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I've been using Simple for close to 5 years now and have been incredibly happy with my experience. The customer service is hands down the best I've ever come ac

I've been using Simple for close to 5 years now and have been incredibly happy with my experience. The customer service is hands down the best I've ever come across and all updates to the app made the experience much better. Simple being a partner bank instead of a stand-alone bank has definitely held them back. I'd wager they lost quite a few customers when switching from Bancorp to BBVA. Even I considered leaving due to lengthy switch process and generally thinking that such a hard change is not acceptable, but I stuck around and the entire process was exceptionally smooth. I'm still somewhat surprised they haven't made strides to become an actual bank entity, but having experienced regulations working at a banking SAAS company myself I can imagine the monstrous effort required here. Either way, it's sad to see the original founders leave. I really hope this doesn't change the vision and direction.

udfalkso 8y ago
I’ve had a similar experience. Would never go back to The nickel and dining nightmare that was Citibank.
- abiox 8y ago
  > dining nightmare bad food? :)
dcosson 8y ago
Huh. I had exactly the opposite experience, simple was mostly fine when I used it but the web experience of chase these days is also fine. A clear, simple UI for seeing statements and setting up credit card auto-pay, deposit checks in the app. Plus, having branches if you absolutely need to use them is nice, and finding atms in most us cities for a big bank is much more straightforward than finding the partner atm brands that work with simple, or whatever you have to do there. When simple goes wrong though, the leaky abstraction of being a thin wrapper around another bank makes it much more painful. I forget the details now, but some fairly straightforward things broke for me a couple of times. And as friendly as their support might be, they were completely useless for fixing the problem because it was due to the underlying bank they built on top of. Canceling my account was also somewhat opaque. So I can’t really relate to this article or most of these comments at all. The underlying money transfer infrastructure in the US (between banks and merchants or banks and other banks) on the other hand really needs an upgrade from the arcane ACH system, that’s the last thing that sucks about consumer banking as far as I can see.
- maxyme 8y ago
  I agree Chase's web UI is solid now. Except for the part where I have to spoof the user agent on Chromium (Linux) otherwise I'm stuck with the abysmal mobile UI...
- dbt00 8y ago
  ACH between large banks is mostly getting replaced by Zelle. Don't use it with people you don't know but otherwise it's fine.
jitl 8y ago
I liked Simple, but changed over to Chase when the account migration stuff came up, because they couldn’t “verify my identity” enough to create my new account. What a bummer! I banked with them for 4 years, and then they can’t verify I exist?
tacon 8y ago
I like the idea of an online bank, so I signed up for Simple. They sent me a credit card with my first name and middle initial, instead of first initial and middle name, as I had filled out their form, and like every other credit card I have ever had. I asked for a card with my "name" on it, and they told me that was impossible. For the bank that was supposed to be the future and all high tech, that was an utter fail. I never bothered funding a dime into the account. Business pro tip: Don't mess with customers' names. We take it kind of personally.
- swampthinker 8y ago
  That's such a strange edge case that I frankly don't blame Simple for turning you down.
  - chipotle_coyote 8y ago
    Well, here's my strange case: I go by my middle and last name, not my legal first name and last name. My credit cards have Middle Last. Many of my paychecks have gone to Middle Last. The freakin' IRS knows me by Middle Last. And when I first signed up for Simple, my debit card said Middle Last. And then they changed "partner banks," and reissued my debit card with a new number and new bank account number...and changed the name on my card. And when I asked them to change it back, they said no. And, yeah, I kinda take it personally. Because now, whenever I pay for anything using Simple, I'm called by a name that I don't consider mine. I have to stop and think, "Oh, they just called out an order for 'John,' and that might be me." I love Simple in theory, but this was an infuriating regression. After a decade, they still can't accept e-bills, either -- that is, American Express can't send a bill to them and have it automatically deducted. I've kept my Bank of America account around in part because for all the crap BoA gets, their online banking system can receive e-bills and pay them from my account at Simple. For a "technology first" bank like Simple, that should really be kind of fucking embarrassing. Last but not least? Bank of America also calls me by the name I asked for.
    - neurostimulant 8y ago
      > I'm called by a name that I don't consider mine Why not legally change your name and get rid of this problem for good?
rmwaite 8y ago
I tried desperately to sign up for a Simple account when it was brand new. I had an invite, I signed up, and I was denied. That was confusing to me, so I followed up and they indicated that something on my ChexSystem report was the reason. I was confused even more - I'd never written a bad check or did anything that I've heard would typically do this, so I ordered a report and waited. Got it back and read it over and saw nothing negative. I followed up again and asked what the deal was, and they gave me some kind of weird answer about how many accounts I have had (or had at the time? it was never clear). It was at that point that I kind of just decided that if they didn't want my business that badly, then maybe I should take the hint. :-)

udfalkso 8y ago

I’ve had a similar experience. Would never go back to The nickel and dining nightmare that was Citibank.

