The US bank security system confuses me. To accept money, I need to give out my routing number and account number. Using those numbers, someone could theoretically withdraw money... Maybe... The whole system is built upon obscurity. Why do some stores need a pin on my debit card, and some do not? Why do online stores need my name and address, but IRL ones do not? How did that one online store charge me without my CVV? How can restaurants swipe my card now and charge me later?
I only send and receive money with Google/Apple Pay & PayPal at this point. This flow is reasonable (every transaction is authorised in a trusted location (ie: PayPal). Further transactions are impossible without additional authorization). It boggles my mind that banks & CC companies haven't made some standard for this. Would save them so much money in fraud protection.
> Why do some stores need a pin on my debit card, and some do not?
Oh that’s easy enough. If they need a PIN it’s actually being run as a debit card over the debit card network. Otherwise it’s being run as a “check card” over the credit card network (with higher fees and better consumer protections). It’s just backed with money instead of a line of credit.
> Why do online stores need my name and address, but IRL ones do not?
IRL stores have access to the actual card (with your name) and having this artifact present makes it much less likely that you are a fraudulent fraudster committing fraud, so the processors are willing to take it.
> How can restaurants swipe my card now and charge me later?
the good news is if the store ever defrauds you, everyone knows where to find the store! Unlike fraudsters making purchases.
And banks are still perfectly willing to issue personal checks, a form of payment that requires you to hand someone a piece of paper with your full name, address, bank account and routing info, your signature, and a brief handwriting sample.
I only send and receive money with Google/Apple Pay & PayPal at this point. This flow is reasonable (every transaction is authorised in a trusted location (ie: PayPal). Further transactions are impossible without additional authorization). It boggles my mind that banks & CC companies haven't made some standard for this. Would save them so much money in fraud protection.