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

al3x.net

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

#62

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.

Odd, the jobs page [http://banksimple.net/jobs/] works, and from there you can get to the rest of the website...

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

#63

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…

I hated my bank (BofA) enough to close my accounts and move everything to a local Credit Union. CU's are far better, IMO, than banks; and their rates are generally lower across the board (credit cards, CD's, savings, auto loans).

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

#64
I currently use Charles Schwab Bank, and don't really see how SimpleBank would be a big improvement. The only feature that SimpleBank has that Charles Schwab Bank doesn't seems to be the ability to take pictures of checks and send those electronically when you want to make a deposit.

Is "al3x" from twitter really up on all the details and security concerns of running an online bank? Will his company do a better job than Charles Schwab? My gut feeling is no.

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

#65
post #53

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…

>> "Banking does suck." FWIW, This may be true in the US, but certainly isn't a worldwide phenomenon. For example, UK banks pretty much work really well. Seeing US banking in comparison is like using a time machine to go back to the 1950s.

I'm interested in some examples of the differences. One thing that struck me when I lived in Japan was how easy it was to set up automatic payment of things like rent and utilities and I thought, wow the US needs these things (I also thought it was cool how I could deposit cash and the atm would count it and update my passbook and how there were signs saying please don't take out more than 100 bills at a time) but all that is here now and I find US banking rather non-sucking overall.

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

#66

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…

He writes that nobody LOVES their bank. But does anybody really HATE their bank?

I did love the bank I used in the UK (Lloyds-TSB - they gave me an indefinite interest-free 2000 UKP overdraft when I was a student, and have never charged me any fees that I can remember). Conversely, I hate every American bank I've had to do business with (WaMu/Chase and BofA so far).

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

#67

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…

Many banks do things that, were I a customer, I would definitely hate: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/devil-details/f...

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

#68
post #64

I currently use Charles Schwab Bank, and don't really see how SimpleBank would be a big improvement. The only feature that SimpleBank has that Charles Schwab Bank doesn't seems to be the ability to take pictures of checks and send those electronically when you want to make a deposit. Is "al3x" from twitter really up on all the details and security concerns of running an online bank? Will his company do a better job t…

Can you please read about the other founders and the actual company before you think they aren't "up on all the details"

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

#69

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…

I've been banking with a regional bank for years, and while I suppose love is too strong a word for my relationship with them, I would gladly use the words trust, respect, and appreciate.

Of course, even they apparently had a little too much subprime exposure, and were bought up by a larger bank last year, to be fully integrated this summer. If the customer experience goes away with the old name, I'll consider Al3x's new project, but that's the only way.

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