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I've been a Simple customer since launch, and have used it as my primary bank since ING Direct was turned into Capital One. It's mildly depressing to be remind

by uses 6y ago

I've been a Simple customer since launch, and have used it as my primary bank since ING Direct was turned into Capital One. It's mildly depressing to be reminded once again that the dream of startup founders these days isn't to build something, but to sell something... specifically to a bigger company. Which will inevitably delete the thing, once it serves its use. Which is to provide presence in some kind of defensive strategy. I'm not sure what to use as my primary financial institution now. I have an account with my local credit union, but their app is mediocre. Simple's high quality app was the main reason I used Simple. I really just want an institution + app representation of such, that provides a 21st century experience.

bigie35 6y ago
Former C1 employee: I would give Capital One another shot. Their tech and apps are best in class and and built in-house. They also contribute to the open source community (or did).
- whitepoplar 6y ago
  I second this. I was an ING Direct customer who was rolled into a C1 360 account and it's honestly been great. It's just a consistently hassle-free experience. TBH, I mostly use a combination of Fidelity + Merrill Edge these days due to my particular cashflow management setup, but I keep my C1 360 account open for use every now and then. It's night and day between C1 360 and Chase, BofA, etc.
- abrowne 6y ago
  Their website for credit cards is my favorite of any I've tried. My least favorite by far was Chase when I had the Amazon-linked card.
  - therealrootuser 6y ago
    May I present you with "US Bank"? Whose web interface looks like it was designed by an angry intern in 1997. Then again, we're all sitting here reading on the minimal UI of Hacker News, so... I find the Chase credit card interface to be pretty reasonable, but then again, I'm not logging into it every day.
- e40 6y ago
  I beg to differ. Notifications for transactions stopped working. As I always do when things like this happen, I went to twitter and tweeted at them. They claim it works, yet replies on twitter beg to differ. They support people point me to a document that shows UI elements which have been removed. Still broken. Still no word from them. And there's the issue about financial software. A couple of years ago they stopped supporting what Moneydance uses. Basically, Cap One only supports Quicken. I would rather cut off my nose than use Quicken. I moved all my accounts to other banks after Moneydance stopped working. Problem is, my SO still has accounts there and the notification issue is a real problem, as she was not notified of fraudulent transactions due to their new bug.
  - bigie35 6y ago
    That's seems like a customer support issue and not software related but it's definitely frustrating. I use YNAB and their integration with C1 has been great so maybe push on Moneydance as to why that integration is no longer an option.
    - e40 6y ago
      The website has a page changing the notification settings. It used to be there. It's not anymore. Their own documentation says it should be there. I've looked in the not very many places it could be. It's no where to be found.
  - rrix2 6y ago
    I have been really frustrated with C1 not integrating with youneedabudget and Plaid-backed tools for quite a while now and intend to close my C1 credit account as a result. i know it's "as simple" as logging in to C1 and finding the transaction download tool but golly what a waste of effort. https://support.youneedabudget.com/t/p8h6814/a-real-capitalone-fix https://support.youneedabudget.com/t/p8h6814/a-real-capitalo...
  - war1025 6y ago
    > Notifications for transactions stopped working. I get an email for every debit transaction on my account. I've had to update my inbox filters a couple time because they change the email they send it from, but it's been pretty reliable ever since I set it up maybe three or four years ago.
- mikey_p 6y ago
  I've been really pleased with Capital One overall. The only thing that I wish could be resolved is that it can't be synced with You Need a Budget automatically.
  - LucasBrandt 6y ago
    If that syncing is done through Plaid (or maybe even if not), it might be fixed now. I use a similar product, Lunch Money, and syncing didn't work for a long time but within the past month it became possible.
    - Karunamon 6y ago
