I'm not in the UK, but when I was searching about how to find out my PayPal account number, this is the forum to which I was directed. Frankly, I find the idea of something as fundamental as an account number being designated for "internal use only" leaves me with a bad taste. Your banking institution should have some degree of transparency with regard to the information account holders can access. If a brick & mortar bank told me I couldn't have access to my own account number, I'd tell them to take a walk, in far more colorful language. It is a little disturbing that this information is not available to account holders, even on request. It seems rather a basic principle. Now, I haven't had any specific problems to date, but should the need arise, I would hope that the number associated with my account would be made available to me, seeing as it's information pertinent to me and my money. Why, in this day and age we find it so easy to trust online agencies with information we wouldn't otherwise trust to non-online agencies, it's beyond me, especially given the fact that these things aren't completely secure from every possible intrusion, from nefarious persons or from snooping governments, the USA & the UK being some of the worst when it comes to invading the privacy of their own citizenry. I suppose there is a good reason why PayPal deems account numbers for "internal use only" and won't give them to customers even on request. Perhaps someone could enlighten me? Honestly, it's things like this that make bitcoin look better and better all the time--it's secure, can't be stolen or counterfeit, and is completely open-source. Also, every transaction can be traced and accounted for, so it's not at all for criminals to hide behind as many movies and television shows would have you believe. Why can't my actual banking institution in charge of my actual fiat currency have that level of security and transparency?
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