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Comment by rue | Hacker News Reader

My bank(ing system) has not used cheques day-to-day for about 30 years now. The U.S. banking system is still literally and figuratively in the 80's. So, no, I do not think you can talk about a "killer app" quite yet.

USAA is the Mac OS 1.0 of banking, perhaps?

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This article is about the banking system in the United States. Checks are a necessary evil there right now. They are slowly fading away, but still exist. They still exist because there is an established system to process payments with them. It was a big investment to create that system and it will be a big investment to replace it with something better.

I think some things move slowly in the US because of just how massive the economy is here. There is a lot of inertia.

What country do you live in?

There is inertia, and then there is actively keeping us in the dark ages to retain revenue. Ninety percent of transactions at branches are check deposits. People bringing in bits of paper to transfer money.

But the branch remains the number one channel for upsell opportunities. Banks are desperate to keep people walking into branches so that they can push more products on their customers. Brand apathy is rampant due to undifferentiated crappy products from the top banks, so they rely on branch upsells.

This is why more banks don't offer remote check deposit capabilities. If they did, they'd lose the sales channel.

We at banksimple figure that its better to just give you the product features that you actually want to use instead of relying on expensive sales channels to grow our customer base.

Don't get me wrong - I know checks are pretty much non-existent in other countries - but to say we're stuck in the 80's? That's a bit over the top. Clearly, until you do banking here and deal with a company like USAA, I'm not sure you're qualified to comment.

For 7 years, I did. And I am glad that, temporarily, I need not.

Edit: Conversely, if you do not have experience of more modern banking systems, I am not sure you can appreciate the appalling state of the U.S. one.

just moved to los angeles from the 3rd world.

No chips on credit cards. (and some FORCES your pin to be your zip)

Banks dont give you a 2k loan Even if they know you make 20K/mo.

Rent requires cashier checks.

Your online banking temp passwd arrive via mail, instead of allowing you to type one on the counter terminal while opening the account.

Extra credit card hell (bank cant ask for you), etc

Boy i miss the 3rd world :)

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