      It was indeed plaid, Capital One was doing some kind of BS blocking that was preventing any app that uses Plaid from being able to sync data from there.
- war1025 6y ago
  On the off chance you or someone else knows: How do I close old savings accounts in Capital One 360? I used to have my savings split between several buckets, and now I just keep it all in one savings account, but I have four savings accounts with $0 in them because near as I can tell you aren't allowed to close them.
  - ArchOversight 6y ago
    You have to call them. It's the only way to close an old savings account in Capital One 360. It was relatively painless when I had to close my 4 buckets.
- bennylope 6y ago
  Capital One customer here! This is interesting to hear. Capital One's website is easily one of, if not the most annoying bank website I've engaged with in memory, inclusive of behemoths like BofA, regional banks, and a local credit union.
- therealrootuser 6y ago
  I want to be okay with Capital One, but the day I tried signing up for an account (a few years back), their entire application for applying (their application application) had a meltdown and their app crashed, etc, etc. And then I thought, hmm, glad this happened before I had opened an account.
- akgerber 6y ago
  I was worried when ING Direct was bought by Capital One, but they never introduced any bullshit fees and seriously improved the app and website. So I've remained happy with them.
toomuchtodo 6y ago
Consider Fidelity’s cash management account. Great mobile UX, great financial product.
- PascLeRasc 6y ago
  Can you speak a bit more about this? I actually have a Fidelity cash account open but I have no idea how to access it. I’m open to it though if I’m just missing something.
  - toomuchtodo 6y ago
    I use the Fidelity iOS app and fidelity.com, and also have a checkbook and ATM debit card for it. They reimburse all ATM fees, checks are free, and it’s trivial to move money between it and your brokerage, investment, and retirement accounts. They don’t support Zelle, so if you need that P2P instant payment functionally, you’re better off with Ally (I keep a high yield savings account at Discover Bank as a Zelle slush account).
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
cko 6y ago
I'm a happy Schwab customer. Their app isn't what you would call simple, but you can do almost all your investing and banking there (I say almost because I own some physical assets) and they refund ATM withdrawal fees.
- funkaster 6y ago
  I'm also moving to Schwab mostly because my previous and current employer have stocks linked to that platform. TBH seems good enough for my use case (long term investing, mostly ETF)
  - ende 6y ago
    You’re lucky! Schwab is fantastic, and I use it for all my personal banking and brokerage, but most employer 401ks have been through fidelity and others.
- vinay427 6y ago
  > they refund ATM withdrawal fees Most importantly, they do this (as well as priority mailing replacement cards) globally. I have yet to find another bank besides possibly Fidelity's checking account (?) that does this with no stated limit. It's invaluable for those who travel abroad to have access to local currencies with no hassles and a refund of all fees.
  - alexhutcheson 6y ago
    I managed to get my Schwab debit card eaten by ATMs twice in one trip once, and Schwab was able to quickly Fedex replacement cards to addresses I provided in Thailand and Hong Kong. It stopped my trip from turning into a big headache - I was really impressed.
    - wyclif 6y ago
      This is the huge advantage of Schwab over other options I've explored, especially if you are a US citizen but work abroad as a digital nomad. I like CapitalOne, too, but they could not FedEx a replacement card to me when my card got eaten because of what they claimed was a security issue. Schwab could! Also, Schwab's customer service is top notch.
fossuser 6y ago
I also used simple and saw the writing on the wall a few years ago. I’ve since moved everything to Fidelity and it’s probably the best option. Their software could be better, but it’s good enough and the other options are worse.
dcolkitt 6y ago
I'd suggest Bank of America if you have more than $100k in stocks or index funds that you can move to Merrill. That qualifies you for free ATM refunds, and gives you access to unlimited 2.6% cash back on all credit card purchases. https://frugalprofessor.com/best-credit-card-rewards-strategy-2019-edition/ https://frugalprofessor.com/best-credit-card-rewards-strateg...
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- renewiltord 6y ago
  Oh that's a good one. Thanks for the tip.
