[HN Gopher] Simple Bank Is Closing
___________________________________________________________________
Simple Bank Is Closing
Author : roberto8647
Score : 193 points
Date : 2021-01-07 18:17 UTC (4 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.oregonlive.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.oregonlive.com)
| fred_is_fred wrote:
| As of last week they had multiple job openings still posted on
| LinkedIn - I guess this moved pretty quickly
| dang wrote:
| We changed the url from
| https://www.reddit.com/r/SimpleBanking/comments/ksize0/simpl...
| to what seems to be the best article about the subject.
| chipotle_coyote wrote:
| I loved Simple for a long time -- I was one of the "beta"
| customers -- but I switched away from them over a year ago. I'd
| already been annoyed with them over something seemingly trivial;
| I go by my middle name and last name, not first and last, and
| want my credit/debit card to match that, reading "Middle Last".
| Everyone else allows me to do this and Simple _did_ allow that...
| until we all had to migrate our accounts from Simple 's original
| "banking partner" to BBVA. At that point they changed my name and
| refused to change it back after multiple go-rounds (which ended
| with a rep telling me "sure, we can do this, just fill this out,"
| filling said thing out, and being told "we can't do that").
|
| As with some other mentions here, though, it was killing the
| ability to have Simple send checks to payees that did it for me.
| I'd been waiting for _years_ to have Simple be able to accept
| ebills (e.g., receive a bill from a creditor that specifies an
| amount to pay and paying that, rather than just paying a fixed
| amount every period), and they never did; instead they regressed.
|
| But here's the thing: while I'd left Bank of America because
| Simple's app and design was so much better, I'd never _closed_ my
| BoA account for the simple (ha!) reason that _they_ could accept
| ebills and pay them _out of my Simple account._ This always left
| me with the niggling feeling that while Simple was better at
| technology and customer service, BoA was better at... well...
| banking. And when I checked out BoA after getting fed up with
| Simple, well, their app was _still_ ugly and had bad UX design,
| but the functionality had mostly caught up with Simple. It even
| has goals built into it, if I want them. (I don 't, and never
| cared about Simple's equivalent, so I can't compare the
| functionality.)
|
| And while there are "bank things" I only do once in a blue moon
| -- deposit at an ATM, get a cashier's check -- it turns out it's
| nice to have a bank that, well, does those things. I know there
| are other banks (and credit unions) that do them, too, and I'm
| not suggesting BoA is particularly good (or bad) in this regard.
|
| Simple was a promising idea, but I think they made a serious
| mistake by letting themselves be bought out by BBVA. And while
| I'd love to see someone else try again, I'm going to be a lot
| more reticent to move to a new bank just because it gives me a
| terrific mobile app experience next time around. Simple was a
| great technology company, but at the end of the day, I just don't
| think they were that great a _bank_.
| quesera wrote:
| > being told "we can't do that"
|
| I've had similar experiences with other institutions. The
| explanation boiled down to KYC policies and some relationship
| to newer DHS Real ID regulations.
|
| So, what used to be allowed, is no longer. This might be true
| everywhere.
| minton wrote:
| I can't find any details on BoA having an equivalent feature to
| Simple's Goal. Do you remember what it's called?
| minton wrote:
| Never mind, it's called Goals. It's not a good replacement
| for Simple since it doesn't have the Safe-to-spend feature.
| chipotle_coyote wrote:
| There's a "Goals" section in my BoA app for my checking
| account which appears to let you set savings goals and target
| amounts. (I'll underline my "haven't tried it" disclaimer
| above, though! While I didn't use Simple's functionality for
| this, I recall it as being pretty well-designed, and design
| hasn't really been one of BoA's strengths...)
| lotsofpulp wrote:
| Also
|
| https://www.bankofamerica.com/online-banking/mobile-and-
| onli...
| dougmany wrote:
| Same here. When the mail-a-check feature went away I switched
| back to the credit union. I still had that open because I
| couldn't set up a feature with simple.
| kstrauser wrote:
| I'm in the exact same boat about my name. I have literally
| gotten up and left a physical bank when they refused to issue
| my debit card under "Middle Last" instead of "First Last".
