4 ms·

Really interesting to see the re-rise of challenger banks. IIRC Simple was one of the first and did OK never hit the valuation that these new ones are getting.

Really interesting to see the re-rise of challenger banks. IIRC Simple was one of the first and did OK never hit the valuation that these new ones are getting. My hunch is that these are doing comparatively better outside the US because basic banking elsewhere is relatively worse than here. In my experience with at least Chase and Capital One the "big banks" have invested pretty heavily in their UI/UX and I haven't had any issues getting CX questions answered when I need to.

geden 8y ago
Banking in the USA is a nightmare compared to the UK and Europe. Inter-bank transfers are instant and free in the UK. You use cheques. I rest my case.
- ac29 8y ago
  Almost no one I know routinely uses checks in the US, possibly with the exception of businesses. Interbank transfers are free & fast enough (24-48 hours). Apps like Venmo give them a nice enough UI.
  - eropple 8y ago
    Possibly with the exception of business. The property management company my girlfriend runs fields literally thousands of checks a month and sends hundreds a week. This is the norm in the United States when actual money is involved.
  - justincormack 8y ago
    24-48 hours is not "fast enough". A few minutes max is normal.
  - geden 7y ago
    48 hours!? There's no excuse for a transfer not being subsecond in 2019. Introducing a 48 hours delay to knowing if someone has actually paid you or not when they said they have... adds a ton of pain to running a business. I regularly transact with US companies in the music & media world and their first payment choice is often a cheque.
lol768 8y ago
>My hunch is that these are doing comparatively better outside the US because basic banking elsewhere is relatively worse than here. In my experience with at least Chase and Capital One the "big banks" have invested pretty heavily in their UI/UX and I haven't had any issues getting CX questions answered when I need to. Would completely disagree with this. I suspect, in the UK, they're doing better because regulators have recently become much friendlier towards challengers. The UK has also generally been pretty good with encouraging new technologies - faster payments, CASS, open banking, cheque imaging etc have all been launched with varying degrees of success. It's well known that banking technology is generally worse in the US -- you only have to look at the roll-out of EMV and contactless to see how slow-moving things have generally been there. As far as I know there's no direct equivalent to the UK's Faster Payments scheme, either [1]. Do any of your banks even support 3-D Secure? Companies like Monzo are able to differentiate on _much_ more than just UX and customer support. The tech stack has been designed from the ground up, so payments and notifications are (at least to a human observer!) instant. You have novel services like Monzo.me that allow external people to pay into your current account ("checking account") via debit card instantly. [1] - No, same-day ACH doesn't count.
george_morgan 8y ago
My understanding was that basic banking in the US lags most of Europe; contactless infrastructure is poor, mobile payments non-standardised, charges for basic accounts & general fees are all more common, more barriers to current (checking?) account switching (this is standardised in the UK by BACs & the current account switch service). It is a better environment for the challengers outside the US because there is better infrastructure & standardisation which allows them to compete with bigger incumbents.
shafyy 8y ago
Banking in the US is definitely worse than banking in Europe. People still use checks, are you kidding me?
- lol768 8y ago
  >People still use checks, are you kidding me? Checks, magstripe transactions and signatures on their card receipts..
  - realusername 8y ago
    That's a pretty big contrast from Europe... I've never seen a transaction using magstripe personally, I don't think magstripe was available even in the 90s, that sounds much older than VHS tapes.
    - shafyy 8y ago
      Haha. Magstripes were still common in the early 2000s I would say.
      - realusername 8y ago
        Really? I've never seen anyone using one, I mean they were still on the card in the early 2000s as a legacy part of the card but no place I know would have accepted that at the time.
        shafyy 8y ago
        My experience is related to Switzerland - possible that other European countries get rid of them earlier.
- davidmr 8y ago
  I just moved from the USA to the UK. It was shocking how much better the consumer banking system is here. With 10 seconds of typing on my phone, I set up my standing rent payment to my landlord (which would have been too much money to use Chase's QuickPay at home). I gave my gym and utilities my account number and sort code and they can (with my permission, which I can revoke any time without talking to them) bill me regularly. I recorded a little video of me holding my passport and a scan of it, and that was sufficient ID for them to give me a new account. For everything under £30, I just tap my wallet on the little terminal. For everything over, they bring a terminal to me and I type my PIN. I never have to give up my card to anyone for any reason. It's a pretty low bar to get over, but Monzo is definitely the best bank I've ever had. The US consumer banking system sucks by comparison.
TazeTSchnitzel 8y ago
The UK, where Monzo is from, has (from what I can glean as someone who has not lived in the US) a much better banking experience than the US. Cheques are rarely used by most people because bank transfers are instant and free,d there is a functional Direct Debit system for automated variable-amount billing, most bank accounts are free with the every-day services (payments, bank transfers, ATM withdrawals, cash deposits) also being free, EMV “Chip and PIN” payments have been the default for well over a decade, contactless is widely deployed, etc. The difference from the US is probably that there are less institutional hurdles to establishing a new bank.
dflock 8y ago
> these are doing comparatively better outside the US because basic banking elsewhere is relatively worse than here That's.. the opposite of true - it's not even wrong. Banking in the US is stuck in the '70's, compared to Europe.