orange_tee 6y ago
I cannot blame the founders. They worked hard and risked a lot and were successful so they want to cash out. Here's a radical idea. Maybe if countries care so much about keeping markets competitive, they could buy out late-stage startups to allow them to keep operating independently.
- zepto 6y ago
  The obvious retort would be to mention the problems with state ownership/control of companies. However maybe you have a model in mind that doesn’t result in control ending up in the hands of the government. If so, I’m curious!
  - orange_tee 6y ago
    Government could buy it out and sell shares back to the public, sort of like an IPO, but with some conditions attached, so that it ensures the company remains independent for a specified number of years post IPO.
    - zepto 6y ago
      How would the price be determined?
  - PascLeRasc 6y ago
    Maybe that model doesn't work, but I wish there was some government oversight preventing huge companies from buying out small competitors just to shut them down entirely. Like Apple did with Dark Sky, Microsoft did with Wunderlist, and Twitter did with Vine. It's really unfortunate that we can't have much small tech.
    - jakeva 6y ago
      Dark Sky got shut down? It works for me, or do you mean something different?
      - 6y ago
_jal 6y ago
I understand liking modern-feeling apps, but am more than happy to put up with the slightly old-feeling credit union app because they are just such a better institution - no bullshit fees, actually happy employees, far better rates on credit cards/loans... There's just no comparison. I do have a commercial bank account, too, but that's just for access to quicker interchange with other commercial banks, when that's handy.
- noirbot 6y ago
  My worry with most credit unions is that most of the ones commonly recommended have requirements for who can be a member, or are geographically tied. I'm unlikely to live in the same city for as long as I'd want to keep a bank account, and I'm not military or otherwise. Do you have a good recommendation for a CU that's more generally an option?
  - patentatt 6y ago
    Alliant
    - druiid 6y ago
      Plus 1 to Alliant. Their savings rate is top-notch and their apps are pretty good.
      - sbdbdne 6y ago
        -1 to alliant. Had pretty bad experience signing up, they opened the account then closed them, had multiple errors in their website, support wasn't helpful at all. That was a couple years ago, maybe i should try again
  - ac29 6y ago
    FYI: "Credit unions generally follow the principle of "once a member, always a member", which allows a member with a current credit union membership to remain a member even if they would otherwise no longer qualify to be such, such as leaving the company with whom they initially gained membership or moving outside the credit union's defined geographic area." This is certainly true for the credit union I am a member of.
jasonpeacock 6y ago
I use Ally, it's an online-only bank with a good website & app, and great customer service: https://ally.com/ https://ally.com/
- da02 6y ago
  Their app can also be used for no-fee stock trades.
- __david__ 6y ago
  FYI Ally is just a marketing rebrand of GMAC, one of the financial giants involved in the 2008 housing crash. That alone makes me steer clear of them.
  - misframer 6y ago
    I switched from Simple to Ally a few years ago and had 0 problems. I recommend them all the time.
  - tanseydavid 6y ago
    Just curious: which financial giants were NOT involved in the 2008 housing crash? Serious question.
  - CincinnatiMan 6y ago
    Was the GMAC that became Ally involved in mortgages? I thought it wasn't.
  - therealrootuser 6y ago
    Well, there are some nuances you're skating over here. Remember that GMAC Bank (the direct banking company) and GMAC ResCap (the mortgage/real-estate company) were two different entities owned by the industrial loan company GMAC. GMAC Bank was spun off as Ally Bank. Ally Bank (until 2014) was not even in the mortgage business. I can tell you that as an actual customer of (the now former) GMAC Bank, I didn't feel like I got short changed in any way. They had good interest rates, and I'm glad they survived through hook, crook, and some TARP money (which was ultimately paid back with interest). Just my perspective, it doesn't affect me in any way who you bank with.
hundchenkatze 6y ago