| There's usually some BS about "the law requires that...", which
| prompts me to stop them mid-sentence and show them my AmEx and
| Visa that are titled "Middle Last".
|
| No. _Your setup_ may require me to go by an alias, but that 's
| a quirk of your own shortsightedness and _not_ a regulation.
| yial wrote:
| I got this email recently. I do find it sad. I really enjoyed
| using simple for how easy most things were.
|
| They did eventually depreciate their mail a check feature, and
| they had some weirdness about being able to download a cancelled
| check of checks they sent.
|
| I still have my account, and has planned to still use it, but
| with a lot of things becoming harder over time. (To use the check
| example, I had to email their support and wait several days to
| get copies of the checks)
|
| I will switch back to using my local credit union more.
|
| They really had such an easy and excellent service for so long!
| [deleted]
| mirthflat83 wrote:
| Anyone else remember getting $20 for just opening a Simple
| account when Google Wallet shut down back in 2016? Thank you
| Simple for the good 4 years.
| fetus8 wrote:
| I've got to say, as a Simple customer since 2013, I'm not really
| surprised by this. BBVA has steadily gutted what made Simple a
| great service, and in the last 12 months it became extremely
| apparent that this service was no longer a priority for them.
| Between bizarre UI updates, and a huge degradation in customer
| service quality, I saw the writing on the wall. See ya Simple, it
| was nice while it lasted.
| thelean12 wrote:
| I joined a long time ago when I was broke and they were one of
| the few online banks I found with no minimum balance or fees and
| had a good network of ATMs near me.
|
| Then they stopped allowing me to send checks, so I had to open an
| account with another bank just so I can have checks when I need
| them.
|
| Then in the few times I needed support, I couldn't get it. One
| time I tried to buy a car and was having trouble with the
| payment. I tried to call them and it turns out that their support
| phone line closes at 3pm PT! How is that acceptable?
|
| I'm glad they're shutting down, because it'll get me to actually
| fully switch over to another bank, which I expect to be a lot of
| effort.
| soupson wrote:
| I enjoyed Simple for their amazing app, but in the end found that
| the 1 or 2 times a year I sold something for cash on Craigslist
| meant I always needed a branch. So I gave up and moved to a
| credit union.
| chepurko wrote:
| Nothing in banking that is good and pleasant to use for clients
| ever lasts indefinitely. This is a business that can only survive
| on making customers' lives miserable. I've been a Simple client
| for some time after closing PNC. It's always been just "out of
| the way" and has never caused problems or cost me money unfairly.
| Which is why I've been waiting for them to either be acquired by
| a bigger, horrible bank or go under for some time.
| nichos wrote:
| You should look into a local credit union.
| bovermyer wrote:
| Earlier today I opened an Axos account and transferred everything
| over to that from my Simple account.
|
| Direct deposit, Venmo, Paypal, everything's now been switched to
| Axos.
|
| Simple really helped me get a handle on my finances and turn my
| net worth black, so I'm sad to see this.
| joaoreynolds wrote:
| Simple was a game-changer for our personal finances. We tried
| Mint but it was too much work. When I look for "alternatives to
| Simple" all I find are other online banks. What I want though is
| the budgeting part. Monthly expense allocation + safe to spend.
| Anybody here know of a good alternative to this?
| bearjaws wrote:
| Got the email earlier today, been a customer since 2012. Love
| their app, savings plans, etc.
|
| Felt like the first time a banking app was modern, and even my
| BoA and Discover apps are woefully behind Simple to this day.
|
| I doubt BBVA will provide a good replacement sadly.
| takklz wrote:
| fml
| PascLeRasc wrote:
| I'm really sad about this. It feels like when Google Inbox shut
| down. Like yeah, some other services will have similar features,
| but not as well-done. That's gotten a lot of praise already, but
| what really made Simple special for me was the language and
| design they use, it was so so good. I'm so thankful that it
| existed, it really helped me learn to manage my money.
| jason_slack wrote:
| Does anyone have thoughts on a replacement? I'd love to stay with
| a more modern approach to banking.
| elliekelly wrote:
| I briefly used Simple when they first launched (and so were
| lacking some important features). Eventually I switched back to
| Schwab and I've yet to find a better bank. I even banked with
| Schwab when I worked at a bank that wasn't Schwab. Their
| customer service was much better.