geden 8y ago

Banking in the USA is a nightmare compared to the UK and Europe. Inter-bank transfers are instant and free in the UK. You use cheques. I rest my case.

ac29 8y ago
Almost no one I know routinely uses checks in the US, possibly with the exception of businesses. Interbank transfers are free & fast enough (24-48 hours). Apps like Venmo give them a nice enough UI.
- eropple 8y ago
  Possibly with the exception of business. The property management company my girlfriend runs fields literally thousands of checks a month and sends hundreds a week. This is the norm in the United States when actual money is involved.
- justincormack 8y ago
  24-48 hours is not "fast enough". A few minutes max is normal.
- geden 7y ago
  48 hours!? There's no excuse for a transfer not being subsecond in 2019. Introducing a 48 hours delay to knowing if someone has actually paid you or not when they said they have... adds a ton of pain to running a business. I regularly transact with US companies in the music & media world and their first payment choice is often a cheque.

lol768 8y ago

>My hunch is that these are doing comparatively better outside the US because basic banking elsewhere is relatively worse than here. In my experience with at least Chase and Capital One the "big banks" have invested pretty heavily in their UI/UX and I haven't had any issues getting CX questions answered when I need to. Would completely disagree with this. I suspect, in the UK, they're doing better because regulators have recently become much friendlier towards challengers. The UK has also generally been pretty good with encouraging new technologies - faster payments, CASS, open banking, cheque imaging etc have all been launched with varying degrees of success. It's well known that banking technology is generally worse in the US -- you only have to look at the roll-out of EMV and contactless to see how slow-moving things have generally been there. As far as I know there's no direct equivalent to the UK's Faster Payments scheme, either [1]. Do any of your banks even support 3-D Secure? Companies like Monzo are able to differentiate on _much_ more than just UX and customer support. The tech stack has been designed from the ground up, so payments and notifications are (at least to a human observer!) instant. You have novel services like Monzo.me that allow external people to pay into your current account ("checking account") via debit card instantly. [1] - No, same-day ACH doesn't count.

george_morgan 8y ago

My understanding was that basic banking in the US lags most of Europe; contactless infrastructure is poor, mobile payments non-standardised, charges for basic accounts & general fees are all more common, more barriers to current (checking?) account switching (this is standardised in the UK by BACs & the current account switch service). It is a better environment for the challengers outside the US because there is better infrastructure & standardisation which allows them to compete with bigger incumbents.

shafyy 8y ago

Banking in the US is definitely worse than banking in Europe. People still use checks, are you kidding me?

lol768 8y ago
>People still use checks, are you kidding me? Checks, magstripe transactions and signatures on their card receipts..
- realusername 8y ago
  That's a pretty big contrast from Europe... I've never seen a transaction using magstripe personally, I don't think magstripe was available even in the 90s, that sounds much older than VHS tapes.
  - shafyy 8y ago
    Haha. Magstripes were still common in the early 2000s I would say.
    - realusername 8y ago
      Really? I've never seen anyone using one, I mean they were still on the card in the early 2000s as a legacy part of the card but no place I know would have accepted that at the time.
      - shafyy 8y ago
        My experience is related to Switzerland - possible that other European countries get rid of them earlier.
davidmr 8y ago
I just moved from the USA to the UK. It was shocking how much better the consumer banking system is here. With 10 seconds of typing on my phone, I set up my standing rent payment to my landlord (which would have been too much money to use Chase's QuickPay at home). I gave my gym and utilities my account number and sort code and they can (with my permission, which I can revoke any time without talking to them) bill me regularly. I recorded a little video of me holding my passport and a scan of it, and that was sufficient ID for them to give me a new account. For everything under £30, I just tap my wallet on the little terminal. For everything over, they bring a terminal to me and I type my PIN. I never have to give up my card to anyone for any reason. It's a pretty low bar to get over, but Monzo is definitely the best bank I've ever had. The US consumer banking system sucks by comparison.

TazeTSchnitzel 8y ago

The UK, where Monzo is from, has (from what I can glean as someone who has not lived in the US) a much better banking experience than the US. Cheques are rarely used by most people because bank transfers are instant and free,d there is a functional Direct Debit system for automated variable-amount billing, most bank accounts are free with the every-day services (payments, bank transfers, ATM withdrawals, cash deposits) also being free, EMV “Chip and PIN” payments have been the default for well over a decade, contactless is widely deployed, etc. The difference from the US is probably that there are less institutional hurdles to establishing a new bank.

dflock 8y ago

> these are doing comparatively better outside the US because basic banking elsewhere is relatively worse than here That's.. the opposite of true - it's not even wrong. Banking in the US is stuck in the '70's, compared to Europe.