I started out on ING Direct as well, but I stuck with it through the Capital One transition. Overall I'm still happy with the checking/savings account features, no maintenance fees etc. The mobile app/website is pretty good. However the "desktop" website is annoying as it's just a scaled up version of the mobile one, but it still gets the jobs done. Unfortunately they've removed the ability to easily add multiple savings accounts for budgeting, or at least I can't find a way to do it. Luckily I still have the ones I created back in the ING days.
- embwbam 6y ago
  You can open multiple high performance savings account by going to the normal account application online. It has you login partway through the process and then adds it to your account
- BayAreaEscapee 6y ago
  I started out on ING Direct and also liked the savings account feature. I created several saving accounts for when some website wants ACH routing information but I don't trust very much: I can put just enough in that account to cover the transaction I want covered. I didn't realize that they god rid of the ability to add new ones. I guess I'll have to make do with the eight I have lol.
  - ArchOversight 6y ago
    It still works, it just isn't as seamless as before. Now you have to go through the "open account" flow, and half-way through you'll get an option to login and join an existing account, after that it is a couple of clicks.
mdgrech23 6y ago
try radius
jdpedrie 6y ago
If you're a veteran or the child of a veteran, highly recommend USAA. Tech is fairly good (they had online deposit years before anyone else I was aware of) and the service is unbeatable.
- alexhutcheson 6y ago
  USAA is almost unbeatable for insurance, but I think Navy Federal has a much better banking experience.
- timgilbert 6y ago
  Any US citizen can get a USAA checking account, and it's quite usable with a decent Android app and the ability to easily transfer money around from different banks. Some of their other services, like car loans, are only available to members of the military, though.
  - aidenn0 6y ago
    Unfortunately they stopped letting non-veterans get USAA checking accounts several years ago. I only found this out when I recommended it on HN last year.
- Karunamon 6y ago
  My roommate is a USAA account holder. They are a bank that is willing to tell PayPal to pound sand when necessary, and they gain a ton of respect for that. Unfortunately though, they have some kind of inane limitation on debit cards that don't let you have more than a certain number of pending transactions. And given that you generally won't know and never can control when a place that runs your card actually captures, it's led to some nasty surprises.
Diederich 6y ago
I also used ING Direct, and switched to Simple when it turned into Capital One. About three years ago, I switched from simple.com to ally.com, and it's been pretty great.
mustacheemperor 6y ago
The GreenDot competitor to Simple, GoBank, launched around the same time as "the first digital / app based bank." It was corporate from the outset, but their partnership with WalMart seemed to reorient it into an internet based check cashing shop complete with cringeworthy "sweepstakes" offers for connecting your direct deposit. The product went downhill abruptly around that time, I still keep it around as an extra debit account so I get some ongoing visibility to the spiral. I have to call a special support number printed on my card, newer customers called the one on the website. The oft-promised chip supporting GoBank card still has not arrived for me, today, in 2020, despite their support promising me literally years ago it would be available in a month. It doesn't work with Apple Pay. The app, which when they launched was one of the first decent bank apps, simply has disabled its most compelling features. You used to be able to peek your balance without signing in, the slider is still there but it doesn't do anything. Fortunately most other mainstream banks have great apps these days. The app still lacks FaceID support. You can use FaceID only through the Apple autofill keyring. And as I just Googled them to make this post, I see there will never be a chip card at all because GoBank doesn't offer a debit card anymore. Apparently GreenDot is powering payments at Uber and Apple Pay P2P now though, so good for them.
ende 6y ago
There really needs to be consumer protections against software-EOL due to mergers/acquisitions, or google just killing things for no reason. Any commercial software based service like this needs to be a contract with consumer society.
sizzle 6y ago
For what it's worth, Chase really stepped their design game up for mobile and responsive web. The weekly money insights report is a great summary of my overall banking activity. Check it out in the app store.

