On: Stripe said to abandon $50B pursuit of PayPal

[betteryet]

Many countries including European now have just scan a QR code. The EU payment scheme Wero is bringing that cross-border for EUR. Instant and very low fees.

[xioxox → betteryet]

I don't use Wero, yet, but I'm not really convinced when I read about it. Firstly, it lets anyone lookup the name associated with a phone number or email address, which is a privacy nightmare. Secondly, only a single bank account can be used with a phone number or email. This just seems badly designed.

[mgaunard → betteryet]

SEPA transfers are zero fees by law.

[diogocp → mgaunard]

No, they are not.

[mgaunard → diogocp]

Just checked, by EU law, banks cannot charge more for a SEPA euro transfer than they do for a local transfer within your own country.

[kakacik → mgaunard]

... which boils down to 0 fees on any side for any transaction I've ever done, across quite a few countries in EU and to/from Switzerland. I don't think any sane retail bank dares to charge anything, people would migrate to competition in an instant.

[Symbiote → kakacik]

I have an account in Denmark which charges for outgoing transactions, 3 DKK. (€0.40.)

I think I have the choice to pay a monthly fee, nominate it as my official account for receiving my salary, or pay for the transactions.

I choose the last option as it's a backup account, and I make perhaps 1 transaction per year.

[ahartmetz → kakacik]

Some business accounts charge a 20 to 50 cent flat fee. I think mine does. Retail basically never, yes.

[locallost → ahartmetz]

Yes, this is pretty standard for business accounts.

[tpm → kakacik]

there were some exceptions though, like in Greece, where banks charged for every sepa transaction. not sure if that's still the case.

[ptman → mgaunard]

And instant (under 10 seconds)

[AdamN → ptman]

Not by default. Deutsche Bank for instance makes you select it and I'm guessing most people are afraid that choosing instant means a fee so they leave it off.

[wewxjfq → AdamN]

Most banks did charge a fee at first, so this rollout is partly to blame for the option being available and the hesitancy.

[ahartmetz → wewxjfq]

There was another European payment system change to remove* the fees for real-time (official name) transfers, roughly a year ago. Together with the removal of international fees 10? years ago, it is indeed instant (if you check the box) and free across the EU now.

IIRC, real-time transfers commonly used to cost 50 cents (flat).

* Technically, they aren't allowed to cost more than regular transfers which cost 0 in ~all retail accounts