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Simple Bank Is Closing

oregonlive.com

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Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#221

Post by gcblkjaidfj »

cko wrote: post #29
uses wrote: post #16

I've been a Simple customer since launch, and have used it as my primary bank since ING Direct was turned into Capital One. It's mildly depressing to be reminded once again that the dream of startup founders these days isn't to build something, but to sell something... specifically to a bigger company. Which will inevitably delete the thing, once it serves its use. Which is to provide presence in some kind of defensi…

I'm a happy Schwab customer. Their app isn't what you would call simple, but you can do almost all your investing and banking there (I say almost because I own some physical assets) and they refund ATM withdrawal fees.

most bank do that, specially after you are over an amount in account.

The banks that do that, usually also have the worse investing options (e.g. Schwab, HSBC...)

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#222

Post by jerrycruncher »

beaner wrote: post #20
alwillis wrote: post #4

Is there something that’s reasonably close to Simple as a replacement?

Ally Bank is nice. It doesn't have the same panache as a silicon valley startup app, but it is 100% online and a good experience generally.

They've been my main bank for a number of years, and I second this.

The APR on their savings account is generally either the best or among the best available, and the small handful of times I've had to call their customer support, they've been a pleasure.

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#223

Post by skapadia »

I didn't even know about this bank, but based on the comments, seems to have had a major impact on people's lives.

I essentially do what Simple provides on my own, but realize that takes radical discipline. Not everyone has that, but sounds like Simple "hacked" people's habits towards saving. I consider that a "super power" so I'm sad to hear they're closing.

I direct deposit to two HYSA accounts in the same bank. One is my "current expenses" account and represents my projected expenses/budget for the month. The second is my "long term" account that represents savings for long term goals. At the end of each month, if there's money left in the current account, I move it over to the long term. The long term is then invested in brokerage accounts (because I've saved up for an emergency fund and house down payment, which remain liquid).

Oh and 401K money is taken out before I ever see it.

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#224

Post by drewpc »

I'm a Simple customer and incredibly upset by this decision. For those not familiar with their value add, Simple is essentially "envelope budgeting" built into a banking application. Sure, it's a bank and does bank things. What sets Simple apart is that I can allocate $n/month for an expense and it takes it out of my paycheck and puts it into that expense "envelope". When a charge comes in for that expense, it pulls from the envelope. Other budgeting tools like mvelopes.com and YNAB are great for visibility/tracking, but they don't move your money around. The alternative I used prior to finding Simple was having about 10 different checking accounts and manually transferring money every few weeks. I really don't want to go back to that setup after tasting the good life.

My pitch to the Simple team, or anyone interested in taking this on, is to take the app and build it on top of Stripe Treasury (https://stripe.com/treasury).

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#225

Post by tylermenezes »

tmcpro wrote: post #169
Shank wrote: post #156

BBVA is also closing Azlo, the business bank that Stripe Atlas uses (used?) for LLCs. Looks to me like BBVA is attempting to annoy as many customers as possible. I love Simple to death. They overnighted a cashier's cheque for me, for free, on holiday. They've been nothing but kind and I truly hate to see them go. I really really loved being a Simple customer.

Try out Novo [1] https://banknovo.com

I have a very ordinary LLC and Novo rejected my application for no obvious reason, with no details whatsoever. I don't think I have anything unusual going on, so IDK how easy they actually are to work with.

Mercury is another option but my experience has been that some of their offerings are at best misleading (I would argue they're deceptive), and they can't do normal things like export a QBX statement to reconcile into Netsuite, you have to write your own stuff from scratch using their API.

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#226

Post by balls187 »

skapadia wrote: post #223

I didn't even know about this bank, but based on the comments, seems to have had a major impact on people's lives. I essentially do what Simple provides on my own, but realize that takes radical discipline. Not everyone has that, but sounds like Simple "hacked" people's habits towards saving. I consider that a "super power" so I'm sad to hear they're closing. I direct deposit to two HYSA accounts in the same bank. On…

It's a little bit more involved than that.

What you have described is effectively a "checking account" and a "savings account."

Simple lets you have multiple goals you can fund simultaneously, where other banks required you to have multiple accounts to do so.

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#227

Post by closeparen »

red_hare wrote: post #186
Shank wrote: post #156

BBVA is also closing Azlo, the business bank that Stripe Atlas uses (used?) for LLCs. Looks to me like BBVA is attempting to annoy as many customers as possible. I love Simple to death. They overnighted a cashier's cheque for me, for free, on holiday. They've been nothing but kind and I truly hate to see them go. I really really loved being a Simple customer.

I'm also crushed. Simple has been my only checking account since 2011. I think I learned about them on HN. The UI is snappy and slick and their support team have always gone above and beyond. They're really the model for what a checking account should be.

I liked Simple’s UI and budgeting tools a lot, especially the “safe to spend” thing, but I don’t think running everything directly from a checking account is wise. It’s really better to have a credit card that you pay off every month, with solid fraud protection and rewards, and touch your debit card as little as possible. Simple’s snazzy software is not too useful when you do that. I ended up using a traditional checking account and YNAB.

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#228

Post by genbit »

drewpc wrote: post #224

I'm a Simple customer and incredibly upset by this decision. For those not familiar with their value add, Simple is essentially "envelope budgeting" built into a banking application. Sure, it's a bank and does bank things. What sets Simple apart is that I can allocate $n/month for an expense and it takes it out of my paycheck and puts it into that expense "envelope". When a charge comes in for that expense, it pulls…

you can ask to split paycheck direct deposit into 10 different checking accounts, if you in US at least.

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#229

Post by larrydag »

Shank wrote: post #156

BBVA is also closing Azlo, the business bank that Stripe Atlas uses (used?) for LLCs. Looks to me like BBVA is attempting to annoy as many customers as possible. I love Simple to death. They overnighted a cashier's cheque for me, for free, on holiday. They've been nothing but kind and I truly hate to see them go. I really really loved being a Simple customer.

BBVA USA was acquired by PNC bank in 2020. This seems to be part of regulatory or just trimming assets.
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