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Hi, cofounder of Simple here. We work with partner banks who hold on to deposits. For all intents and purposes, you never have to think about who that partner
by al3x 15y ago
Hi, cofounder of Simple here.
We work with partner banks who hold on to deposits. For all intents and purposes, you never have to think about who that partner bank is, but if you ever need to contact them directly, you'll know where your funds are.
You might find our FAQ informative: https://www.simple.com/faq/ https://www.simple.com/faq/.
- buro9 15y agoStill confused. Is the account at the partner bank in my name, or that of Simple?
- delinka 15y agoAssumption alert: the account at the partner bank is in your name. Your money must be in your name for it to get the FDIC's "$250,000 limit per depositor" insurance coverage. Having one big mattress with Simple's name on it would preclude your money being insured. Ergo, the account must be in your name.
- buro9 15y agoExcellent. That's all I needed to know.
- damoncali 15y agoI dont' think that's exactly true. There is such a thing as the CDARS program, which allows you to spread your money between accounts at multiple banks. Not sure what the limitations are on that, but I would be weary of assumptions on this. If the money were not in my name, that would be deal killer. EDIT: for clarity.
- delinka 15y agoIt's per depositor per bank. Not per depositor period. Spreading your money across accounts at a single bank would not get you additional protection. Spreading your money across banks is how you protect more of your money.
- bradleyland 15y agoI have no affiliation with Simple, but the relationship seems pretty straight forward. "Where" your money is becomes an abstraction. You hold an account with Simple, and are issued a Visa card with which you can access the funds in your account. Everything beyond that is transparent to you. The accounts would technically be "in your name", since the funds are yours, but you never have to interface with the other bank, so it becomes a question of: do you want to know the technical specifics, or stick to what's pragmatic? Pragmatically, your account would be with Simple. Your money is in an FDIC insured depository bank, so you don't face any additional risk because of the "partner" distribution.
- ironchef 15y agoBut pragmatically if they switch banks behind the scenes, that would usually require a hard credit pull every time it occurs. This would seem to hurt a person's credit score if that was what actually occurred (that's why the semantics are important).
- mahyarm 15y agoMaybe the definition of a hard credit pull should be changed? It discourages people from shopping for loans since you often cant get a real interest rate quote until that provider gets your credit rating themselves anyways.
- ironchef 15y agoWell...I think FICO scores should be revamped anyways, but if you're shopping for loans, from what I recall, you only get hit once per 30 days (as obviously if you're in the market for a loan, you shouldn't be negatively affected for every vendor you approach).
- bradleyland 15y agoBanking is an industry that is not nearly as simple as it seems. There is a difference between "you" walking in to a bank wishing to establish an account and a "partner" like Simple seeking to move depository funds between banks. The bank pulls a credit check on you, the individual, to mitigate risk. A company like Simple would secure a bond or insurance to mitigate this risk for the partner bank, reducing the friction for a business critical action (moving partner banks). Pragmatically, Simple wouldn't survive very long if every customer were hit with a hard credit pull every time Simple moved their funds. I'm not even sure that would be legal.
- etherealG 15y agohey al3x. thanks for the explanation. i had a read over the faq and i think it's still not too clear who would have the deposit. am i right in assuming that on opening an account my initial deposit would go to a specific bank partner, and i would be informed of who that partner was in case i ever wanted to approach them directly to access my deposit without your service?
- al3x 15y agoAnswering etherealG's question here because I can't reply to him below: Yes, you'll know what institution your funds are at. When you get your Simple card, it'll say "issued by {Bank Name}" on the back.
- ynniv 15y agoPerhaps your FAQ should say that your money will be kept at a specific institution that you will be informed of.
- JoshTriplett 15y agoDoes that mean that you'll have to issue new cards if you change the bank you work with? (Also, what bank do you currently work with? What will the first round of cards say?)
- sector 15y agoI don't understand who I call when a problem arises. Do I call you, the anonymous partner bank, or is it simply impossible to call somebody if I have an issue?
- al3x 15y agoHi, cofounder of Simple here. You call us if you have a problem or question. We'll let you know what bank your funds reside at, but you should never need to contact them. We have our own in-house customer relations staff.
- sector 15y agoOkay, so let's take a real situation that happened to me: an ATM debited my account $600, but only dispensed $300. In that situation, I call you, and what happens from there? Thank you for taking the time to answer some of our questions on what is surely a busy day.
- Game_Ender 15y agoAccording to a video on their site they don't add additional fees for out of network ATMs only forward the fee that ATM charges.
- omarchowdhury 15y agoWhich ATMs charge $300 in fees per transaction?
- Game_Ender 15y agosector asked about fees, then removed the question from his post with an edit.
- Game_Ender 15y agoNOTE: sector edited his answer to remove an unrelated question on ATM fees which I was attempting to answer.
- anonymoushn 15y agoCan you tell us which banks in particular will be holding the deposits? I ask because I am interested in your product, but I do not want to do business with any bank that repeatedly forecloses on houses for which it holds no mortgage, hires mercenaries to commit the crime of breaking and entering, has a chief underwriter who has testified "Defective mortgages increased during 2007 to over 80 percent of production," or has admitted to over 100,000 instances of perjury. As such I'd like to be certain that you aren't doing business with Bank of America, Wells Fargo, or Citigroup before I open an account.
- navyrain 15y agoLove where you're going with this; however, the trust level is just not high enough for me to move my funds from a credit union (becu.org for me) to your partner bank. Now if you could partner with them, or a similar credit union, that would be amazing.
- Nelson69 15y agoSo you're a metabank, and you provide mint like tools for analyzing expenses, paying bills, etc.. Then you provide better customer service or a better experience or something like that? Do you plan to use customers leverage to get better terms with the actual banks? Like could you move all the accounts to another bank if it paid better interest or something like that? Do you take a cut of the action?
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]