171–180 of 258 posts
There are only two uses cases left for money center banks. (1) You might be able to get a branch safe deposit box. (2) Same day payment on credit cards, that bank. Fidelity, and perhaps other zero fee brokerage accounts handle everything else.
> It also happens to be an incredibly sticky product. Think of the last time you saw an overdraft charge on your statement and swore to yourself that this was the last straw — you are taking your business elsewhere only to be confronted with the downstream effects of moving your “financial address” — telling HR where to send the next paycheck, calling up each utility company, changing autopay for each credit card bil…
Another answer: because regular banks are awful to deal with. They don't have nice APIs to just move money around. They apply velocity limits at surprising times. They can terminate your account suddenly for opaque reasons. They charge high regular fees and even higher "gotcha" fees if you make a mistake. They can take back money sent to you for up to 90 days, but often can't get back money you sent to crooks even if…
I wanted to build a product based on moving money around, and it seemed like it would be easier to start my own than to get what I wanted at a reasonable price. The financial industry is needlessly complicated and I don't know why it's so hard to just move money around. I can write checks easily and even manually set up recurring ACH transfers, so why can't I automate that with an API? There are a couple companies th…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Really? Wells Fargo isn't mining my search history using a black-box algorithm to decide without transparency whether to close my account or decline a transaction because I might have become a risk of some sort. Not that they would ever do such a thing.
I'd rather have my bank abruptly close my account for opaque reasons than fraudulently open additional accounts in my name.
> It also happens to be an incredibly sticky product. Think of the last time you saw an overdraft charge on your statement and swore to yourself that this was the last straw — you are taking your business elsewhere only to be confronted with the downstream effects of moving your “financial address” — telling HR where to send the next paycheck, calling up each utility company, changing autopay for each credit card bil…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Do you think Google is going to do any better at this? Google's new checking account isn't really Google. They don't currently have the licenses needed to act as a bank. It's basically a Google branded checking account from Stanford Federal Credit Union. From what I've read, Google's checking account will be similar to Uber's credit card in that you will sign up and get some benefits through Google/Uber, but pretty…
And this is intentional. Google definitely doesn’t want to be regulated as a bank. It just wants your financial data, so it can send better targeted ads.
I’ve often thought of launching a credit card company solely for access to people’s transaction data. That provides tremendous insight into many companies turnovers allowing to anticipate earnings.
It's the golden cage dilemma banks find themselves into.
Fintech looks cool until it stops working, then you discover it's the same system, only run by a startup.
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> Another answer: because regular banks are awful to deal with. They don't have nice APIs to just move money around. They apply velocity limits at surprising times. They can terminate your account suddenly for opaque reasons. Do you think Google is going to do any better at this? They already have no customer support, close accounts without notice....etc... The article is right, this is about engagement.
The traditional banking system is about 150 years old by now. Increasingly, it seems to serve a smaller segment of society, regardless of its half-hearted attempts at innovation. I have a number of friends working in finance. Lovely people. Absolutely arrogant, though, when it comes to the question of whether their industry will face non-trivial disuption. Maybe Google and other current tech giants will not be the on…
There are only two uses cases left for money center banks. (1) You might be able to get a branch safe deposit box. (2) Same day payment on credit cards, that bank. Fidelity, and perhaps other zero fee brokerage accounts handle everything else.
Does Fidelity allow you to deposit cash?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Another answer: because regular banks are awful to deal with. They don't have nice APIs to just move money around. They apply velocity limits at surprising times. They can terminate your account suddenly for opaque reasons. Do you think Google is going to do any better at this? They already have no customer support, close accounts without notice....etc... The article is right, this is about engagement.
The traditional banking system is about 150 years old by now. Increasingly, it seems to serve a smaller segment of society, regardless of its half-hearted attempts at innovation. I have a number of friends working in finance. Lovely people. Absolutely arrogant, though, when it comes to the question of whether their industry will face non-trivial disuption. Maybe Google and other current tech giants will not be the on…