Not Just Bikes 🇳🇱May 15, 2025

Nice to see the EU-wide online payments system (WERO) is rolling out as planned. I didn't realise it was already available in France, Germany, and Belgium.

WERO is (in part) based off of iDEAL which is used for online payments in the Netherlands. It feels so antiquated whenever I have to use a website that still only accepts credit cards.

I also like how these EU solutions don't just involve handing out payments processing to middlemen tech companies like PayPal.

https://radar.avrotros.nl/artikel/ideal-verdwijnt-hoe-werkt-het-nieuwe-betalingssysteem-wero-61576

iDEAL verdwijnt: hoe werkt het nieuwe betalingssysteem Wero?

Bijna iedereen in Nederland gebruikt iDEAL voor online betalingen, maar dat bekende systeem gaat verdwijnen. In de loop van 2026 start de overgang naar Wero, een nieuw...

Radar - het consumentenprogramma van AVROTROS
Show threadNot Just Bikes 🇳🇱

I still have bank accounts in Canada and I have to do banking there every so often. Every time I have to interact with a Canadian bank it feels like going back in time. It's so outdated!

And Interac email money transfers are literally the dumbest hack half-solution that could only be invented in Canada.

Some day I might get so pissed off dealing with a backwards Canadian bank that I make a video about it

The other week I had to cash A PAPER FUCKING CHEQUE in Canada. 🤣

May 15, 2025 at 11:13amWeb
Show threadLarryMay 15, 2025
@notjustbikes
My credit union will enter a deposit through the web interface if I take a picture of the cheque.
Show threadNot Just Bikes 🇳🇱May 15, 2025
@quoidian Yes, I can do that in Canada, and it is still a dumb hack. Paper cheques should not exist.
Show threadLarryMay 15, 2025
@notjustbikes
There is a generation, now sadly passing, who consider bank statement reconciliation to be the punctuation on a month.
Show threadDaniel GnoutcheffMay 15, 2025
@quoidian You can still do that though? I like old-fashioned data-entry/reconciliation myself and I might keep doing it even if I moved to a country with EU-tier banking, but that doesn't mean everyone should be forced to do it that way.
Show threadLarryMay 15, 2025
@gnoutchd
One of my hats was of a bookkeeper. I still recall how, and how little fun it was to reconcile cheques and bank statements.
Show threadkrejgoMay 15, 2025

@notjustbikes I don't think I've touched one of those since the 80's 🤣

North America is just so broken.

Have we tried rebooting them yet?

Show threadElias ProbstMay 15, 2025

@craige the crazy orange is currently trying it with the southern Canadian states, but it seems he misunderstood and tries to shutdown instead of rebooting.

@notjustbikes

Show threadLarryMay 15, 2025
@notjustbikes
Yes, I've avoided Canadian banks since joining my first credit union in 1970. Interac is clunky but servicable for purchases/bill payments for someone who *refuses* to have a credit card.
Show threadRuweg 🇳🇱🐺May 15, 2025

@notjustbikes As a Dutch guy, I've never held a cheque in my hands.

It sounds so backwards to me that your employer wouldn't just go the easy route and put the money on your bank account directly.

Show threadDallas GrootMay 15, 2025
@notjustbikes @randomwolfguy even some rental places in Vancouver require cheques.
Show threadTenkomanMay 15, 2025
@notjustbikes The US is iirc also so backwater in terms of banking - heck even the GDR(!) had electronic cheque cards in the mid-1980s
Show threadMiguel ArrozMay 15, 2025
@notjustbikes I'm going to throw a party when Canadian banks find out about SWIFT/IBAN.
Show threadPeter van BroekhovenMay 15, 2025
@notjustbikes I’m here for the Not Just Banks channel
Show threadFrank HeijkampMay 15, 2025
@notjustbikes I think we stopped using cheques about 25 years ago in the Netherlands.
Show threadorleansfietserMay 15, 2025
@notjustbikes I remember how much more advanced Australia was when I lived there in the late 2000s. Canada has yet to catch up to that level and I don't think Australia was at the forefront then. It's like oligopolys don't create an incentive to innovate.
Show threadLach Anonym's PTMay 15, 2025
And it is still a thing in France! My friend had one paper check
Show threadSzymon BęczkowskiMay 15, 2025
@LachAnonym My friend told me that as a student he used to deposit 12 paper cheques at the beginning of a year. The student house was realising them monthly to cover his accommodation 🤯
Show threadKevin Boyd (he/him) 🇨🇦May 15, 2025

@notjustbikes I heart interac email transfers. And I can deposit paper cheques by my credit union's app.

But you're not wrong at all. :)

Show threadNot Just Bikes 🇳🇱May 15, 2025
@kboyd once you've used something like Tikkie or instant SEPA money transfers, Interac email money transfers will seem like the dumbest, needlessly complicated thing ever. 😂
Show threadU47May 15, 2025

@notjustbikes Payments Canada’s Real-Time Rail is just around th… oh, delayed until 2026.

It’s taken them a dozen years _already_ to not figure out what the rest of the world has had since Harper was in charge.

Show threadKebMay 15, 2025
@notjustbikes Cheque is still quite common in France. A plumber or a doctor might require it more often than you’d think!
The Netherlands are so dematerialized compared to other EU countries. It’s convenient, yes, but if you don’t have a credit card or it is not accepted you cannot do anything about it, and that can be a problem (for instance an adolescent on a trip who doesn’t have a real credit card)
Show threadNot Just Bikes 🇳🇱May 15, 2025
@zetakebab what are you talking about? Lots of people in the Netherlands don't have credit cards and my kids have no problems paying without one. You're just making shit up to be reflexively contrarian. 🙄
Show threadKebMay 15, 2025
@notjustbikes I’m not trying to be an asshole. Visiting the Netherlands, I found quite a lot of place that don’t accept cash, like museums. I found some articles online saying that some shops increasingly won’t accept it either.
Pictured a museum saying they don’t accept cash.
Perhaps I expressed myself not clearly?
Show threadOlavMay 16, 2025
@zetakebab @notjustbikes Cashless doesn't mean a credit card is required. Debit cards are also a thing, plus all the payment apps. I do agree it's sad that many places don't accept cash anymore.
Show threadKebMay 16, 2025
@olavl @notjustbikes I wasn’t saying it was impossible, just that it adds more constraint towards poor or young people.
I indeed said credit card, because in France we don’t really have credit cards, mostly debit cards. But we still say credit card for every card in french 😅 Forgot about the difference, my bad.
Show threadMaya🌙May 16, 2025
@notjustbikes I grew up using the dutch system I'm amazed how terrible it is even in neighboring countries like Germany
Show threadNickMay 16, 2025
@notjustbikes I’ve had to use a cheque for the first time in my life only after I moved to Canada lol
I always thought it’s some backwards capability thing, or just the “if it ain’t broke” type of situation (they still FAX prescriptions to pharmacies ffs), but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s just the big 5 pushing back since there’s no incentive for them to innovate, they already own the market
Oligopolies are holding Canada back so, so much, in every sector of the economy