I don't know what a de-facto bank is. To me the term is associated solely with FDIC protection. Otherwise why would I give them my money in the first place? Their only purpose is to give me access to electronic transactions via a debit card, and if I can't trust that my money will remain in the debit card the whole system collapses. FDIC protection covers more than I need for access to liquid cash and I'd prefer to manually manage my long-term cash well outside of savings accounts.

(Note, i'm intentionally ignoring the many other services banks offer as they're all fed by willing deposits and are otherwise irrelevant to FDIC protections.)

Nonetheless, your description of the problem is apt and I largely agree.

> I don't know what a de-facto bank is.

Here's an example from just a couple of days ago.

https://9to5mac.com/2024/11/21/apple-will-now-be-treated-lik...