4 replies to this topic

[misterno]

Hello

I am new to the country and I came from Europe. The other day I was in a WAMU branch trying to open a checking account. During the process, I told the guy that back in Europe, I had an online banking from a local bank where I can transfer money to anybody in any bank in the country. And the fee is like 50 cents.

Personal banker first did not understand what I said. So I repeated myself and he understood and scratched his head and said "this is illegal in the US"

So I asked the guy what they offer as online banking.

1) I can not send money to my other accounts in other banks.

2) I can not send money to other people in the same bank

3) I can not send money to other people in other banks.

Do you guys call this online banking?????

Why is EFT illegal in the USA?

I am really shocked to hear all these and I hope these are not true.

[mir322]

As far as I know, EFTs are not illegal...I know ING, Virtual Bank, ETrade, Ex24 all do them...strange that the guy told you otherwise.

[vivyip]

EFT is not illegal...
It's just a method of transferring money here. ACH is a form of EFT.

ACH is automated clearing house(?) that banks often use to electronically transfer funds.

Your bank just might offer this feature at this time. I thinik BoA might begin to offer it. Look around for a bank that offers these services if you really need it.

[markber]

1) I can not send money to my other accounts in other banks.

You can using ACH transfers or wire transfers.

2) I can not send money to other people in the same bank

You can using wire transfers or, in some cases (PCBanker, Stonebridge Bank), using Cross-Customer transfers.

3) I can not send money to other people in other banks.

You can using wire transfers.

Check a little bit out-dated lists of banks that offer free ACH transfers and free wire transfers.

[sharkeysday]

WAMU offers EFT, but through bill payment. In this country, the laws on who's liable for fraudulent transactions are different than in most other countries. EFTs have almost 90 days during which the person transferring funds can call them fraudulent or in error, and banks don't want to take that risk for person to person transfers. (Thereby creating a market for Paypal.) The EFTs that are done in this country are almost all business to business or consumer to business. It exists the way it does, I've been told, because of the number of time zones and geographic distances in the country, which make it a lot easier to perpetrate frauds like kiting.