6 ms·

This sounds like http://simple.com http://simple.com for the UK. The bit that worried me was we plan to make all the money we need from fair and transparen

This sounds like http://simple.com http://simple.com for the UK. The bit that worried me was we plan to make all the money we need from fair and transparent overdraft charges ... which means they have a strong incentive to have their customers overdraft. Simple's model feels more sustainable: Although we love technology, we don’t knock tradition. In the past, banks made most of their profits off interest margin—the difference between the amount of interest they make on loans, and the interest they pay customers on their deposits. Our partner bank splits this interest margin with Simple. When you swipe your debit card, the merchant pays a service fee (called interchange) to the issuing bank. Our partners split this revenue with us.

scrollaway 11y ago
I've been looking for a europe-based alternative to Simple for months. This is exciting.
Osmium 11y ago
Do you use Simple yourself, would you recommend them? I just read that they've seen some significant teething problems: http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/10/months-after-its-upgrade-simples-online-bank-is-still-broken/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/10/months-after-its-upgrade-si... (I might need to open a personal US bank account soon but have no idea where to start. I'd err towards a local credit union, but again, there are so many. Edit: It looks like you have to be a permanent resident of the US to use Simple, so not appropriate for people on temporary visas it seems.)
- alanmoo 11y ago
  I do, and I would heartily recommend them. It was a bit annoying during the time period the article describes, but things are smoothed out now.
- joshstrange 11y ago
  Not OP but I can answer this. I use Simple and I HIGHLY recommend them. I've not had any of the issues mentioned in that article but had 1-2 friends that use Simple that did have issues (around that upgrade) with deposits not getting posted and/or transactions not being posted misleading them on the true balance of their account. Simple cleared it all up and reimbursed them like $50 for their trouble (on top of not charging overdraft fees in one case). Simple's support is better than anything out there. PERIOD. They get back to you in normally less than 1 hour (if you use their mobile/site chat) and only once did I get what I felt like as a form letter. Most of the time they are very personable (see: https://s.joshstrange.com/ZuVu.png https://s.joshstrange.com/ZuVu.png and https://s.joshstrange.com/BbKS.png https://s.joshstrange.com/BbKS.png + https://s.joshstrange.com/glaC.png https://s.joshstrange.com/glaC.png I've got a few more if you want to see them) and a joy to work with. If you have other questions let me know.
joshstrange 11y ago
It will be interesting to see if Mondo can overcome the issue Simple had. Originally they wanted to own the full stack and talked about how there would be an API. Years later they abandoned trying to own the stack and settled for being a thin layer on top of existing banks (Bancorp) and the API hasn't been mentioned in forever. In 2012 I reached out to Simple through support and this was my interaction: https://s.joshstrange.com/ZuVu.png https://s.joshstrange.com/ZuVu.png and the email that followed: https://s.joshstrange.com/x1MW.png https://s.joshstrange.com/x1MW.png There was a little more back and forth on feature suggestions but that's not really relevant to the API so I didn't post it. So the API is DOA which is sad but I still really do like Simple and their tools. It's by far the best looking bank out there and has been a joy to use.
tomblomfield 11y ago
Disclaimer: I work for Mondo. I was a big fan (and user) of Simple in the early days - I really admired their vision & UX focus. However, Simple wasn't able to lend because fundamentally they were not a bank - they were a skin on Bancorp (and now BBVA). If you're relying on card interchange fees or net-interest income ("NII") without any real lending business, it's almost impossible to make the numbers stack up. As a bank, even if you pay close to 0% interest on account balances, you'll only make about 1% investing that money in government gilts, giving a net interest margin ("NIM") of 1%.
- cmsj 11y ago
  So, I get that you want to make the accounts free, but frankly, for the kind of service you're talking about, I would very gladly pay a monthly fee. I say that a) because I agree that all of the current UK banks suck and I'm willing to vote with my wallet, b) I haven't been overdrawn since my student days, nor do I typically carry any short term debt, thus making me a terrible customer for you, because I wouldn't be generating any revenue (beyond the interchange fees). Also, if I can throw some feature requests at you: * I want to annotate my Direct Debits. I have a bunch of them and it's very annoying to keep track of which DD relates to which tangible thing in my life (e.g. all the insurance products I have, which despite having been sold to me by visible brands, are billed directly by underwriters with inscrutable names) * I absolutely do not want a little two factor device I shove my debit card into, with its pathetic little LCD screen that fails every 6 months. I want my phone to authenticate me with TouchID and/or an APNS/SMS code. * I want my account visible via an (documented) API, so it integrates cleanly into iBank on my Mac (or similar apps). I currently keep my local archive of account transactions by manually exporting Quicken files from my bank's website. * I'd like to be allowed to access the account API myself, because maybe I want to write a Mac app that puts my live balance in an NSMenuItem * Search. Oh my goodness why can I not search my account history for merchant names, dates, or amounts. * Apply Pay support (duh) * Cheque deposit via my phone's camera * Instant setup/teardown of sub-accounts, so I can quickly open a savings pot for a particular thing I want to buy, then delete it when I hit my target :)
  - abritishguy 11y ago

scrollaway 11y ago

I've been looking for a europe-based alternative to Simple for months. This is exciting.

