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This is the myopia of the affluent. Many people, not just 23 year olds, do live paycheck to paycheck, and need to know on any given day how much they can spend

by rquantz 15y ago

This is the myopia of the affluent. Many people, not just 23 year olds, do live paycheck to paycheck, and need to know on any given day how much they can spend without overdrawing. The answer to this question is hard to find from most banks, who make money from fees and have an interest in their poorer customers overdrawing their accounts by a few bucks so they can charge an overdraft fee. This is a problem that, for instance, Elizabeth Warren has talked about a lot. Banksimple is trying to build a bank that doesn't suck, and banks suck for a lot of reasons. These features will be helpful to anyone who is living on a low income, either due to misfortune or choice.

klenwell 15y ago
That's a reasonable response and I'm very sympathetic to Elizabeth Warren's mission. I hold the greatest innovation the financial industry could come up with, over the long run, is a better educated consumer. But is this a product that is aimed at low income customers? I struggle to see, from what's presented here, how that particular demographic will benefit from on online bank, iphone mobile banking app, or whatever else BankSimple has to offer. Has BankSimple cast away deceptive or exploitative fees and the diabolical legalese of the small print? Have consumer advocates endorsed BankSimple as an example of a new more consumer-friendly bank? That would be great, if so, for that strikes me as a core part of Warren's crusade.
- Game_Ender 15y ago
  > Has BankSimple cast away deceptive or exploitative fees According everything they yes, they charge any fees or having any penalties for things like overdrafting your account.
- rquantz 15y ago
  I think a bank aimed at providing a good service to consumers, with a great user interface and features that are beneficial to low income customers, has the potential to be truly useful to that demographic. The two things that could get in the way are marketing and access. I agree that, so far at least, it does appear to be marketing to... well, a hacker news croud. This may change as they open to the general public. Certainly, HNers probably make better beta customers for just about any business. Let's hope they start making themselves known outside the tech field, for their sake and ours. As far as access, obviously the poorest of the poor probably don't have access to an online bank, and if you make the bank unusable to people without a smart phone, you're limiting it even further. On top of that, it's not clear yet whether they will have stringent credit rating requirements that could shut a lot of people out who need a service like this. My hope is that BankSimple will keep in mind how important they could be to people who really do need a less malevolent bank. They certainly could end up appealing only to an affluent crowd, but I get the feeling that they have a certain amount of zealous righteousness that could translate good user experience into a truly new type of bank. I do think they are that ambitious, and I think they have the opportunity to fulfill that ambition. But it's still up to them to prove that their heart is in the right place.
deepGem 15y ago
To add to your point - This feature is very much required not only for people living paycheck to paycheck but also for people holding multiple accounts. I've had many instances in which my BOFA account was overdrawn simply because I didn't know how much money was there when I swiped the debit card. Banks thrive on these overdraft fees. I even talked to the BOFA branch manager telling them not to honor a transaction if I don't have the required balance and they simply wouldn't agree to that.
throwaway6326 15y ago
They're not building a bank that doesn't suck. They're building a nice web interface. They don't appear to be addressing any other service-related issues at all. Rather, they're just outsourcing that.

by rquantz 15y ago

klenwell 15y ago

That's a reasonable response and I'm very sympathetic to Elizabeth Warren's mission. I hold the greatest innovation the financial industry could come up with, over the long run, is a better educated consumer. But is this a product that is aimed at low income customers? I struggle to see, from what's presented here, how that particular demographic will benefit from on online bank, iphone mobile banking app, or whatever else BankSimple has to offer. Has BankSimple cast away deceptive or exploitative fees and the diabolical legalese of the small print? Have consumer advocates endorsed BankSimple as an example of a new more consumer-friendly bank? That would be great, if so, for that strikes me as a core part of Warren's crusade.

Game_Ender 15y ago
> Has BankSimple cast away deceptive or exploitative fees According everything they yes, they charge any fees or having any penalties for things like overdrafting your account.
rquantz 15y ago
I think a bank aimed at providing a good service to consumers, with a great user interface and features that are beneficial to low income customers, has the potential to be truly useful to that demographic. The two things that could get in the way are marketing and access. I agree that, so far at least, it does appear to be marketing to... well, a hacker news croud. This may change as they open to the general public. Certainly, HNers probably make better beta customers for just about any business. Let's hope they start making themselves known outside the tech field, for their sake and ours. As far as access, obviously the poorest of the poor probably don't have access to an online bank, and if you make the bank unusable to people without a smart phone, you're limiting it even further. On top of that, it's not clear yet whether they will have stringent credit rating requirements that could shut a lot of people out who need a service like this. My hope is that BankSimple will keep in mind how important they could be to people who really do need a less malevolent bank. They certainly could end up appealing only to an affluent crowd, but I get the feeling that they have a certain amount of zealous righteousness that could translate good user experience into a truly new type of bank. I do think they are that ambitious, and I think they have the opportunity to fulfill that ambition. But it's still up to them to prove that their heart is in the right place.

deepGem 15y ago

To add to your point - This feature is very much required not only for people living paycheck to paycheck but also for people holding multiple accounts. I've had many instances in which my BOFA account was overdrawn simply because I didn't know how much money was there when I swiped the debit card. Banks thrive on these overdraft fees. I even talked to the BOFA branch manager telling them not to honor a transaction if I don't have the required balance and they simply wouldn't agree to that.

throwaway6326 15y ago

They're not building a bank that doesn't suck. They're building a nice web interface. They don't appear to be addressing any other service-related issues at all. Rather, they're just outsourcing that.