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Message: <blockquote data-quote="aramis erak" data-source="post: 6501232" data-attributes="member: 6779310">I use something akin to medieval banks...Yes, you can deposit money. Yes, you can get it back out. Usually on 30-days notice. No, you don't get paid interest. There's a fee for everything. Including both deposits and withdrawals.Yes, you can borrow money. rates and specific terms vary, but most of them are outside what's considered fair for anyone but a credit card company or a loan shark to use in the US...Yes, you can get a letter of credit - which is a note from the bank promising to pay the face amount when it's presented to them. You pay a good bit for them (Typically, the fee is 10% of face, and so the cost is 110% of face.) Most people won't accept them for "immediate payment". When presented anywhere but the bank issuing them, the bank issues a certificate of deposit pended upon the letter of credit clearing. When it does, then they will pay the note.Sometimes, if you ask for a transfer to a distant bank, you're offered a letter issued by them to someone else, and a note saying that they're sending you to cash it on their behalf (rather sending it back via courier and hauling back goods or cleared drafts of their own...). You take the risk that it won't clear at all, but at least you know you'll know immediately when you get there...</blockquote>