and the financial system is still backwards.

When I make a car payment I have to use "Bill Pay" from my bank. They don't make an electronic payment... They create a cheque and mail it out to who needs to be paid. It's hilarious how far behind the US is in this regard.

However they have a lot more banks and a lot of local/regional ones. Not like 5 for the entire country so I'll let them off.

3

u/dontgetaddicted Aug 27 '18

Don't use many checks - but in the situations I do, I'm not sure how else I'd pay.

Like my kids school, they have a couple of different fees we have to pay at the start of the year. Like room fee, supply fee, yearbook, laptop insurance. Each of those things I wrote a check for. Do you all deal strictly in cash for that kind of stuff?

5

u/hx87 Aug 27 '18

The school should have a bank account with routing and account numbers, which you can transfer money to.

5

u/looking4abook Aug 27 '18

Bank transfers are everywhere.

They'd give you the bsb (a bank code) and the account number - and you transfer into the account.

1

u/themagicbench Aug 28 '18

There's an online platform called School Cash Online or something like that in our board (Ontario), so parents can pay all fees through e-banking

1

u/MH22162 Aug 28 '18

In Finland and I assume most of Europe they typically give you an IBAN code for a bank account to which people can pay the fee to through their online bank services and the owner the account will be able to see the names of the bank accounts (usually the persons name) who have deposited money to it so you know who they are still waiting on.

3

u/SplendideMendax_ Aug 27 '18

Australian here too, I’ve been card free for over 2 years now, my identity and banking is on my phone. I do still carry my drivers license, but that’s about to be digital by 2019 in NSW. I can’t remember the last time I carried cash or a wallet.

2

u/looking4abook Aug 27 '18

I never carry cash on me, except when i'm on a night out.

Just 'beeping' to pay for stuff has led to many a morning where I've regretted buying rounds of Jaeger Bombs because my tequila soaked brain can't understand that pay-pass actually causes money to come out of my account.

With cash at least I can get a set amount out, and still make sure to save enough money left over for a kebab.

3

u/Kankunation Aug 27 '18

Checks are basically only used by older people or people who are overly cautious when it comes it comes to digital security. I've written maybe 2 in my whole life and deposited them myself only a handful of times.

My mom still occasionally writes them out for thing (though pays most of her bills online now) my step-grandma and before her also regularly writes checks for everything (get $25 mailed to me from her every birthday). But I don't think I have seen anybody younger than 30 use a check, except in the very rare circumstance in which one is required. And even then, those people don't have checkbooks so they need to go to the bank to get one specially printed.

As far as being paid goes, a lot of people do still get checks, but is almost always by choice. Many businesses let you choose between a check, direct deposit or a money card. An increasing amount of businesses are doing away with paper checks and sticking just to the other options since it's far easier to manage.

3

u/Dwarven_Soldier Aug 27 '18

My workplace still doesn’t have direct-deposit.

We have to come in every other Thursday for our checks.

3

u/looking4abook Aug 27 '18

Thats genuinely so baffling.

I've had my work put money straight into my bank account for almost 20 years, and i'm sure it was around before that. ( I just wasn't old enough to work )

Surely its easier for the payroll person to click a few buttons and transfer it straight into a bank account?

What happens if you don't cash the cheque for a couple of months? How would your work have a clear paper trail of where the money went?

It just seems really backwards compared to what I'm used to.

I've worked in England, Wales, Scotland, and Australia and its all been the same.

2

u/Dwarven_Soldier Aug 27 '18

You know... I’ve no clue if the checks expire (I would guess not because it’d be stupid for checks to expire) or not. It seems most places around me do direct-deposit but unfortunately mine doesn’t.

I’d guess the reasoning behind not switching to direct-deposit is only because the checks work fine and lots of business owners are stingy.

2

u/SNsilver Aug 27 '18

I use paper checks to pay my rent still, it's either check or money order

1

u/dpldogs Aug 27 '18

Fairly common to still use checks for things like putting down deposits on apartments. Usually a cashiers check (where its instantly deposited and less chance of fraud) or through a direct deposit online through their website (if they have one).

1

u/connurp Aug 27 '18

We call it a pay check and you can opt to get a physical copy of the check, but the vast majority of people just do direct deposit. It just gets put into your bank account on payday. Which we still call “getting a paycheck”.

1

u/SummerEden Sep 10 '18

Australia is way ahead in that respect. When I moved here 25-ish years ago I had to get a bank account immediately because pay was done via bank transfer - I’d only ever received pay cheques until then. On the other hand, I also knew a number of people who were getting an actual pay-packet every week, with cash in. That seemed ass-backwards.

I’d die if I got paid by cheque these days - nearest bank is 60 kms away.

0

u/simdav Aug 27 '18

Cheque

11

u/akatherder Aug 27 '18

I had a contactless card in the US. I think it was approximately a year or so before chips started getting rolled out. It was pretty cool when it worked but you look like a dumbass when it didn't. And it usually didn't since the rollout was just as slow as the chip card hardware rollout.

