[HN Gopher] Tell HN: Coinbase will not allow ACH transfers witho...
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       Tell HN: Coinbase will not allow ACH transfers without Plaid
        
       Something changed in the past 30 days with Coinbase. They disabled
       my connected bank account for ACH transfers, which I've used for
       years on Coinbase. They force verification with Plaid. Their
       help/marketing documents suggest you can do deposit verification if
       you don't want to use Plaid, or if your bank doesn't support Plaid:
       - https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/getting-started/add-a-
       payment-method/how-do-i-locate-my-payment-method-verification-
       amounts  - https://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/getting-
       started/add-a-payment-method/payment-methods-for-us-customers
       These claims are not true.  The support agent told me my bank wants
       me to use Plaid. I called my bank and they said they do not support
       Plaid, and that giving my bank login (username and password) to an
       unapproved third party might break my contract and customer
       protections. So Coinbase lied to me. Three different people said
       the same thing, that because my bank "requires Plaid" that I should
       give Plaid my login, which I never did.  The only cash-out options
       available to me now are to pay transaction fees for using a debit
       card or PayPal account, or go create a new bank account somewhere
       and allow Plaid to have access to it.  I'm looking for and not
       finding an announcement about this, which would have provided an
       opportunity to move money before these changes were implemented.
       Best case, it's really crappy policy from Coinbase and outdated
       marketing docs, and worst case, it's intentionally misleading and
       fraudulent. Just thought the HN community with assets in Coinbase
       might want to know about it.
        
       Author : rhyme-boss
       Score  : 9 points
       Date   : 2024-01-18 18:54 UTC (4 hours ago)
        
       | nostrademons wrote:
       | This change was announced on November 23 2022 (over a year ago),
       | they sent an e-mail to customers with subject line "Secure Bank
       | Account Linking Through Instant Verification". There was a bunch
       | of discussion on Reddit when it was announced, it looks like it
       | might've been reverted due to customer outrage at one point, but
       | it seems to be back and unavoidable:
       | 
       | https://www.reddit.com/r/CoinBase/comments/100aw7h/forcing_c...
       | 
       | I've got an acquaintance at Plaid, he says they do take security
       | as seriously as they should, but that the company's existence in
       | general is a terrible idea.
       | 
       | I'm glad that I took all my actual cash out of Coinbase right
       | before the policy changed. I treat my remaining crypto there as
       | basically play money to try out new technologies - if at some
       | point it's exchangeable for USD, great, but my working model now
       | is that it's for technology exploration and a hedge against the
       | USD being worthless, and that actually using it will require
       | building an economy that runs on crypto.
        
         | westhanover wrote:
         | There have been several nonpublic data leaks from Plaid and
         | also massive issues with improper internal access to data.
        
           | mistrial9 wrote:
           | this comment would be improved with links or other verifiable
           | info
        
       | aynyc wrote:
       | Isn't this against the consumer law? Or at least within the
       | control of CFPB? I think many states have rules against that as
       | well?
        
       | zug_zug wrote:
       | Yuck, Plaid is the one that wants access to all your transaction
       | history and to share it, right?
        
       | gbba wrote:
       | > create a new bank account somewhere and allow Plaid to have
       | access to it.
       | 
       | This is the way. There's plenty of free online banks, and it's
       | pretty easy to open accounts nowadays.
        
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       (page generated 2024-01-18 23:02 UTC)