by uses 6y ago

bigie35 6y ago

Former C1 employee: I would give Capital One another shot. Their tech and apps are best in class and and built in-house. They also contribute to the open source community (or did).

whitepoplar 6y ago
I second this. I was an ING Direct customer who was rolled into a C1 360 account and it's honestly been great. It's just a consistently hassle-free experience. TBH, I mostly use a combination of Fidelity + Merrill Edge these days due to my particular cashflow management setup, but I keep my C1 360 account open for use every now and then. It's night and day between C1 360 and Chase, BofA, etc.
abrowne 6y ago
Their website for credit cards is my favorite of any I've tried. My least favorite by far was Chase when I had the Amazon-linked card.
- therealrootuser 6y ago
  May I present you with "US Bank"? Whose web interface looks like it was designed by an angry intern in 1997. Then again, we're all sitting here reading on the minimal UI of Hacker News, so... I find the Chase credit card interface to be pretty reasonable, but then again, I'm not logging into it every day.
e40 6y ago
I beg to differ. Notifications for transactions stopped working. As I always do when things like this happen, I went to twitter and tweeted at them. They claim it works, yet replies on twitter beg to differ. They support people point me to a document that shows UI elements which have been removed. Still broken. Still no word from them. And there's the issue about financial software. A couple of years ago they stopped supporting what Moneydance uses. Basically, Cap One only supports Quicken. I would rather cut off my nose than use Quicken. I moved all my accounts to other banks after Moneydance stopped working. Problem is, my SO still has accounts there and the notification issue is a real problem, as she was not notified of fraudulent transactions due to their new bug.
- bigie35 6y ago
  That's seems like a customer support issue and not software related but it's definitely frustrating. I use YNAB and their integration with C1 has been great so maybe push on Moneydance as to why that integration is no longer an option.
  - e40 6y ago
    The website has a page changing the notification settings. It used to be there. It's not anymore. Their own documentation says it should be there. I've looked in the not very many places it could be. It's no where to be found.
- rrix2 6y ago
  I have been really frustrated with C1 not integrating with youneedabudget and Plaid-backed tools for quite a while now and intend to close my C1 credit account as a result. i know it's "as simple" as logging in to C1 and finding the transaction download tool but golly what a waste of effort. https://support.youneedabudget.com/t/p8h6814/a-real-capitalone-fix https://support.youneedabudget.com/t/p8h6814/a-real-capitalo...
- war1025 6y ago
  > Notifications for transactions stopped working. I get an email for every debit transaction on my account. I've had to update my inbox filters a couple time because they change the email they send it from, but it's been pretty reliable ever since I set it up maybe three or four years ago.
mikey_p 6y ago
I've been really pleased with Capital One overall. The only thing that I wish could be resolved is that it can't be synced with You Need a Budget automatically.
- LucasBrandt 6y ago
  If that syncing is done through Plaid (or maybe even if not), it might be fixed now. I use a similar product, Lunch Money, and syncing didn't work for a long time but within the past month it became possible.
  - Karunamon 6y ago
    It was indeed plaid, Capital One was doing some kind of BS blocking that was preventing any app that uses Plaid from being able to sync data from there.
war1025 6y ago
On the off chance you or someone else knows: How do I close old savings accounts in Capital One 360? I used to have my savings split between several buckets, and now I just keep it all in one savings account, but I have four savings accounts with $0 in them because near as I can tell you aren't allowed to close them.
- ArchOversight 6y ago
  You have to call them. It's the only way to close an old savings account in Capital One 360. It was relatively painless when I had to close my 4 buckets.
bennylope 6y ago
Capital One customer here! This is interesting to hear. Capital One's website is easily one of, if not the most annoying bank website I've engaged with in memory, inclusive of behemoths like BofA, regional banks, and a local credit union.
therealrootuser 6y ago
I want to be okay with Capital One, but the day I tried signing up for an account (a few years back), their entire application for applying (their application application) had a meltdown and their app crashed, etc, etc. And then I thought, hmm, glad this happened before I had opened an account.
akgerber 6y ago
I was worried when ING Direct was bought by Capital One, but they never introduced any bullshit fees and seriously improved the app and website. So I've remained happy with them.

toomuchtodo 6y ago

Consider Fidelity’s cash management account. Great mobile UX, great financial product.

PascLeRasc 6y ago
Can you speak a bit more about this? I actually have a Fidelity cash account open but I have no idea how to access it. I’m open to it though if I’m just missing something.
- toomuchtodo 6y ago
  I use the Fidelity iOS app and fidelity.com, and also have a checkbook and ATM debit card for it. They reimburse all ATM fees, checks are free, and it’s trivial to move money between it and your brokerage, investment, and retirement accounts. They don’t support Zelle, so if you need that P2P instant payment functionally, you’re better off with Ally (I keep a high yield savings account at Discover Bank as a Zelle slush account).
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]

cko 6y ago

I'm a happy Schwab customer. Their app isn't what you would call simple, but you can do almost all your investing and banking there (I say almost because I own some physical assets) and they refund ATM withdrawal fees.

funkaster 6y ago
I'm also moving to Schwab mostly because my previous and current employer have stocks linked to that platform. TBH seems good enough for my use case (long term investing, mostly ETF)
- ende 6y ago
  You’re lucky! Schwab is fantastic, and I use it for all my personal banking and brokerage, but most employer 401ks have been through fidelity and others.
vinay427 6y ago
> they refund ATM withdrawal fees Most importantly, they do this (as well as priority mailing replacement cards) globally. I have yet to find another bank besides possibly Fidelity's checking account (?) that does this with no stated limit. It's invaluable for those who travel abroad to have access to local currencies with no hassles and a refund of all fees.
- alexhutcheson 6y ago
  I managed to get my Schwab debit card eaten by ATMs twice in one trip once, and Schwab was able to quickly Fedex replacement cards to addresses I provided in Thailand and Hong Kong. It stopped my trip from turning into a big headache - I was really impressed.
  - wyclif 6y ago
    This is the huge advantage of Schwab over other options I've explored, especially if you are a US citizen but work abroad as a digital nomad. I like CapitalOne, too, but they could not FedEx a replacement card to me when my card got eaten because of what they claimed was a security issue. Schwab could! Also, Schwab's customer service is top notch.