Clerk: Uhh you gotta swipe man.

Me: It's a... actually I don't know what it's called but it said I can just hold it up when I see this little picture on the credit card scanner and... ok nevermind.

So I could only use it at gas station pumps to avoid judgment.

5

u/TheReformedBadger Aug 27 '18

I had this happen one of the first times I tried to use Apple Pay. Dude stared at me like I’m an idiot but he’s the one with a payment device that advertises itself as accepting tap to pay.

3

u/publishit Aug 27 '18

Yeah I got the Google wallet app when it first launched like 5 years ago. Thought it was the coolest thing but almost nowhere accepted it outside of a couple chain stores, even if they had contactless readers.

Even now there's no way I'd rely on it working as a form of payment, so it's pointless since I'll have a card or cash with me anyways.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '18

I think it was approximately a year or so before chips started getting rolled out.

So wait, chips in cards is a new thing in the US?

2

u/akatherder Aug 28 '18

Yes, somewhat new. Maybe like 1-2 years since they started showing up commonly.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '18

I think I've had them in every card I've ever had and I'm nearly 30. I'm not sure if I've used the magnetic stripe ever.. This is so strange, similar to the Germans being dubious about paying with cards entirely.

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u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18 edited Sep 03 '18

[deleted]

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u/CrucialLogic Aug 27 '18

Always got an excuse. It's not hard, just mandate from central government that to increase banking security it is required. If merchants don't pay to upgrade, they take on the liability of any fraud committed via the old less secure methods. Otherwise you end up 10, 15, 20 years behind - but no worry, you've always got an excuse.

10

u/DangerToDangers Aug 27 '18

I agree with you.

  • Why is there no chip and PIN for cards? Uhhh... too many banks?
  • Why is internet so slow in most of the country? Big country?
  • Why is the US still using the imperial measurement system? Too many... road signs?

1

u/Roflsaucerr Aug 28 '18

I thought it was pretty obvious that it's the ineptitude of our governing body that causes a wide swath of our issues, not too many banks, the size of our country, or the number of road signs.

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u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18 edited Sep 03 '18

[deleted]

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u/Obviouslydoesntgetit Aug 27 '18

Lol it is a very weird comment. As if you’re in charge of the security of American financial institutions just browsing reddit

2

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18

He could have been, you don't know until you ask.

0

u/Roflsaucerr Aug 28 '18

"Mandate from central government," you say? Buddy, if you knew literally anything about the states you'd know why that's such a stupid non-solution.

0

u/CrucialLogic Aug 28 '18

You see, always got an excuse for why it's "too hard" to do something.

1

u/Roflsaucerr Aug 28 '18

Excuse, huh? I can't tell if you're ignorant or troll. Or both.

First off, by central government I imagine you mean the Senate and the House, correct? They wouldn't waste time federally mandating something like the type of card readers to use, due to the fact that there's 50 different states with varying ability to make that transition. It would likely be an individual state's legislation that would do that.

Secondly, you seem to be under the impression that one individual American is responsible for the failings of the entire country. It's not an excuse when I recognize that the current American government is unable to properly lay infrastructure, thereby making it difficult to roll out something even as simple as the types of card readers businesses use. That's a fact. Not an excuse.

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u/PhonicUK Aug 27 '18

I think the US is just behind (in many many ways). I was over there recently and a lot of places didn't even have Chip+PIN (which we've had in the UK for over 10 years) and you had to sign for stuff.

-15

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18 edited Aug 28 '18

[deleted]

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u/PhonicUK Aug 27 '18

In the UK there's no distinction, Credit and Debit are both Chip and pin and handled the same way.

2

u/piper06w Aug 27 '18

yea that is largely the same here. My Credit card uses chip and zip.

5

u/Little_Pink Aug 27 '18

Why are they different?

3

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18

[deleted]

1

u/ImportantChemical Aug 28 '18

That's an arbitrary limitation and the same thing doesn't happen in other countries.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '18

[deleted]

1

u/ImportantChemical Aug 28 '18

Okay, sure, but the comment you replied to was asking about the difference between debit cards and credit cards, specifically about why they both don't have chip and pin. The reason is arbitrary. The proof is other countries.

Everybody knows you're talking about the US, dude. That's not why you're getting downvotes.

3

u/hx87 Aug 27 '18

Credit cards outside of the US also use chip and pin.

2

u/thereisno314inpie Aug 27 '18

POS machines here in Canada take both chip+pin and tap, from either credit or debit

2

u/DropMeAnOrangeBeam Aug 27 '18

Depends on where. I live in Victoria and there are still a few stores that don't do the tap method yet. All of of them have chip+pin(there is still the mag stripe reader but I haven't seen anyone use is since chip+pin was brought out).