| jjazwiecki wrote:
| I loved Simple when it started, but had to transfer away in 2018
| after they rolled out some new security system which started
| flagging withdrawals from nearby ATMs, at stable local
| businesses, which I'd gone to for years, as suspicious
| transactions. Each time, I'd have to call to get my card
| unlocked. After three times, I begged their support people to
| please contact someone up the chain know I was closing my account
| because I literally couldn't get my money out. They were
| sympathetic but refused to countenance the idea that the
| transactions were incorrectly categorized.
| olegious wrote:
| Any alternatives that offer a similar Goals and Expenses feature?
| yegle wrote:
| Not a direct replacement but I used YNAB years ago when it was
| still a desktop app with one time purchase to own. It's still
| available with most of the functionalities (probably more) but
| as a website.
|
| The app allows you to set up multiple budget accounts.
|
| Edit: link https://www.youneedabudget.com/
| olegious wrote:
| YNAB is too granular for me (having to categorize
| transactions, etc), I don't need money management help, I
| like the convenience of setting a goal and having money be
| automatically transferred in there.
| xd1936 wrote:
| Possibly OneFinance?[1]
|
| 1. https://www.onefinance.com/
| olegious wrote:
| I've been looking at it, it seems they have a "Pocket"
| feature that lets you transfer funds into separate "pockets"
| but you can't automate your savings, the only option being
| "Auto-Save - turn on and off the ability to automatically
| save 3% of every paycheck."
|
| The other option I'm seeing is SoFi Money, they have "Vaults"
| but I can't figure out if you can move money there
| automatically
| nahtnam wrote:
| I'm a SoFi user and I see the option to set up recurring
| transfers to vaults https://imgur.com/a/lOXI21u
| caycep wrote:
| ouch...the one bank with a really nice user facing app...hoping
| to hear more details
| tadfisher wrote:
| I've been working on the app for almost 8 years. This means a
| lot to me. Thank you.
| otachack wrote:
| I've worked in native apps for 3.5 years. Your apps are
| amazing and set a great example to how we should make a
| native experience. I hope your talents are put to use in
| other projects in the future!
| tadfisher wrote:
| Speaking of which, if anyone needs someone with 10 years of
| native Android experience, DMs are open (check my bio).
| owenversteeg wrote:
| I was a Simple customer for years, and have tried many banks,
| including banks in multiple countries. Simple was hands down
| the best banking app I've ever used. You should be proud.
| camel_Snake wrote:
| I've never had a single complaint about the android app.
| Thank you
| zepto wrote:
| Thanks from me also!
| PascLeRasc wrote:
| Thank you for your service! The app is really special.
| xd1936 wrote:
| Absolute bravo. Thank you for supporting native platform
| features, your work was a shining example that others should
| strive to emulate.
| caleb-allen wrote:
| Second this. I've used the Android app for ages and it's
| always been a pleasure to use. As an Android dev myself I can
| really appreciate the performance and polish.
|
| I'm sorry you have to see your work go like this. Best of
| luck to you!
| alwillis wrote:
| Is there something that's reasonably close to Simple as a
| replacement?
| beaner wrote:
| 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.
| jerrycruncher wrote:
| 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.
| roberto8647 wrote:
| People are mentioning One Finance on the Rediit thread. Not
| sure about the feature parity though.
| resynthesize wrote:
| I'm an engineer at One and would be happy to answer any
| questions people have.
| mirthflat83 wrote:
| Just opened up an account. App feels modern as heck.
| Awesome app, loving it. Keep up the work.
| resynthesize wrote:
| Nice! Thanks for the feedback.
| zepto wrote:
| Chime is pretty good.
| atlgator wrote:
| Azlo is also closing. They just sent word today. I wonder if it's
| coincidence or they are owned by the same parent company (BBVA).
| tmcpro wrote:
| Try out Novo
|
| [0] https://banknovo.com
| CharlesW wrote:
| https://www.trustpilot.com/review/banknovo.com
| wharlow9 wrote:
| Would definitely use app store rating as a proxy for
| quality of product over Trustpilot:
| https://apps.apple.com/us/app/novo-business-
| banking/id137555... -- 4.7/5 stars and 1.5k reviews vs
| 2.2/5 and only 39 reviews
| [deleted]
| Shank wrote:
| 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.