Osmium 11y ago

Do you use Simple yourself, would you recommend them? I just read that they've seen some significant teething problems: http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/10/months-after-its-upgrade-simples-online-bank-is-still-broken/ http://techcrunch.com/2014/10/10/months-after-its-upgrade-si... (I might need to open a personal US bank account soon but have no idea where to start. I'd err towards a local credit union, but again, there are so many. Edit: It looks like you have to be a permanent resident of the US to use Simple, so not appropriate for people on temporary visas it seems.)

alanmoo 11y ago
I do, and I would heartily recommend them. It was a bit annoying during the time period the article describes, but things are smoothed out now.
joshstrange 11y ago
Not OP but I can answer this. I use Simple and I HIGHLY recommend them. I've not had any of the issues mentioned in that article but had 1-2 friends that use Simple that did have issues (around that upgrade) with deposits not getting posted and/or transactions not being posted misleading them on the true balance of their account. Simple cleared it all up and reimbursed them like $50 for their trouble (on top of not charging overdraft fees in one case). Simple's support is better than anything out there. PERIOD. They get back to you in normally less than 1 hour (if you use their mobile/site chat) and only once did I get what I felt like as a form letter. Most of the time they are very personable (see: https://s.joshstrange.com/ZuVu.png https://s.joshstrange.com/ZuVu.png and https://s.joshstrange.com/BbKS.png https://s.joshstrange.com/BbKS.png + https://s.joshstrange.com/glaC.png https://s.joshstrange.com/glaC.png I've got a few more if you want to see them) and a joy to work with. If you have other questions let me know.

joshstrange 11y ago

It will be interesting to see if Mondo can overcome the issue Simple had. Originally they wanted to own the full stack and talked about how there would be an API. Years later they abandoned trying to own the stack and settled for being a thin layer on top of existing banks (Bancorp) and the API hasn't been mentioned in forever. In 2012 I reached out to Simple through support and this was my interaction: https://s.joshstrange.com/ZuVu.png https://s.joshstrange.com/ZuVu.png and the email that followed: https://s.joshstrange.com/x1MW.png https://s.joshstrange.com/x1MW.png There was a little more back and forth on feature suggestions but that's not really relevant to the API so I didn't post it. So the API is DOA which is sad but I still really do like Simple and their tools. It's by far the best looking bank out there and has been a joy to use.

tomblomfield 11y ago

Disclaimer: I work for Mondo. I was a big fan (and user) of Simple in the early days - I really admired their vision & UX focus. However, Simple wasn't able to lend because fundamentally they were not a bank - they were a skin on Bancorp (and now BBVA). If you're relying on card interchange fees or net-interest income ("NII") without any real lending business, it's almost impossible to make the numbers stack up. As a bank, even if you pay close to 0% interest on account balances, you'll only make about 1% investing that money in government gilts, giving a net interest margin ("NIM") of 1%.

cmsj 11y ago
So, I get that you want to make the accounts free, but frankly, for the kind of service you're talking about, I would very gladly pay a monthly fee. I say that a) because I agree that all of the current UK banks suck and I'm willing to vote with my wallet, b) I haven't been overdrawn since my student days, nor do I typically carry any short term debt, thus making me a terrible customer for you, because I wouldn't be generating any revenue (beyond the interchange fees). Also, if I can throw some feature requests at you: * I want to annotate my Direct Debits. I have a bunch of them and it's very annoying to keep track of which DD relates to which tangible thing in my life (e.g. all the insurance products I have, which despite having been sold to me by visible brands, are billed directly by underwriters with inscrutable names) * I absolutely do not want a little two factor device I shove my debit card into, with its pathetic little LCD screen that fails every 6 months. I want my phone to authenticate me with TouchID and/or an APNS/SMS code. * I want my account visible via an (documented) API, so it integrates cleanly into iBank on my Mac (or similar apps). I currently keep my local archive of account transactions by manually exporting Quicken files from my bank's website. * I'd like to be allowed to access the account API myself, because maybe I want to write a Mac app that puts my live balance in an NSMenuItem * Search. Oh my goodness why can I not search my account history for merchant names, dates, or amounts. * Apply Pay support (duh) * Cheque deposit via my phone's camera * Instant setup/teardown of sub-accounts, so I can quickly open a savings pot for a particular thing I want to buy, then delete it when I hit my target :)
- abritishguy 11y ago