8 ms·
My favorite day of the month is bank statement day at my company
- eliben 10y ago"Silicon Valley Bank gives us no paperless billing option for our account" ... sigh
- guyzero 10y agoIt's all about scale.
- revelation 10y agoDo things that don't scale! .. like shipping paper bank statements..
- vijayp 10y agoSeems to me like shipping paper bank statements scales quite well -- linearly in fact!
- walrus01 10y agoIt'll scale just fine until the bank statement needs a truck-level loading dock, pallet and forklift.
- ylhert 10y agoCan't wait to do a follow up post from the back of the box truck :D
- vacri 10y agoObviously - something needs to weigh the box so that they can apply correct postage...
- guyzero 10y agoBy far the best response but in case my statement wasn't clear (for anyone that actually cares) the issue is that an online billing system costs roughly the same amount whether you're a tiny local bank or Citibank so even though it's "Silicon Valley" bank it's far too expensive for them to build out sophisticated systems. You need to be huge to have these fancy features to amortize their cost across more users.
- nyrulez 10y agoAnd its called "Silicon Valley Bank" on top of that. You would think they would be the first to adopt tech, not the last. Do banks still have any legal reasons to not allow paperless statements ?
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- IndianAstronaut 10y ago>Do banks still have any legal reasons to not allow paperless statements ? The more procedures and services offered means a much greater scope for compliance issues. Running a financial institution means having to put a lot of manpower into regulatory compliance.
- fnord123 10y agoYe olde <hand-waving> "compliance". There's no need to go without paperless statements. If it's written in law then the law should be fixed.
- kevindong 10y ago> Silicon Valley Bank gives us no paperless billing option for our account I find that absurd. A bank that primarily serves the tech industry doesn't have paperless statements. My banks, all of which are the very definition of entrenched corporations, offer paperless statements.
- ogsharkman 10y agoBut they're disrupting the paperless statements industry! /s
- scrollaway 10y agoMy company is with SVB because we couldn't find a good alternative that had decent rates for international transfers (US 100% remote company, international founders). Open to suggestions...
- aeden 10y agoHow about a combination of any other US bank + Transferwise? This is what I do (using Bank of America in the US). The transfers to Transferwise go through their US account (thus can be done as a no- or low-cost ACH) and the rates by Transferwise are pretty close to market rate.
- scrollaway 10y agoConsidered it, then SVB came back with a better offer. "Other banks" not being that attractive or much better than SVB in the first place, either, and having to deal with two systems rather than just one. Wish there was something like Simple / N26 for businesses.
- superuser2 10y agoSimple seems great, but its daily/monthly transfer limits are really scary. I'm not in the habit of wanting to exceed them, but I can think of some one-off events where you might want to (restructure your investments, do something with your bonus, buy a car, buy a house, etc) and the idea that you straight-up can't should give anyone pause.
- sekasi 10y ago30 minutes to download the bank statement? No paperless billing? so many questions about this amazing bank.
- xirdstl 10y agoI'm suddenly nostalgic for the annoying buzz of dot matrix printers.
- 72deluxe 10y agoAh it's not a buzz. It's a loud impacting sound. Thanks Epson.
- Analemma_ 10y agoBefore I moved to Seattle, my old three-branch credit union in Podunk County, Flyover State had paperless statements, and that was years and years ago. "Silicon Valley Bank", in 2016, doesn't?
- sliverstorm 10y agoMillions of dollars a month in DMV records searches, that's the more interesting part to me. Background checks? Carfax but for the past owners of the car?
- tedunangst 10y agoThere's only a few million drivers in PA. Soon they'll have queried them all.
- xyzzy123 10y agoTrue, although the fact that one validated a driver's license last month does not mean that the license is valid this month.
- salgernon 10y agoBut like file permissions, just querying the filesystem (or drivers liceense database) the result is potentially invalid by the time you actually get it. You ultimately have to actually use the filepath or drivers license and let any failure be the truth.
- jlgaddis 10y agoAuthor's employer, Checkr [0], "provides modern and compliant background checks for global enterprises and startups". [0]: https://checkr.com https://checkr.com
- hakanensari 10y ago> E-statement takes 30+ minutes to download because it’s huge and their servers are really slow! They're lucky that they're able to download after all. Some years ago I used an AmEx to order 1000+ items every day on Amazon, which after a while locked me out of the account pages of both companies. Most probably some database query in the background was timing out due to the volume of transactions. To add insult to injury, I remember it was almost impossible to explain the issue to the support staff on either side. They kept on getting back with canned responses about what browser I was using etc.
- jey 10y ago> I remember it was almost impossible to explain the issue to the support staff on either side Yeah, is there some kind of standard escape sequence to use in these circumstances? Like "I must speak to the manager" or some analog without sounding mean? I know these folks are incentivized to not escalate, but...
