Why are US banks sooooo awful?

Why do Americans tolerate such awful banking?

Do they even realise how bad it is?

Yesterday, I went to deposit a check for a new business.

It was going into a new bank account - just 2 months old.

The teller clearly told me it would take up to 14 days for the check to clear.

First, why on earth is America still using checks???

The rest of the world can do transfers from their phone, securely, in seconds.

Second, why 14 days?

Yes, these are strange times but even a 2 day delay has an economic impact.

The US banking system has always been slow, old-fashioned and pretty painful.

"Online banking" is some pretty crappy lipstick on a horrible set of systems.

Just see what happened when they allowed us to "tap" our credit and debit cards.... we're still asked for a PIN number most of the time!!!

It kind of defeats the purpose...

But here's the direct impact of this problem on my new business:

• Delay to hiring the marketing manager
• Not signing the contract for the new booking platform
• Delaying catch-up payments to suppliers
• Pausing marketing spend
• Not looking for a second location

That's slowing our growth.

Multiply that across the economy, and there is no way that we're getting any GDP growth in March 2023.

The biggest problem of all is that I can't see any of this changing in the next 10 years.

Until then, banking crises or no banking crises, the US banking system is a drag on the economy, and, to be frank, a total embarrassment.

PS - Just for clarification, Silicon Valley Bank was as bad as the others. First Republic too. They said they were different, but anyone who has had bank accounts in the UK or Europe knows that was a lie.