I can believe there is a market for this service, but that doesn't say much for the average consumer's savviness
Debit card numbers, designed to take money out of your account, are what fraudsters want and have compliance policies so strict even bank employees usually don't get access to the full string. Account details are less useful to fraudsters and generally printed all over communications from banks, including the checks and remittance advice handed to third parties.
So why would rational people prefer the latter, particularly if it involves paying a premium?
Is it another startup whose usefulness stems in a large part from the lack of ubiquitous free, same-day interbank payments between checking accounts in the US (unlike much of the rest of the developed world)?
You can also take money from a bank account using an account number and routing number. That's why Donald Knuth stopped sending out checks to pay bounties.[1]
> Is it another startup whose usefulness stems in a large part from the lack of ubiquitous free, same-day interbank payments between checking accounts in the US (unlike much of the rest of the developed world)?
I didn't list the payout time because it varies by bank. It is instant (24/7) when we're able to go through an ATM network like STAR or PULSE. We'll learn a lot more during the development.
A couple of commercial services exist like this today. Repayonline.com and adaptivepayments.com have similar services. I believe one of them is the engine behind square cash. How will this be different, other than price and the open source angle? Will it be limited to the same contract negotiations bank-by-bank or network-by-network?
That's a cool idea. If you combined it with a Coin style card that allowed you to switch cards on the fly you could not worry about blowing your budget.
