I know they’re all bad for privacy to an extent, which is why I specified “least bad.”
This is for casual use, as someone concerned about surveillance capitalism, digital privacy, social cooling and the like. I do not have a high threat model. I am looking to balance privacy and convenience. I am not going to teach my grandma how to use monero, and it isn’t always a reasonable option to use cash or mail a check.
The big services in the US I know of are:
- PayPal: shares your data with 600+ companies
- Venmo: owned by PayPal
- Apple Cash: Requires an Apple device, not an option for many
- Google Pay: it’s Google, and it doesn’t work on custom ROMs like GrapheneOS
- Facebook Messenger: apparently you can send money on there, but I think “there’s zero chance I’m making a Facebook account and I’m especially not linking my bank to it” needs no explanation in this community
- Cash App: owned by Square, might be a decent option?
- Zelle: Not supported by all banks (I don’t think it’s supported by mine and I definitely have friends that use unsupported banks)
If anyone knows of better options, or tips to minimize shared data while using any of the above options, please elaborate.
Doesn’t bank account information have to be exchanged for an ACH transfer? Seems good between people you really trust (although definitely less convenient), but I’m not sure I’d be comfortable exchanging bank info with an acquaintance.
You’d need to know the bank account number to send it to — like, you’d need to tell your grandma the bank account number (or vice versa, if it’s going the other way) to send money to. I don’t know whether the recipient can see the account number that sent them money, though I wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case. Note that if you send someone a check, your bank account number will be on the check, too.