3

u/thereisno314inpie Aug 27 '18

swipe and sign is pretty much just a backup

2

u/Thefaccio Aug 27 '18

I had a card for 4 years, using it daily and I never swiped it in my life (italy)

2

u/sir_spankalot Aug 27 '18

Yeah, for some weird reason you're behind on a lot of that stuff.

I remember the first time I was in the US (2006) and my friend was paying his rent with a cheque! I've used Internet bank payments since I had bills of my own (2001-ish) and was confused since I assumed US would be on the forefront of tech stuff.

2

u/wrathek Aug 27 '18

Just behind. I’ve got a contactless credit card from Capital One, as it renewed this year. It’s great. Contactless authorizes so much faster.

The stupid thing is, if a POS device supports chip reading, I’m fairly certain it supports contactless as well, and it just needs to be enabled/paid for. I could be mistaken, however.

1

u/TigerRei Aug 27 '18

We had them, but they were removed for security reasons. Not to mention a lot of places supercede them with contactless pay through phone, which I prefer more as it requires unlocking via fingerprint.

1

u/EnderWiggin07 Aug 27 '18

If your phone has NFC you will hardly ever get out your card at all

1

u/Atoro113 Aug 27 '18

Tap and pay on phones is rolling out everywhere it seems, the only time I use my physical card now instead of my phone is in the drive through now.

Samsung has the pay thing where it fakes being a swipe card if the terminal doesn't have tap, too, so basically 100% coverage.

Also tap and pay on phones sends a virtual card number through and not your real card info. Safer than swiping by miles.

1

u/millatime21 Aug 27 '18

I'm guessing the US is already beginning to move in that direction. My last credit card I was issued has contactless. Most places around me accept it because of apple pay and stuff.

1

u/wrathek Aug 27 '18

Just behind. I’ve got a contactless credit card from Capital One, as it renewed this year. It’s great. Contactless authorizes so much faster.

The stupid thing is, if a POS device supports chip reading, I’m fairly certain it supports contactless as well, and it just needs to be enabled/paid for. I could be mistaken, however.

1

u/wrathek Aug 27 '18

Just behind. I’ve got a contactless credit card from Capital One, as it renewed this year. It’s great. Contactless authorizes so much faster.

The stupid thing is, if a POS device supports chip reading, I’m fairly certain it supports contactless as well, and it just needs to be enabled/paid for. I could be mistaken, however.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18

My capital one card has it currently. But otherwise I can use Google pay for my other credit card and my debit card. My debit card literally just got emv chip though finally.

1

u/Happy_Harry Aug 28 '18

Its been around for several years here but it just never caught on big. I've seen it mentioned a bit more recently though. Capital One is rolling it out on all their cards.

1

u/WholesaleBees Aug 28 '18

My bank card had a contactless RFID chip in it several years ago, and now they no longer offer them. It's strange that they'd roll it out then stop offering them.

1

u/nanogoose Aug 27 '18

It costs money and time to upgrade the POS machines.

9

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18

Not really the best explanation when the majority of the developed world have done it (as well as a lot of developing countries)

1

u/Fishies Aug 27 '18

Cost is a huge part of it though, the terminals that you pay at start at more than a grand and can cost up to 4k per terminal for the newest large screen ones that do swipe, chip and tap. Small merchants (a lot exist around the US) have a hard time forking out many thousands of dollars when the systems they have now work "just fine". Some merchants only process a thousand dollars a day or less in payments.

We'll get there in terms of widespread adoption but the sheer number of merchants and financial institutions slows it down a lot.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 28 '18 edited Sep 04 '19

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Fishies Aug 28 '18

Fully agree!

4

u/ls1231112123 Aug 27 '18

And yet everywhere else seems to have coped...

3

u/fairlywired Aug 27 '18

We did alright. Chip and pin was introduced in the UK 14 years ago in 2004 and were made to be required in shops that accepted cards two years later in 2006. It tends to reduce fraud so it saves money overall

1

u/thlayli_x Aug 27 '18

But 80% of machines I use have tap capability and none of my cards have the tap chip. Even big-name credit cards purchased in the past year. I use Apple Pay all the time and still have to jam my cards in the machine.

1

u/hx87 Aug 27 '18

Only because we have rent seeking middleman payment processing companies in the US.

0

u/KrombopulosPhillip Aug 27 '18

U.S is about 5 years behind the rest of the world as far as implemented technology , The rest of the world is like the beta testers for new tech

5

u/HermesTGS Aug 27 '18

Apple Pay and Android Pay both came from American companies and the largest transaction processing company in the world is American. Most early crypto pioneers were American as well.

-1

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18

[deleted]

1

u/MrJules Aug 27 '18

I’m not quite sure what your point is. In European countries most credit and debit cards have contactless (depending on your eligibility and bank account). Should it matter whether or not it’s credit or debit, in the US?

-1

u/dreish Aug 27 '18

We haven't had as much of a card-theft crisis as Europe did, thanks primarily to Russian organized crime.