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Twitter's Alex Payne quits, heads onto something new.

al3x.net

41–50 of 166 posts

Re: Twitter's Alex Payne quits, heads onto something new.

#41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dependable banks... are those the ones that taxpayers just bailed out for hundreds of billions of dollars because they were about to destroy the entire financial system?

Notice how even when they screwed up, they were still bailed out. Obviously I'm not thrilled that any bank would screw up in the first place, but no one's bailing out BankSimple if they do too.

If they have FDIC insurance, then at least your money will be insured up to $250,000.

Re: Twitter's Alex Payne quits, heads onto something new.

#42

I'm sorry, but I want my bankers to be grave old men in suits. I also want my bank to have offices all over the world and I want to know that they are handling money many hundreds of times larger than whatever I have. I don't want a bank started by a guy called al3x, and who just left twitter. It sounds innovative, but it doesn't sound...dependable. And if there is one feature I want my bank to have, it's dependable.

[deleted]

Re: Twitter's Alex Payne quits, heads onto something new.

#43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The dependable banks... are those the ones that taxpayers just bailed out for hundreds of billions of dollars because they were about to destroy the entire financial system?

Notice how even when they screwed up, they were still bailed out. Obviously I'm not thrilled that any bank would screw up in the first place, but no one's bailing out BankSimple if they do too.

[deleted]

Re: Twitter's Alex Payne quits, heads onto something new.

#44

I'm sorry, but I want my bankers to be grave old men in suits. I also want my bank to have offices all over the world and I want to know that they are handling money many hundreds of times larger than whatever I have. I don't want a bank started by a guy called al3x, and who just left twitter. It sounds innovative, but it doesn't sound...dependable. And if there is one feature I want my bank to have, it's dependable.

Lots of potential in this space. But you're right, for some reason, a 502 Bad Gateway error seems less forgivable when coming from a bank.

Re: Twitter's Alex Payne quits, heads onto something new.

#45
post #38

I'm sorry, but I want my bankers to be grave old men in suits. I also want my bank to have offices all over the world and I want to know that they are handling money many hundreds of times larger than whatever I have. I don't want a bank started by a guy called al3x, and who just left twitter. It sounds innovative, but it doesn't sound...dependable. And if there is one feature I want my bank to have, it's dependable.

That's why I'll be using it first, and lots of my fellow college students who have a lot less to use and a lot more to gain from using a bank like BankSimple. Time is in short supply, and fees eat away at my little pool of cash. I'm willing to take the risk, and willing to put my money in the hands of people who are young, smart and innovative, instead of bureaucratic, slow and set in their ways. Not only that, but i…

Being FDIC insured is pretty standard nowadays.

Also, you only get charged fees if you use a "service" of the bank, such as overdraft protection.

If their revenue model of "interest margin" uhm.. interests you, I would suggest joining a local, state-chartered credit union. It is how they have been doing it for years!

[EDIT] and if you are young, time is not in short supply and is actually on your side

Re: Twitter's Alex Payne quits, heads onto something new.

#46
post #16
post #13

this already exists: USAA Banking and Investing

USAA Banking and Investing isn't accessible to most of the public, and is locked down as to be almost indistinguishable from other credit-unions for their non-veteran, non-military customers.

Not true. USAA Banking, Investments and Life Insurance are open to everyone, regardless of prior military service.

https://www.usaa.com/inet/ent_utils/McStaticPages?key=why_ch...

Re: Twitter's Alex Payne quits, heads onto something new.

#47

I'm sorry, but I want my bankers to be grave old men in suits. I also want my bank to have offices all over the world and I want to know that they are handling money many hundreds of times larger than whatever I have. I don't want a bank started by a guy called al3x, and who just left twitter. It sounds innovative, but it doesn't sound...dependable. And if there is one feature I want my bank to have, it's dependable.

> I don't want a bank started by a guy called al3x, and who just left twitter. It sounds innovative, but it doesn't sound...dependable.

It could sound worse: http://www.bankofinternet.com/

Re: Twitter's Alex Payne quits, heads onto something new.

#48

I'm sorry, but I want my bankers to be grave old men in suits. I also want my bank to have offices all over the world and I want to know that they are handling money many hundreds of times larger than whatever I have. I don't want a bank started by a guy called al3x, and who just left twitter. It sounds innovative, but it doesn't sound...dependable. And if there is one feature I want my bank to have, it's dependable.

Yes I want my bank to be dependable but you don't have any real point why online only bank can not be dependable?

Before Amazon came along people probably thought that retailing can be done only in physical stores but it changed.

Another example is Netflix over Blockbuster. I think its time for online only bank. I don't remember visiting my bank ever after opening my account with them. We definitely need ATMs but not banking centers.

Re: Twitter's Alex Payne quits, heads onto something new.

#49
post #6

SimpleBank looks interesting - I assume this is a 'virtual' bank and they are just reselling some other bank but putting their interface on it. Anyone know any details?

It's not just a pretty interface to Bank of America or anything like that. But they aren't a normal bank with a charter and millions of dollars put up in bonds to allow them to operate legally. They haven't gone into detail about exactly how everything works, but they have a "network of banks" where the money will be stored (which is how they get it FDIC insured), and they sit on top of that in some way.

http://banksimple.net/blog/2010/03/23/status-update/

>When we first started thinking about starting a bank we looked into the de novo banking process. This is the process by which new banks are formed from scratch. This is both expensive and, more importantly, it takes too long to launch. It is near impossible to innovate with an imposed three year launch delay. The best way to serve your needs is to launch quickly and to adapt our offering to meet your individual needs. Modern technology lets us do that. To achieve this we are planning to launch with a special corporate structure. We are bringing together a group of financial institutions to provide our underlying banking services. Our partner banks hold all deposits in insured accounts.

Re: Twitter's Alex Payne quits, heads onto something new.

#50

I've wanted to do something very much like this in a future startup. Banking does suck. Unfortunately, it's debatable how much of banks' suckiness is avoidable. Retail banking is caught in a vice-grip between fierce competition for low margins and government regulations. For example, from what I understand you pretty much have to run mainframes with certain antiquated, government-approved software to process stuff th…

Of the value props he describes, the only one that remotely resonates with me is: "A bank that puts your money to work automatically." He writes that nobody LOVES their bank. But does anybody really HATE their bank? Maybe some vocal folks, but a bank to me is a utility-- a hole in the wall where I stick my money. I've never felt gouged by fees (when I was young and stupid, I've been annoyed by overdraft fees, but the…

Agreed. I've been doing my banking through a small, local bank since I had my first account many moons ago. I don't pay fees for normal banking activities, and have always had good experiences when dealing with the bank employees face-to-face. I don't LOVE my bank, but do I need to LOVE my bank? I'm not sure...I need to be able to trust them.
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