Electronic funds transfer in the US, stone age?

How do grandparents give a birthday present of money to their grandkids?

I rarely use cheques now, but I would fight against their disappearance - as the banks were planning 5 years or so ago.

Are there any federal laws that prevent US banks moving into the 20th century?

My ill-informed impression was that they still distrusted each other and preferred to stay in the pony express era.

use cash or much easier use online transfer

why mess around with pieces of paper when you can do everything online?

In the banks' defense, checks are a risk factor. They have a lot of trouble verifying who you are when you want to cash a check and more importantly, verifying the check is real. In fact, few banks will even cash checks anymore, at least without charging a fee to the person presenting the check. Seems the words on the check, "Pay to the order of" mean nothing to them.

Do you really need a local branch. We haven't had a local branch of our CU for 23 years. Even before everything was online, I could do everything I needed remotely.

Escrow takes a mongth? That must be a Californicate thing. It only takes a "month" around here because the bank's load department is usually overloaded. I can be done in an hour if you're paying cash (and a week or two with some banks).

My wife only writes one check a month, and that only because our water company doesn't do the online stuff.

Banking laws *are* federal.

The last cheque I saw here in Norway was about a decade ago, when I got one as a refund from a Danish company. I took it to our bank, and the young women at the counter asked what it was. I explained, and she said she had heard of cheques, but had no idea what to do with them as she had never seen one before - she had to ask one of the older bank employees to help. No one had cheque books here when I first moved to Norway, about 25 years ago.

Cash is almost non-existent in Norway - it is so much easier and cheaper (for everyone, especially the shops) to use a card. Most bills come electronically, and you pay them via online banking (which works from a PC or a telephone), with payment taking seconds. Most bank branches do not work with cash at all - they are there so that you can talk to the bank people and do the "big stuff" like mortgages or investments.

The UK is, I think, half-way between the USA and the rest of Europe in its banking. Few people use cheques now, but it's not long since it stopped being common - and shops still seem to think cash is better for small payments.

Online transfer. My grandparents put printouts of fake notes in the envelopes for the symbolism.

Also cash - this is one of the few legitimate uses of large notes left in Norway. The major use of large cash notes is for crime.

He gives you a bill - presumably you get these in the USA too?

You pay it via online banking. It is simple and easy, the tradesman's accounting is done automatically, and there is no risk of cheques being lost in the post, bouncing, or any other nonsense.

Sorry, I meant "in the UK". I hope you are not offended by my mistake :-)

Cheques were still common in the UK until the turn of the millenium but

since its introduction in the 60's. Due to rampant inflation by the mid

The only people who still use cheques here are mainly pensioners. Most businesses prefer point to point electronic payment as that does not incur any bank handling fees whereas paying in a physical cheque does. Also electronic clears for value instantly and for outcome much faster than something where a piece of paper has to be posted and processed.

Seriously??? Over here utilities offer a discount for going paperless and using Direct Debit and/or online payment.

One problem this causes is UK proof of ID requires an item of photo ID and a physical paper utilities bill with your name and address on it. I retain one physical bill in my name and one in my wifes name for this.

(it is completely ludicrous - they are trivial to forge)

Cheques were common in the UK until the end of last century. They still are for some purposes - I have a couple of cheque refunds for travel delays sat waiting to be paid in at the moment. I used way more paying in slips than cheques (though now they are paperless card chip&PIN too).

Only the most elderly pensioners use cheques these days. Silver surfers are OK with online banking and direct debits for routine payments.

I presume that means you have some sort of eCash like Belgium's Protons then - which can be used exactly like cash with no overheads.

It is for them. They get hit by a fixed transaction charge and a percentage for every card based transaction here. Amex cards are the worst of the lot and some restaurants will not accept them. With no sense of irony Amex advertised buy from small businesses day near Xmas.

The new thing over here is contactless card payment which is advertised by a guy on a waterslide buying things as he whizzes past. It still results in a fee against the vendor so no good for small purchases.

Most companies in the US accept various forms of payment, but the more conservative outfits won't accept any charges off their receipts. So the only way they will accept other forms of payment is if you go through a third party payment service that pays them the full amount and charges you a fee. Water is usually handled by the local government, so they do the above. Tax bills are usually the same. I don't know if the electric companies will accept debit or credit cards, but they usually are registered for ACH transfers which means online billpay through your bank can be electronic rather than sending a paper check.

Here in the US even if you pay someone via online banking, unless they are registered with the banks for ACH transfers (usually only the larger outfits) they will receive a paper check.

The only problem with credit cards (the only real alternative to cash, debit is the same a credit for all practical purposes) is the cost to the merchant. They pay up to 3% of the amount. That's rather steep for some businesses. Somewhere in this thread I seem to recall seeing someone say there is an electronic payment method with no cost to either party? How is it financed if there are no charges? If it is subsidized by the banks, are they charging you more for your accounts?

Here in the US banks will give you free checking, etc. if you have a fairly modest balance in your account. So they make there money by charging for other services. They have to take in money somehow. Where is their money coming from other places?

Those are poor alternatives. Difficult to send cash by post. Difficult to have a birthday surprise with an online transfer. Miss the pleasure of opening a present.

Because writing a cheque is simpler and faster (i.e. takes less of my time) for a one-off payment.

We pay banks, directly and/or indirectly, for them to cover many different risk factors associated with money.

In the UK, most personal bank account transactions are free, in the sense there is no specific specific per-transaction charge. I haven't paid a fee for any of my current account transactions in 40 years.

Somebody somewhere along the line must be making a lot of money out of that system - if not, it is hard to comprehend how it could have survived into this century.