fossuser 6y ago

I also used simple and saw the writing on the wall a few years ago. I’ve since moved everything to Fidelity and it’s probably the best option. Their software could be better, but it’s good enough and the other options are worse.

dcolkitt 6y ago

I'd suggest Bank of America if you have more than $100k in stocks or index funds that you can move to Merrill. That qualifies you for free ATM refunds, and gives you access to unlimited 2.6% cash back on all credit card purchases. https://frugalprofessor.com/best-credit-card-rewards-strategy-2019-edition/ https://frugalprofessor.com/best-credit-card-rewards-strateg...

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
renewiltord 6y ago
Oh that's a good one. Thanks for the tip.

orange_tee 6y ago

I cannot blame the founders. They worked hard and risked a lot and were successful so they want to cash out. Here's a radical idea. Maybe if countries care so much about keeping markets competitive, they could buy out late-stage startups to allow them to keep operating independently.

zepto 6y ago
The obvious retort would be to mention the problems with state ownership/control of companies. However maybe you have a model in mind that doesn’t result in control ending up in the hands of the government. If so, I’m curious!
- orange_tee 6y ago
  Government could buy it out and sell shares back to the public, sort of like an IPO, but with some conditions attached, so that it ensures the company remains independent for a specified number of years post IPO.
  - zepto 6y ago
    How would the price be determined?
- PascLeRasc 6y ago
  Maybe that model doesn't work, but I wish there was some government oversight preventing huge companies from buying out small competitors just to shut them down entirely. Like Apple did with Dark Sky, Microsoft did with Wunderlist, and Twitter did with Vine. It's really unfortunate that we can't have much small tech.
  - jakeva 6y ago
    Dark Sky got shut down? It works for me, or do you mean something different?
    - 6y ago

_jal 6y ago

I understand liking modern-feeling apps, but am more than happy to put up with the slightly old-feeling credit union app because they are just such a better institution - no bullshit fees, actually happy employees, far better rates on credit cards/loans... There's just no comparison. I do have a commercial bank account, too, but that's just for access to quicker interchange with other commercial banks, when that's handy.

noirbot 6y ago
My worry with most credit unions is that most of the ones commonly recommended have requirements for who can be a member, or are geographically tied. I'm unlikely to live in the same city for as long as I'd want to keep a bank account, and I'm not military or otherwise. Do you have a good recommendation for a CU that's more generally an option?
- patentatt 6y ago
  Alliant
  - druiid 6y ago
    Plus 1 to Alliant. Their savings rate is top-notch and their apps are pretty good.
    - sbdbdne 6y ago
      -1 to alliant. Had pretty bad experience signing up, they opened the account then closed them, had multiple errors in their website, support wasn't helpful at all. That was a couple years ago, maybe i should try again
- ac29 6y ago
  FYI: "Credit unions generally follow the principle of "once a member, always a member", which allows a member with a current credit union membership to remain a member even if they would otherwise no longer qualify to be such, such as leaving the company with whom they initially gained membership or moving outside the credit union's defined geographic area." This is certainly true for the credit union I am a member of.

jasonpeacock 6y ago

I use Ally, it's an online-only bank with a good website & app, and great customer service: https://ally.com/ https://ally.com/

da02 6y ago
Their app can also be used for no-fee stock trades.
__david__ 6y ago
FYI Ally is just a marketing rebrand of GMAC, one of the financial giants involved in the 2008 housing crash. That alone makes me steer clear of them.
- misframer 6y ago
  I switched from Simple to Ally a few years ago and had 0 problems. I recommend them all the time.
- tanseydavid 6y ago
  Just curious: which financial giants were NOT involved in the 2008 housing crash? Serious question.
- CincinnatiMan 6y ago
  Was the GMAC that became Ally involved in mortgages? I thought it wasn't.
- therealrootuser 6y ago
  Well, there are some nuances you're skating over here. Remember that GMAC Bank (the direct banking company) and GMAC ResCap (the mortgage/real-estate company) were two different entities owned by the industrial loan company GMAC. GMAC Bank was spun off as Ally Bank. Ally Bank (until 2014) was not even in the mortgage business. I can tell you that as an actual customer of (the now former) GMAC Bank, I didn't feel like I got short changed in any way. They had good interest rates, and I'm glad they survived through hook, crook, and some TARP money (which was ultimately paid back with interest). Just my perspective, it doesn't affect me in any way who you bank with.

