I understand it's not the only thing behind BankSimple, but I'd love to see that UI on top of my current Internet banking.
BankSimple Launches Preview Site
61–70 of 112 posts
Re: BankSimple Launches Preview Site
#62I'd pay for Mint + Bank in a single package. It looks great. However, it's hard not to be a little disconcerted when the "meet the team" bit doesn't have a single person who has any sort of financial title like "accounts manager" or anything. It's just a group of devs. That doesn't scream "we know finances" it screams "we know how to make web apps, hope you trust us with money too... it can't be that hard, right?" Mi…
Hi. I'm Josh, the CEO. You can read more about our growing team on the /team/ page, but in summary, I have an MBA in Finance and Accounting, and worked with a multi-billion dollar investment portfolio. Shamir, our CFO (aka 'account manager'), spent the last few years doing banking and payments consulting for McKinsey. In addition to our core team, we have multiple payments systems consultants, banking lawyers and for…
>A lot of the pain in banking stems from atrocious technology, so we're making better tech to drive a better experience.
I can't believe how bad many banks' online experience still is in 2010. Best of luck to you guys, hope you clean their clocks.
Re: BankSimple Launches Preview Site
#63I'd pay for Mint + Bank in a single package. It looks great. However, it's hard not to be a little disconcerted when the "meet the team" bit doesn't have a single person who has any sort of financial title like "accounts manager" or anything. It's just a group of devs. That doesn't scream "we know finances" it screams "we know how to make web apps, hope you trust us with money too... it can't be that hard, right?" Mi…
BankSimple is not a bank. Think of them as a user-friendly GUI over a group of banks. As to where money actually gets deposited, it probably depends on which bank offers the best deal at any given time.
> As to where money actually gets deposited, it probably depends on which bank offers the best deal at any given time.
Is this what is referred to in the industry as a 'brokered deposit' ?
Re: BankSimple Launches Preview Site
#64I got a message from BankSimple telling me that I was going to get an invite soon and asking me for feedback. I got really excited and responded with an e-mail, but never heard back from them. I'm not sure if I misinterpreted the original e-mail, but this was a huge letdown. Did this happen to anyone else? In any case, best of luck to BankSimple. I can't wait to actually get to try the service. :)
If possible, resend the e-mail. I'll look into it.
Re: BankSimple Launches Preview Site
#65In the meanwhile, I've been very happy with Charles Schwab's checking account. Free as in beer, you're allowed to overdraft with no overdraft fees, free ATM fees at all ATMs (including international!)
Another happy Schwab customer here. I've got secondary accounts at ING and they're great too.
I was thinking about switching from BofA to ING but the unavailability of ATMs near me, is the show stopper.
Re: BankSimple Launches Preview Site
#66I'm still trying to nail the business model here. "BankSimple account plus BankSimple debit card replaces your existing personal bank account. Make deposits, withdraw cash, pay bills, earn interest, and more. However, BankSimple is not a "bank." We partner with chartered banks who provide FDIC-insured products, leaving us free to concentrate on designing the complete consumer banking experience, via the web and your…
from the FAQ ( https://www.banksimple.com/faq/ ) > If you don’t charge hidden fees, how do you make money? We make money from two sources: interchange and interest margin. Interest margin is the revenue earned from lending, less what they pay on deposits. For example a bank may charge a customer 12% to borrow money, but pay 5% interest on a savings account. The difference, less any defaults on the loan, is revenue to…
Interesting. Except the Federal Reserve has absolutely no intention of raising short term interest rates above 0.25% for several years. The spreads in the real world will be much, much thinner than the example above suggests. Although it's possible to make money from thinner spreads, doing so exposes the trade to greater interest rate risk.
The model sounds interesting, but I hope these guys have stellar risk management.
Re: BankSimple Launches Preview Site
#67I'm wondering how they got around the state banking laws requiring them to be a chartered bank if they want to use the word "Bank" in their name (for example, in New York, Banking Law Section 132). All the confusion in this forum as to whether they are actually a "bank" makes me think they may not yet have heard of these laws...
Re: BankSimple Launches Preview Site
#68I'd pay for Mint + Bank in a single package. It looks great. However, it's hard not to be a little disconcerted when the "meet the team" bit doesn't have a single person who has any sort of financial title like "accounts manager" or anything. It's just a group of devs. That doesn't scream "we know finances" it screams "we know how to make web apps, hope you trust us with money too... it can't be that hard, right?" Mi…
Hi. I'm Josh, the CEO. You can read more about our growing team on the /team/ page, but in summary, I have an MBA in Finance and Accounting, and worked with a multi-billion dollar investment portfolio. Shamir, our CFO (aka 'account manager'), spent the last few years doing banking and payments consulting for McKinsey. In addition to our core team, we have multiple payments systems consultants, banking lawyers and for…
Hi Josh,
This all sounds great. It's exactly the sort of things I think you should consider you putting next to those portraits or on the Team page. I know you guys have all the technical chops, and as a potential customer, I wanted you to show me you knew what you were doing eyes wide open. Just a throwaway line "Plus an army of payment systems, banking lawyers and regulators ensuring the safety and security of your money" would make a world of difference.
Re: BankSimple Launches Preview Site
#69I'd pay for Mint + Bank in a single package. It looks great. However, it's hard not to be a little disconcerted when the "meet the team" bit doesn't have a single person who has any sort of financial title like "accounts manager" or anything. It's just a group of devs. That doesn't scream "we know finances" it screams "we know how to make web apps, hope you trust us with money too... it can't be that hard, right?" Mi…
I think one of the lessons of the contemporary internet is that outsiders often have some really helpful, valuable ways to improve institutional products + services. It is true that when the stakes are high it's a little nerve-wracking. But really there couldn't be a better moment in time for outsiders w/out finance cred to take a crack at this. so many people are like, "ok, we let the "experts" manage finance. this…
champing at the bit
Re: BankSimple Launches Preview Site
#70I'm wondering how they got around the state banking laws requiring them to be a chartered bank if they want to use the word "Bank" in their name (for example, in New York, Banking Law Section 132). All the confusion in this forum as to whether they are actually a "bank" makes me think they may not yet have heard of these laws...
We have certainly heard of that law and similar rulings and are in fairly regular contact with the regulators.
BankSimple is the name of our product, our company is Simple Finance Technology Corp. (rolls off the tongue...) There is plenty of precedent for our situation - not being a chartered bank but having 'bank' in our product name and URL. BankFreedom, BankRate, FindABetterBank, etc. Not comparable businesses, but face similar issues.
IANAL, but, by god, we pay them handsomely to deal with this and many other banking issues.