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Simple Bank Is Closing

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321–330 of 615 posts

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#321
post #33

I've been with Simple since it was invite-only, and used them actively since. Really disappointed. Probably going to switch to Cash App? It currently functions as a secondary fun-money account.

Be careful, your Cash Debit card will not function outside of the USA.

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#322
post #95

I spent four years working at Simple, there are a lot of great humans there. Please reach out if there is anything I can do to help. As for the product, it was great to work on and there was so much potential simply left on the floor. Really a shame to see that none of that will be realized.

Do you know of any alternatives to simple that have a similar awesome budgeting tool with "safe to spend"?

I don’t have much experience here. There are a lot of recommendations in these comments though.

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never used or heard of Simple. What do they do to make people manage their finances wiser?

They had a way to set money aside for goals. The money would be in your account but it would not show up in the available balance. So you could say, I want to buy this expensive thing, put in the amount you want to save towards it per month and the available balance would hide the money for you until you spent it.

That’s f’ing brilliant. Everyone is pretty good at stopping when out of money but if you can see it right there in a savings account the temptation to transfer can be strong.

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#324
Any Portland residents want to comment on the state of the Portland tech scene there? The Oregonian article makes it sound slightly dire...

No big new tech company has emerged in Oregon since the 1990s, though, and the old ones are steadily vanishing. The $8 billion sale of Wilsonville-based Flir Systems, announced Monday, leaves just two publicly traded technology companies in Oregon.

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#325
post #247

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hope this answers your questions: 1. I want to move the money around so I don't spend it and I know I have enough to pay my bills. I don't want to see $1,000 and think "I'm going to spend that". Similarly, I don't want to see a charge come through for a bunch of bills that I don't have enough money for. 2. In Simple's app, if you overspend in an expense or goal, it takes it out of your "safe-to-spend" amount (think…

I still don't get how it's different in practice than something like the budget feature in Mint? Basically it's pre-allocating the money instead of just watching what you spend and bucketing it as you go. But unless it's actually going to overdraft the account or decline your card somehow when a bucket is empty instead of taking it from the total amount, those are equivalent.

Does the Mint budget feature include rollover for money not spent?

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#326
post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed. I've been using envelope budgeting since college and I simply can't fathom why most people don't do it. Actually, I can fathom it: it's because no one has been willing to keep this incredible feature in an easy-to-use product and support that product long enough for people to see the value. In college I used gnucash for this and even wrote a (now very old and somewhat embarrassing) article about it ( https://…

I'm not so sure you want your bank to do this, because there is no easy aggregate view if you have multiple banks and/or other accounts to track. I have I think 6 currently with no way to merge (curse of bouncing between countries). Gnucash is as baroque as you say, but the only one of your options above that actually works and solves this problem (aggregate view) reasonably, of course that can't help you with things…

I haven't used GnuCash in many years, but when I did, it did not support envelope budgeting.

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#327

I don't know how many Simple employees are in this thread. I'm very sad to hear this news, and I'm sure you were too. Just want you to know that you all made a really meaningful difference in the lives of at least my wife and I. Before I switched to Simple, I had a really hard time budgeting for things/planning for expenses, and was frequently toeing the line of overdrawing my account. I was essentially financially i…

<3

<3

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#328

Thanks to the countless folks that built a customer focused bank. It's really sad to see Simple wind down, and it's been the best bank I've had the chance to use. Their service has been unmatched compared even to the best local banks in my area. I've been a customer for nearly a decade now - wow. Early on I exchanged emails with Josh and the team not just regarding banking matters, but reporting bugs, design issues,…

Why are so many people applauding their customer service? You can't even call them after 3pm PT.

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#329
post #299

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Robinhood's banking feature for this (I don't use them as a brokerage, though). It lets me do direct deposit and automatic withrdrawals from a single account, while earning savings account interest. The interest isn't significant at the moment, but it was nice for a few months, before COVID. I use Mint and Personal Capital for monitoring my budget, rather than earmarking funds.

You're getting 0.3% APY, which is pretty useless. I would instead try some of the banks that promise you higher APY rn. There are some offering 2-3%

No one is offerring 2%-3% when the fed rate is at zero. You're about a year behind relity.

Re: Simple Bank Is Closing

#330
post #72
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I understand liking modern-feeling apps, but am more than happy to put up with the slightly old-feeling credit union app because they are just such a better institution - no bullshit fees, actually happy employees, far better rates on credit cards/loans... There's just no comparison. I do have a commercial bank account, too, but that's just for access to quicker interchange with other commercial banks, when that's ha…

My worry with most credit unions is that most of the ones commonly recommended have requirements for who can be a member, or are geographically tied. I'm unlikely to live in the same city for as long as I'd want to keep a bank account, and I'm not military or otherwise. Do you have a good recommendation for a CU that's more generally an option?

I joined the NASA Federal Credit Union. I joined the National Space Society, which cost about $20 and then I was able to join the FCU. Then I cancelled my NSS membership. Not a bad signup cost, plus space is cool so I didn't mind paying $20 to the NSS. I think the NSS also sent me a couple magazines, so it wasn't just like a donation.
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