# Ridiculous technology needed to open bank account. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 18, 2020, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous-technology-needed-to-open-bank-account/846591 "2020-01-18T00:50:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous-technology-needed-to-open-bank-account/846591/61 "2020-01-22T22:29:24Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I think that’s “the rest will go to the branch office and be ignored for a half hour before walking out” I’ve never been ignored for half an hour at a bank branch, but I have also purposely avoided doing business with banks that have a bad reputation. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous-technology-needed-to-open-bank-account/846591/62 "2020-01-23T00:47:38Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Yeah, just too bad about all those retired old folks with lots of money and just flip phones, right? Flip phones? Pheh. I’m a non-retired 40-something and all I have is a landline. And any bank which doesn’t accept that can stuff it. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous-technology-needed-to-open-bank-account/846591/63 "2020-01-23T19:25:15Z")
Another way to think about this is that smartphone market penetration is bigger than bank account market penetration. So it’s _not_ ridiculous to expect someone trying to open a bank account to have a smartphone. Something like 95% of American adults have a smartphone and 93% have a bank account. And of course there is another way if you don’t have a smart phone: go to a bank. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous-technology-needed-to-open-bank-account/846591/64 "2020-01-23T20:29:00Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > Something like 95% of American adults have a smartphone and 93% have a bank account. The latest figures I’ve seen (backed up by a quick google) is that penetration is “only” about 85% of adult Americans have smartphones. Which means, more or less, 1 in 6 do not. That’s actually a fairly large number of people, even if a minority, and it’s not always a matter of being poor. Lots of poor people have them, some well off people shun them. About 88% of adult Americans have a bank account - which, again means about 1 in 5 or 6 do not. In that case, though, there is a stronger correlation between low income and no bank account. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous-technology-needed-to-open-bank-account/846591/65 "2020-01-23T22:40:34Z")
Looks like the cite I found was for households, rather than individuals, so that might be the difference. 7.7% of US households have no bank accounts, and about 5% of US households have no smartphone. And, again, it’s not like you need a smartphone to open a bank account. You need something that can take a live digital image in semi-realtime to open _this specific_ bank account. I bet there are more people who can’t easily get to a bank than can’t easily get access to a smartphone, so having this _as an option_ is enabling, not restricting. All the ways that people used to be able to open a bank account still exist, right? And now you can also do it with a smartphone if you have one. ---
**Author:** ![Calavera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calavera/32/70_2.png) [@Calavera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calavera)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous-technology-needed-to-open-bank-account/846591/66 "2020-01-23T23:17:19Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > All the ways that people used to be able to open a bank account still exist, right? And now you can also do it with a smartphone if you have one. No, before this rubbish, at least in the UK, online opening of bank accounts is a seamless easy process. I haven’t opened an account in branch in the 21st century and as I move my money round a lot to get the best rates I’ve opened a lot of accounts. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous-technology-needed-to-open-bank-account/846591/67 "2020-01-24T00:07:36Z")
> [@Calavera](#): > > No, before this rubbish, at least in the UK, online opening of bank accounts is a seamless easy process. I expect that this rubbish is a response to the fact that it was a seamless easy process for fraudsters and money launderers as well, and there have been new Know Your Customer legal requirements put in place. I don’t know enough about UK banking regulations to say for sure, but things have been trending that way quite a lot. Presumably they’re going to ask you to do something in that photo that you can’t find a stock example of for someone you’re trying to defraud (like hold up three fingers or wink your left eye) because it’s a lot harder for a fraudster to fake that in a way that matches whatever official document they’ve been able to steal or photoshop. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ridiculous-technology-needed-to-open-bank-account/846591.md?page=3)