- superuser2 10y agoBusiness-to-business relationships often include account managers and/or dedicated "partner" support lines. These channels are less scripted, more inclined to believe that the caller is a professional in the field who knows what they're talking about, and will actually admit something is defective / mediate interaction between the customer and actual engineers to work on a fix. You don't get that as a consumer, though. You get it as an "account" with significant LTV, an authorized reseller, etc.
- notatoad 10y agothe escape sequence is to anticipate all the questions they're going to ask you and answer them in the first correspondence. try two different browsers, try it in incognito, etc. If you can prove you've isolated the problem, you get to skip the back-and-forth required to isolate the problem. And actually do all that stuff, don't just pretend you did so you can cheat at customer service. because maybe it is just your browser, and if you insist it isn't they're just going to hang up on you and you're going to deserve it.
- Androider 10y agoRelevant: https://priceonomics.com/what-startups-think-about-silicon-valley-bank https://priceonomics.com/what-startups-think-about-silicon-v... Personally I've been very happy with Capital One business banking for my startup. One time painless in-person setup at a branch, everything done online ever since, paperless from the start, free checking, savings, and business credit cards for everyone. 1% APY on our balance.
- cloudjacker 10y agoCapital One business banking has a caveat of having no shared database between branches and some other twilight zone interpretations of compliance regulations. Every time I needed to do something in person, it HAD to be at the Capital One I originally opened the account at.
- stephengillie 10y agoWhat happens if they ever close that branch?
- shermozle 10y agoI worked on a project migrating a telco to a new billing system. Somehow the new system churned out, for only one guy, 144 copies of his bill. No idea how a gross became a thing in a computer, but it did. The mailhouse, rather than do the sensible thing and call us to see why, did optimise the delivery and collect all the copies together and post in a single box. Crazy.
- wrs 10y agoSilicon Valley Bank is a bank that happens to be in Silicon Valley. It's a "Valleyesque" outlier in terms of bank policy — they are terrific at working with startups in unusual situations. (Your average bank equates "unusual situation" to "just hang up the phone".) But their technology isn't like the Tesla of banking or anything. Though they did buy Standard Treasury, so perhaps that'll be an interesting direction.
- ylhert 10y agoabsolutely. First Republic and SVB are the only two banks that know how to work with startups. The more mainstream banks really don't understand the challenges of being a startup. They'll ask for things like your businesses tax return from the previous year when you try to open an account... and then get confused at what to do when you explain to them that you have only existed for 2 weeks.
- dboreham 10y agoCalling BS on this. I've started several companies and opened Wells Fargo accounts for all of them within days of incorporation. Now, if you are talking about _borrowing_ money from the bank I think it makes sense to have to show some businesses financial history. Simply to open an account : in my experience all you need is the relevant incorporation paperwork and some money.
- prawn 10y agoA while back, I had a major bank in Australia act completely puzzled that I might want a credit/debit card for my 10 year old web business. They appeared to have no offering and couldn't comprehend my need. I was trying to explain that I used it to pay for online services like hosting, domain registration and the like. It was like I was speaking a foreign language. The only option they mentioned involved keeping thousands of dollars essentially in escrow. The bills I was needing to pay were easily less than that each year, let alone monthly as I paid. Hearing banks confused by remotely atypical businesses no longer surprises me.
- 10y ago
- PhasmaFelis 10y agoMy favorite part is that the transactions are printed single-column. Look at all that white space.
- gamedna 10y agofrom the animated-gif it seems like the back sides are blank as well. Just think of how much cheaper it would be to ship that statement with the proper small condensed monospaced font, multi-column, and and double sided. Welcome to the 1990s SVB!
- ylhert 10y agoyep! it's single sided. the box is also filled/packed with the side tearoff stuff (not sure the name for it) which you can sort of see in the gif. Must have been terrible to have to rip it all off for this many pages!
- Stratoscope 10y agoPerf strips! That's what we called them anyway. Brings back fond memories...
- hberg 10y agoHow about just having your company use a non-SVB credit card (or debit card) and just pay off the bill via the SVB account? Have you tried calling up SVB and resolving it with them directly?
- ylhert 10y agobut then I wouldn't get my monthly laughs in!
- simonswords82 10y agoThat's the dumbest thing I've seen in a very long time. Also, if it's costing the bank $41 per month this must surely be getting passed on to OP somehow - they can't be making a loss on his account? I wonder what OP pays the bank?
- kalleboo 10y agoFrom the blog post: "We do hundreds of thousands of searches with the DMV every month, who charge us a fee by credit card for each transaction" $41/100,000 credit card transactions = 0.041 cents/transaction. So as long as the fees per transaction to the DMV are higher than that they're still ahead
- simonswords82 10y agoStill crazy - I'd accept a reduction in my bank fee in return for them not posting a tree out to me once a month.
- flippant 10y agoOff-topic: What are they doing that requires "hundreds of thousands of searches with the DMV" every month?
- ylhert 10y agoDMV appointments as a service
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- bckygldstn 10y agoBackground checks.
- URSpider94 10y agoFor those who don't know, Silicon Valley Bank provides merchant banking services for a pretty big fraction of Bay Area start-ups. They have a reputation for "getting it," in terms of being able to support venture-backed pre-revenue companies. This does make the giant paper statement even more ironic.