hundchenkatze 6y ago

I started out on ING Direct as well, but I stuck with it through the Capital One transition. Overall I'm still happy with the checking/savings account features, no maintenance fees etc. The mobile app/website is pretty good. However the "desktop" website is annoying as it's just a scaled up version of the mobile one, but it still gets the jobs done. Unfortunately they've removed the ability to easily add multiple savings accounts for budgeting, or at least I can't find a way to do it. Luckily I still have the ones I created back in the ING days.

embwbam 6y ago
You can open multiple high performance savings account by going to the normal account application online. It has you login partway through the process and then adds it to your account
BayAreaEscapee 6y ago
I started out on ING Direct and also liked the savings account feature. I created several saving accounts for when some website wants ACH routing information but I don't trust very much: I can put just enough in that account to cover the transaction I want covered. I didn't realize that they god rid of the ability to add new ones. I guess I'll have to make do with the eight I have lol.
- ArchOversight 6y ago
  It still works, it just isn't as seamless as before. Now you have to go through the "open account" flow, and half-way through you'll get an option to login and join an existing account, after that it is a couple of clicks.

mdgrech23 6y ago

try radius

jdpedrie 6y ago

If you're a veteran or the child of a veteran, highly recommend USAA. Tech is fairly good (they had online deposit years before anyone else I was aware of) and the service is unbeatable.

alexhutcheson 6y ago
USAA is almost unbeatable for insurance, but I think Navy Federal has a much better banking experience.
timgilbert 6y ago
Any US citizen can get a USAA checking account, and it's quite usable with a decent Android app and the ability to easily transfer money around from different banks. Some of their other services, like car loans, are only available to members of the military, though.
- aidenn0 6y ago
  Unfortunately they stopped letting non-veterans get USAA checking accounts several years ago. I only found this out when I recommended it on HN last year.
Karunamon 6y ago
My roommate is a USAA account holder. They are a bank that is willing to tell PayPal to pound sand when necessary, and they gain a ton of respect for that. Unfortunately though, they have some kind of inane limitation on debit cards that don't let you have more than a certain number of pending transactions. And given that you generally won't know and never can control when a place that runs your card actually captures, it's led to some nasty surprises.

Diederich 6y ago

I also used ING Direct, and switched to Simple when it turned into Capital One. About three years ago, I switched from simple.com to ally.com, and it's been pretty great.

mustacheemperor 6y ago

The GreenDot competitor to Simple, GoBank, launched around the same time as "the first digital / app based bank." It was corporate from the outset, but their partnership with WalMart seemed to reorient it into an internet based check cashing shop complete with cringeworthy "sweepstakes" offers for connecting your direct deposit. The product went downhill abruptly around that time, I still keep it around as an extra debit account so I get some ongoing visibility to the spiral. I have to call a special support number printed on my card, newer customers called the one on the website. The oft-promised chip supporting GoBank card still has not arrived for me, today, in 2020, despite their support promising me literally years ago it would be available in a month. It doesn't work with Apple Pay. The app, which when they launched was one of the first decent bank apps, simply has disabled its most compelling features. You used to be able to peek your balance without signing in, the slider is still there but it doesn't do anything. Fortunately most other mainstream banks have great apps these days. The app still lacks FaceID support. You can use FaceID only through the Apple autofill keyring. And as I just Googled them to make this post, I see there will never be a chip card at all because GoBank doesn't offer a debit card anymore. Apparently GreenDot is powering payments at Uber and Apple Pay P2P now though, so good for them.

ende 6y ago

There really needs to be consumer protections against software-EOL due to mergers/acquisitions, or google just killing things for no reason. Any commercial software based service like this needs to be a contract with consumer society.

sizzle 6y ago

For what it's worth, Chase really stepped their design game up for mobile and responsive web. The weekly money insights report is a great summary of my overall banking activity. Check it out in the app store.