Varo

Beware Severe Privacy Invasion

Varo allows only one method to link your Varo checking account to your checking or savings accounts at another bank for electronic transfers. Instead of using test deposits and verification thereof like other banks do, Varo requires that you give them your sign-in ID and password at the other banks website. This is especially dangerous because Varo does not even do the account verification itself. Instead it gives your ID and password to some third party named PLAID.

Furthermore, PLAID's disclosures admit that they will be able to view all your various accounts at your other bank including your credit cards. They will be able to view the details of every credit card purchase, every payment by check, and every electronic payment you have made as well as all personal data which your other bank has. They may sometimes be able to see what medical specialists you have seen and paid. It is completely unnecessary for PLAID to have all your records in order to do the account verification. This is evidenced by PLAID's own disclosures which describe a much more limited amount of data collection for persons who reside in Europe.

Then you have to trust PLAID not to use all your records that they have collected for their profit or reveal it to yet other companies for them to use. PLAID is not a bank and therefore not subject to the extensive federal regulation and oversight that most US banks are. You have to just trust PLAID to protect all your records from hackers and from their own employees abusively using all this information from your banking and credit card transactions. All this by a company that hides from consumers as PLAID's website reveals no phone contact, no email address, and no physical address. The only way to contact them is in text on their website (even that is designated for commercial sales, not for consumers).