- vostok 10y agoI was not aware that SVB has a merchant banking business. Do you have a reference for that? I worked in a similar business at a different bank so I know they can be a little secretive about things of that nature.
- ylhert 10y agoCorrect, in fact there is probably no one better for a startup's first bank account (it was my first startup's bank account)! But be careful, if your transaction volume gets too high you might need to invest in a sizable mailbox ;)
- oskarth 10y agoDid you check that the statement is correct? Feels like someone is bound to drop a piece of paper or ten when refilling the printer. You can probably even do it by weight, 1g ~= $10-100.
- daigoba66 10y agoReminds me of when I look at my cell phone bill and see nearly every transferred KB itemized. At least it's paperless.
- duskwuff 10y agoEarly iPhone bills (from AT&T) frequently ran to hundreds of pages for heavy users, sparking at least one viral video: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300-page_iPhone_bill https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/300-page_iPhone_bill
- intopieces 10y agoWhich banks do provide paperless billing for business accounts, and what specific policy reason -- compliance? Record keeping? -- prevents SVB from doing it? You know, the people responsible for printing and shipping? The expense/hassle is not lost on them. I'm curious to know more.
- throwaway7823 10y agoit seems to me that taking time out of your day to put down some one who is a partner to your business would be better spent making your business better
- ylhert 10y agoSVB is a great bank and I don't mean to say anything too negative but it doesn't mean that they don't do some silly things sometimes. It gives me a laugh that they do this so I thought I'd share. I hope my tone was "friendly poking fun" and not "putting someone down". The startup I founded used SVB and I had a great relationship with them. The DMV on the other hand....
- graiz 10y agoYou can open an operational credit card account at a traditional bank outside of SVB and keep your primary banking relationship with them. I would expect American Express will give you the month-to-month cash flow and paperless billing while SVB can give you the larger line of credit and growth capital. Plus, think of all those credit card points.
- ericabiz 10y ago100% agree. We put most of our business transactions on Amex. You can buy some significantly cool items and/or experiences when you generate hundreds of thousands of points per year! I am surprised the OP is not already doing this.
- kennydude 10y agoDMV might not support Amex. Amex has a lot higher fees so many places don't support it.
- Tharkun 10y agoUS banks (and consumers) are stuck in the stone age. Paper cheques, magnetic swipe cards, it's pretty bad.
- joshuaheard 10y agoIn France, you can only pay certain government filing fees (driver's license for instance) by using "fiscal stamps" which are postage-type stamps only available at certain retail outlets. They won't accept cash, check, or credit card, only stamps.
- gambiting 10y agoSame in the UK, I was exchanging my EU licence for a UK one, and the only way to pay for it was to either include a cheque(I have literally never seen a cheque, I asked my bank how to get a cheque book and I would have to wait 3 weeks for one so I said no) or go to the post office and buy a "postal order" for the same amount and send it to DVLA. Most other things you can pay for using a debit card though.
- NKCSS 10y agoCheck the comment on the article: Recommended by Yan Lhert (author) Go to the profile of Silicon Valley Bank Silicon Valley Bank 5 hrs ago Got it. We’re looking into it.
- gambiting 10y ago"We do hundreds of thousands of searches with the DMV every month, who charge us a fee by credit card for each transaction, and gives us no other payment method" This is retarded. DMV should offer a one-off monthly subscription for unlimited searches, or just save each search and produce a bill at the end of the month. I'm sure banks are making an absolute killing on those searches. "Silicon Valley Bank gives us no paperless billing option for our account" Is this 2016? Or 1970?
- NamTaf 10y agoUS banks seem so backwards in so many ways as an outside observer. Transferring money between accounts of different banks, the prevalence of contactless payments, digital communications as standard, even the fact that cheques still exist. This is all stuff we take for granted in Aus and it just blows my mind each and every time it comes up that US banks are so behind the times.
- bigjimmyk3 10y agoThe strangest part of the story to me is that the state charges for each search individually. PA.gov appears to require the creation of an account, so they could save themselves a big chunk of money by charging the customer once a month. I was formerly employed at a portal similar to PA.gov in another state, and this is exactly what we did. I can't think of any good reason to charge by the drink, so it's probably some well-meaning but boneheaded state reg.
- avifreedman 10y agoWe use SVB and luckily don't have this many transactions :) We once had a Bell Atlantic (that's Verizon now) phone bill delivered that took 1/3 of a UPS truck. 600 line hunt group that they broke so that instead of being a hunt group, it was don't-answer-call-forward from the 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd, and on up. At a cost of $.08 per hunt. So if lines 1-599 were busy that'd be 599 $.08 charges. For each accepted call to our modems. And each charge itemized one per page. On little index card sized phone bill pages. Mid month they called and asked if we could take our bills on reel-reel tapes, which I guess should have been an early warning sign... So anyway, thus was the 400,000-ish printed page phone bill.