PayPal is a payment gateway and processor, intended primarily for business. It is not a generalized way of moving money around.
Which belies the name Pay
Pal. I guess the point is that it's changed since it started.
I'm sure that in the US, like everywhere else in the world, someone can directly deposit money into your bank account if they go to a branch of your bank with your name, branch number (routing code in US) and account number.
Now, that's true. I could do that.
There's also a postal money order which last I checked was still somewhat cheap in the US. Benefit versus a personal cheque is that it' as good as cash and shouldn't incur any hold period while waiting for the funds to clear.
IIRC, there has been a good amount of money order forging, and those benefits no longer exist. Regardless, an extra day or two is irrelevant. I want to be able to send it electronically, in a reasonable amount of time, and for low cost.
Personal banking in North America is a good 15 years behind most of Europe and it doesn't look like that situation is improving any time soon.
Yeah, the two things that most of the Europeans I've spent any time with while they were in the US notice the most is the antiquarian banking and the number of passenger trucks on the road.
Most of the banks in Canada ad the US spend their time figuring out how to apply ever greater service fees without actually offering any new services.
Tell me about it. That's why I left my last bank (Wachovia) after 15 years. For example, in order to do a wire transfer with them, I had to go to the branch, fill out paperwork, and it cost something like $40. (To be fair, Wachovia went away in all but name after First Union bought — uh, I mean "merged" with — them.)
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