abiox 8y ago
> dining nightmare bad food? :)

dcosson 8y ago

Huh. I had exactly the opposite experience, simple was mostly fine when I used it but the web experience of chase these days is also fine. A clear, simple UI for seeing statements and setting up credit card auto-pay, deposit checks in the app. Plus, having branches if you absolutely need to use them is nice, and finding atms in most us cities for a big bank is much more straightforward than finding the partner atm brands that work with simple, or whatever you have to do there. When simple goes wrong though, the leaky abstraction of being a thin wrapper around another bank makes it much more painful. I forget the details now, but some fairly straightforward things broke for me a couple of times. And as friendly as their support might be, they were completely useless for fixing the problem because it was due to the underlying bank they built on top of. Canceling my account was also somewhat opaque. So I can’t really relate to this article or most of these comments at all. The underlying money transfer infrastructure in the US (between banks and merchants or banks and other banks) on the other hand really needs an upgrade from the arcane ACH system, that’s the last thing that sucks about consumer banking as far as I can see.

maxyme 8y ago
I agree Chase's web UI is solid now. Except for the part where I have to spoof the user agent on Chromium (Linux) otherwise I'm stuck with the abysmal mobile UI...
dbt00 8y ago
ACH between large banks is mostly getting replaced by Zelle. Don't use it with people you don't know but otherwise it's fine.

jitl 8y ago

I liked Simple, but changed over to Chase when the account migration stuff came up, because they couldn’t “verify my identity” enough to create my new account. What a bummer! I banked with them for 4 years, and then they can’t verify I exist?

tacon 8y ago

I like the idea of an online bank, so I signed up for Simple. They sent me a credit card with my first name and middle initial, instead of first initial and middle name, as I had filled out their form, and like every other credit card I have ever had. I asked for a card with my "name" on it, and they told me that was impossible. For the bank that was supposed to be the future and all high tech, that was an utter fail. I never bothered funding a dime into the account. Business pro tip: Don't mess with customers' names. We take it kind of personally.

swampthinker 8y ago
That's such a strange edge case that I frankly don't blame Simple for turning you down.
- chipotle_coyote 8y ago
  Well, here's my strange case: I go by my middle and last name, not my legal first name and last name. My credit cards have Middle Last. Many of my paychecks have gone to Middle Last. The freakin' IRS knows me by Middle Last. And when I first signed up for Simple, my debit card said Middle Last. And then they changed "partner banks," and reissued my debit card with a new number and new bank account number...and changed the name on my card. And when I asked them to change it back, they said no. And, yeah, I kinda take it personally. Because now, whenever I pay for anything using Simple, I'm called by a name that I don't consider mine. I have to stop and think, "Oh, they just called out an order for 'John,' and that might be me." I love Simple in theory, but this was an infuriating regression. After a decade, they still can't accept e-bills, either -- that is, American Express can't send a bill to them and have it automatically deducted. I've kept my Bank of America account around in part because for all the crap BoA gets, their online banking system can receive e-bills and pay them from my account at Simple. For a "technology first" bank like Simple, that should really be kind of fucking embarrassing. Last but not least? Bank of America also calls me by the name I asked for.
  - neurostimulant 8y ago
    > I'm called by a name that I don't consider mine Why not legally change your name and get rid of this problem for good?

rmwaite 8y ago

I tried desperately to sign up for a Simple account when it was brand new. I had an invite, I signed up, and I was denied. That was confusing to me, so I followed up and they indicated that something on my ChexSystem report was the reason. I was confused even more - I'd never written a bad check or did anything that I've heard would typically do this, so I ordered a report and waited. Got it back and read it over and saw nothing negative. I followed up again and asked what the deal was, and they gave me some kind of weird answer about how many accounts I have had (or had at the time? it was never clear). It was at that point that I kind of just decided that if they didn't want my business that badly, then maybe I should take the hint. :-)