MSGID: 1:153/757.21@fidonet 069283bb
REPLY: 2:292/854 13294034
PID: OpenXP/5.0.57 (Win32)
CHRS: ASCII 1
TZUTC: -0400
Hello Ward!

 WD> We can't even go to the bank anymore just like that. Need
 WD> to make an appointment, everything's on-line ... by that I
 WD> literally mean anything not requiring a signature.

"by appointment only" was introduce during the lockdowns in  
Canada. As a retailer, that pissed me off - especially when I  
simply needed coinage or make a cash deposit to facilitate  
paying the bills for which I had no significant income to pay  
them with!


 WD> You can't even get cash anymore at banks here ... they
 WD> don't have it ... and if I come back from overseas travel
 WD> and want to exchange back to local currency, I must make
 WD> an appointment but only on Tuesday afternoon. Then you
 WD> will be led into kind of fortified bunker where they
 WD> handle real money.

It sounds like your country (Belgium) is conditioning its  
people to make cash inconvenient as possible, and thus steering  
its people to rely on cashless systems.  In Canada, I don't  
think 100% cashless would ever work. When there is an electical  
outtage, many POS (point-of-sale) devices for credit card and  
debit card simply go dark. I operate my equipment on UPSes (DSL  
runs along the plain old copper line which has it's own power  
supply), but it's really only a temporary measure to allow  
latent shoppers to finish a purchase.


 WD> Need cash? There's an ATM outside ... I haven't said that's an
 WD> improvement. But sometimes it's handy ...

And when there is an electrical outtage, the ATM is not likely  
to give you anything.

I receive sufficient fiat cash for my personal use.  Everything  
else (bills, online purchases) are paid by debit transactions  
or cheque.  The only problem for me is when I need to deposit  
additional physical cash into the bank so that I have the funds  
to pay the forthcoming bills!


 AA>> But eTransfer
 AA>> here has a maximum daily limit as well as a maximum monthly
 AA>> limit which would many times be insufficient for all my
 AA>> payments.

 WD> Weird ... at least from my POV. I can log-in to my account
 WD> and change those limits ... And I understand why those
 WD> limits are there...

Adjustable limits.  Wow.  What are the limit ranges?

I do see that RBC offers scalable limits, but there are  
maximums for sending; that is what I was referring to.

Typically, those maximums are $3000 per 24hr period, $10K in 7  
days, and $20K in 30 days - for individuals.

And.. I just read there are maximums in receiving!

For businesses the send/receive limits are extended, but those  
can be restrictive when the client base is large. Hence, no  
wonder cheques are still in play!

It is far more easier to write a stack of cheques totaling $10K  
than it is to manage the daily/weekly/monthly eTransfer limits.


 AA>> Ok.. but in Canada there is no 6-month renewal process.
 AA>> Credit cards simply expire on the date that is printed on
 AA>> the card -and often that is many years into the future.

 WD> Maybe I put you on the wrong foot ... I meant a 6-month
 WD> renewal is necessary when traveling outside the Euro-
 WD> currency zone and only to the USA.

 WD> So, one day I was in a restaurant and the 6-month renewal
 WD> came up that day. Card declined.

Ah.. that still sounds like an imposition by YOUR bank's  
system, not the USA's.  In Canada, the credit card companies  
simply require a heads-up that you are travelling outside the  
country and all would be good.


 AA>> [...] But what's stopping a thief to go to the ATM
 AA>> instead of you?  If they succeed at the ATM, the card
 AA>> will be "verified".  It doesn't prove it was you.

 WD> That is correct but the thief then also needs to know how
 WD> to validate the card ... That is now also changing via 2-
 WD> way validation via a smartphone and a specific site. Let
 WD> me put it this way ... I would consider it highly unlikely
 WD> ...

It is harder for a thief to validate a card.  However, some  
installations have fake readers inserted in the slots of  
machines.  I would suspect that airport ATMs and independent  
machines are prime targets.


 WD> For some reason, I do trust the procedures here ... maybe
 WD> that makes me weird...

The procedures/systems for electronic payments seem fairly  
robust. It's just the options such as being able to cancel a  
"direct deposit" eTransfer (which was the crux of this thread)  
should not have be allowed.  The problem there was the  
interface design made available to the public. I hope those  
programmers/designers lost their jobs.
-- 
  ../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.57
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