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Final – A credit card built for the 21st century

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Re: Final – A credit card built for the 21st century

#91
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely, virtual cards have been around for years. But we've researched the space extensively and did not find a product we like or could use consistently. So we built Final. Some of the better products out there exist for customers outside of the US.

>Some of the better products out there exist for customers outside of the US. Would appreciate if you could give some examples for non-US customers, at least for another point of comparison.

In Sweden I can do this...you launch a desktop or phone app, tell it what limit you want on the card and when you want it to expire, and it gives you a number w/ CVC code that you can use instantly.

Re: Final – A credit card built for the 21st century

#92
post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Absolutely, virtual cards have been around for years. But we've researched the space extensively and did not find a product we like or could use consistently. So we built Final. Some of the better products out there exist for customers outside of the US.

>Some of the better products out there exist for customers outside of the US. Would appreciate if you could give some examples for non-US customers, at least for another point of comparison.

Portugal has MBnet, with a web interface and an Android app, as I recall. It works as advertised.

Re: Final – A credit card built for the 21st century

#94
post #72
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's Adam Lisagor whose video production company Sandwich Video works on lots of startup videos http://sandwichvideo.com/

Which I don't understand. All their stuff has such a hipster aesthetic. I'm not knocking the hipster aesthetic (I don't like it, but that's a whole different conversation), but it's certainly not an everyman aesthetic, which I would think one would want for an advertisement which is supposed to appeal to a wide audience. I'm sure other industries have put a ton of research into this and I assume this is why people in…

A few comments:

1. These guys have produced numerous videos for businesses that have gone viral and spread to millions of people. That's not to say that others can't do the same thing -- just that these guys have a history of success, which suggests that not possessing an "everyman" aesthetic may not be such a bad thing.

2. Most companies that use Sandwich for their videos are early stage startups looking for early adopters. Lots of early adopters work in tech and live in the Bay Area. So at this stage, making a video that would appeal to this niche of people makes perfect sense.

Re: Final – A credit card built for the 21st century

#95

"A credit card built for the 21st century" is an oxymoron. It's like saying a car phone built for the 21st century. For the love of all that is holy and sacred, please eliminate the need to carry cards at all. Just let me pay with my phone. Put my drivers license, health insurance card, membership cards, gift cards, car keys, and payment methods into my phone. All of this already exists in some form or another, but A…

There are reasons - separation of concerns, for one.

Having a single point of failure for your identity, access to all of your accounts and finances, and the locks on your car doors and home is a bad idea. Making that somehow mandatory is even worse. Because you wouldn't be putting them on the phone, you would be putting them in the cloud, and the companies running the servers and building the apps that monetize your locking and unlocking and spending and self-identifying activities will not be putting security first because they never do.

I don't want my legal identity and physical security to depend entirely on cloud-driven Android apps, a contract and a working battery, thank you.

Re: Final – A credit card built for the 21st century

#96

> Tired of your monthly yoga pants subscription? Or a two-week "free" trial that lasted four months? Just deactivate that card number. It's that easy. Is it really that easy though? Sure, they won't be able to charge you anymore but that doesn't mean that you didn't enter a binding contract. What you are suggesting here sounds neither legal nor ethical.

What sounds unethical to me is incredibly one sided abusive contracts that are incredibly difficult to cancel, even with agreed upon terms.

It sounds perfectly ethical to me. "I don't want to pay for goods and services I don't want to receive anymore". This is an idea that has been tested many many times in US case law, and therefore sounds perfectly legal as well.

Re: Final – A credit card built for the 21st century

#97

"A credit card built for the 21st century" is an oxymoron. It's like saying a car phone built for the 21st century. For the love of all that is holy and sacred, please eliminate the need to carry cards at all. Just let me pay with my phone. Put my drivers license, health insurance card, membership cards, gift cards, car keys, and payment methods into my phone. All of this already exists in some form or another, but A…

Dear gods, please eliminate any ability to pay with my phone! Cards are fragile enough. I don't want to lose access to all of my money if I accidentally drop my phone the wrong way.

EDIT: Not to mention my ID and keys! I'm honestly not sure I could think of a worse idea.

Re: Final – A credit card built for the 21st century

#99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't worry, the banks love it when you pay the account in full every month. They make more money from merchant fees than they do from interest payments. Banks work hard to make sure credit card holders are happy. After all, it's fairly easy to switch credit cards. It's the merchants that have the short end of the stick in the three way relationship between banks, customers and merchants.

Speaking of which, how will you be different from other small credit cards when it comes to merchant relations? If I go to "Jo Shmo's Taco Shop" am I still going to need a back up Visa card because that's all they are willing to take?

Probably not, my guess is that this will actually be a Visa card.

Most Visa and MC cards are branded as such but are actually backed by some other institution, like Bank of America or Chase.

Re: Final – A credit card built for the 21st century

#100
post #35
post #2

CTO/Co-Founder of Final here. Final is what we built to take back control of our own credit cards for how and when we’re charged, instead of leaving it up to merchants. That led to merchant-specific numbers and limits, managed automatically, as well as transparency in statements. It’s our stake in the ground, a way to shift the culture in credit towards consumer friendliness. Happy to answer questions

Looks very cool. Few questions off the top of my head: 1) I presume since you'll be an actual credit card, there's an issuing bank behind you somewhere. Are you an actual startup, or is this a "division" of some huge bank trying to appeal to the tech set? Can you talk about who your issuing bank is? 2) ApplePay? Thanks! (I signed up.)

1) An actual startup, currently graduating from the TS Boulder. Talking with a bunch of banks to see who can get this thing into consumers hands fastest.

2) We'll work with ApplePay 100% (currently its the only way to get to the NFC chip on the iPhone)

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