I worked with a company a few years back that did this exact thing, although we couldn't get past regulations and ended up shutting down.
Want a steady income? There's an app for that
51–60 of 73 posts
Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
The article author obviously is astro-turfing for the company and if people want to link infomercials passing for journalism I can have an opinion on that. (I agree that I did not phrase my first comment well and it makes it sound like I implied ColinWright's involvement specifically, I've fixed that). That doesn't change the fact that it's a duplicate from within 12* hours and should get removed.
> obviously Or they think it's fascinating and want to share. I'm saying it's not "obviously" anything, to me.
Yes, because the fascinating thing about earning near minimum-wage in the US is that there is a new app to help you budget.
But I guess you can believe that if it helps you sustain the tech-companies selling apps are doing great things for society myth.
Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
> obviously Or they think it's fascinating and want to share. I'm saying it's not "obviously" anything, to me.
Yes, because the fascinating thing about earning near minimum-wage in the US is that there is a new app to help you budget. But I guess you can believe that if it helps you sustain the tech-companies selling apps are doing great things for society myth.
I highly recommend you watch the John Oliver segment on Payday Loans.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDylgzybWAw
ANYTHING that helps get rid of those scum is a huge improvement.
Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that
#54I worked with a company a few years back that did this exact thing, although we couldn't get past regulations and ended up shutting down. http://finovate.com/videos/finovatefall-2011-tandem/
This is super interesting! Do you have any more details on the problems you faced?
Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that
#55tl;dr App called "even" allows people with incredibly variable income (case study is on a massage therapist, lots of money one week, little the next) to even out their income. They evaluate their income history, then offer a stabilized value, say $380/week. Weeks they make more, the application takes it and puts it aside. Weeks they make less, it either pulls it in from a reserve, or an instant loan is made. Costs us…
> Costs users $3/week. Which is non-trivial, but less than a payday loan company. That does depend how much and how often you need to borrow money. If twice a year I need to borrow $50 but pay it back the next month, that's equivalent to a 13000% APR loan rate (~$150 for the convenience of borrowing $50 for a month twice is equivalent to borrowing $50 and paying back $125 the next month, 150% per month or 13000% per…
fair enough, but almost no one uses payday loans that responsibly, the twice a year payday loan user is closer to a myth than commonplace.
Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, because the fascinating thing about earning near minimum-wage in the US is that there is a new app to help you budget. But I guess you can believe that if it helps you sustain the tech-companies selling apps are doing great things for society myth.
I highly recommend you watch the John Oliver segment on Payday Loans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDylgzybWAw ANYTHING that helps get rid of those scum is a huge improvement.
> ANYTHING that helps get rid of those scum is a huge improvement.
And these guys are truly crusaders for the working-class poor that are going to fix the system? Or they are just going to cash in on updating payday-loans to the 21st century Iphone version.
I mean it's a good idea and I'm sure they can be very successful if it's well executed. AND I have no doubts they will be just as scummy-bag as the market & regulations allow them to be. Which is very American and I guess it's fine. But please excuse my low tolerance for packaging the profit motive of a company as helping the working class poor.
Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
It sounds like the signup process will be fairly high-touch, to evaluate whether they're a customer Even wants. Given that this involves a fairly complete opening of the kimono, I doubt Even would let someone who makes $120k/year sign up.
How can you afford a high touch sign up process for a customer who is worth ~$144 a year?
If customer support requirements are high at sign up but low for customer lifetime then it shouldn't matter as long as their retention is good and lifetime is long. I don't know, it's not my business plan. I'm just pointing out they're unlikely to have a signup process that lets people with high levels of income in.
Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that
#58I worked with a company a few years back that did this exact thing, although we couldn't get past regulations and ended up shutting down. http://finovate.com/videos/finovatefall-2011-tandem/
This is super interesting! Do you have any more details on the problems you faced?
So, I left a couple months before the final audit before going to public launch.
As far as I know, they were going to have to change a good bit of stuff focused around the taking out loans.
The sole investor cut his losses since we were already over time and budget. Also, we were having custom development done from the bank that hosted our accounts and the bank that provided us with credit limits. And we were going to have to have them go back and overhaul a lot of their system that had been changed for us, which was extremely expensive.
Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
I highly recommend you watch the John Oliver segment on Payday Loans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDylgzybWAw ANYTHING that helps get rid of those scum is a huge improvement.
> ANYTHING that helps get rid of those scum is a huge improvement. And these guys are truly crusaders for the working-class poor that are going to fix the system? Or they are just going to cash in on updating payday-loans to the 21st century Iphone version. I mean it's a good idea and I'm sure they can be very successful if it's well executed. AND I have no doubts they will be just as scummy-bag as the market & regul…
Competition IS GOOD.
If you think that even.me is exploiting their customer base, but is otherwise a good idea, then I sincerely recommend you try to create or help someone who will compete with them, offering similar service. Perhaps for $2.50 a week.
And no, they're clearly not going to "fix the system," but it sounds to me like their idea would be good for some people. Would actually help them.
Re: Want a steady income? There's an app for that
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
I highly recommend you watch the John Oliver segment on Payday Loans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDylgzybWAw ANYTHING that helps get rid of those scum is a huge improvement.
> ANYTHING that helps get rid of those scum is a huge improvement. And these guys are truly crusaders for the working-class poor that are going to fix the system? Or they are just going to cash in on updating payday-loans to the 21st century Iphone version. I mean it's a good idea and I'm sure they can be very successful if it's well executed. AND I have no doubts they will be just as scummy-bag as the market & regul…
>"But please excuse my low tolerance for packaging the profit motive of a company as helping the working class poor."
They're not mutually exclusive, to be honest. You can make a profit AND help the target group. Additionally I hope you're honest as well, and say that's okay instead of bashing them for "making a profit" while helping the needy.
On a curious side note... Where abouts exactly do you place "non-profits" in this whole thing? What about government?