| thebean11 wrote:
| That's surprising to me, one time my card got blocked because I
| used it at (I guess?) a sketchy ATM. I called them but they had
| zero customer service outside of business hours. Opened up a
| Chase account after that.
| ssully wrote:
| I've used Simple since 2014 and it's easily the best banking
| experience I have ever had. I've spread my spending and banking
| activity out over different banks/services over the years, but
| I always use Simple as my main bank. Honestly not sure where I
| will move my main account over to.
| silexia wrote:
| So many valuable businesses have been destroyed by investors
| or founders seeking an early exit.
|
| If you are an entrepreneur, think very long and hard before
| you accept any outside money. I have seen so many good
| businesses forced to sell by investors or a founder who
| thought they were done, only to regret it later.
| nefitty wrote:
| Chime has been pretty good to me! I had a Simple account but
| Chime beat them to the punch by a couple weeks to become my
| main bank.
| red_hare wrote:
| 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.
| tmcpro wrote:
| Try out Novo
|
| [1] https://banknovo.com
| tylermenezes wrote:
| Novo seemingly doesn't actually open accounts. I have a very
| ordinary LLC and they rejected my application for no obvious
| reason.
|
| 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.
| nelzya wrote:
| https://www.trustpilot.com/review/banknovo.com
| wharlow9 wrote:
| Would definitely use app store rating as a proxy for
| quality of product over Trustpilot:
| https://apps.apple.com/us/app/novo-business-
| banking/id137555... -- 4.7/5 stars and 1.5k reviews vs
| 2.2/5 and only 39 reviews
| SheinhardtWigCo wrote:
| For a banking provider? I would not trust either of
| these. They're both trivially gamed.
| vageli wrote:
| Just noticed their banner says, "Welcome Azlo Customers!"
| Pretty brilliant.
| dannylandau wrote:
| Ditto on Simple being a good bank!
| vageli wrote:
| This is so frustrating, just got the email from Azlo today,
| prompted to check by this comment. No messaging on the site on
| login, nothing. Goodness.
| c4urself wrote:
| Sad to see them go, happy user for a long time as well -- anyone
| know what went wrong? Why did they sell to BBVA / is it just
| financially infeasible to run a web-based bank?
| noahtallen wrote:
| I don't know why they sold to BBVA a while ago, but BBVA's US
| operations just got sold to PNC a couple months ago. I'm
| guessing that simple is closing because there isn't space for
| it at PNC.
| whalesalad wrote:
| I _highly_ recommend Charles Schwab for a checking account in the
| US. https://www.schwab.com/checking
|
| (I was a Simple customer at one point)
| kstrauser wrote:
| Alternatively, look for a local credit union. I belong to one
| that was originally set up for firefighters and their families
| but is now open to people living and working here.
|
| Pros:
|
| - Most credit unions cooperate on a shared ATM network, so I
| have zero-fee access to _way_ more ATMs than any bank does that
| I know of. Also, they reimburse any other ATM network fees (but
| I try not to rack up too many of those because I don 't want to
| cost my CU money).
|
| - They also usually cooperate on physical location resources:
| although my CU doesn't have a branch nearby, I can walk into
| another CU's location around the block to make deposits and
| withdrawals. Try walking into Wells Fargo and depositing money
| in your Bank of America account.
|
| - Their lending rates are _SO_ good. When I wanted to buy a new
| vehicle, I emailed the loan manager who gave me a pre-approval
| for about 50% more than I needed (just in case I stumbled over
| an awesome offer on something more expensive that I was looking
| for) at a ridiculously low rate. Then they recommended a
| dealership to me. My wife and I went to the dealer and picked
| out our vehicle. The sales manager said "I know you have
| financing, but let me see what I can do for you. What's your
| APR?" I told him and he started laughing: "yeah, I'm not gonna
| be able to touch that. Congratulations on it!"
|
| - They have amazing customer service. Any time I've need
| something, from adjusting the date my loan payment is due to
| asking them to please stop putting a hold on the deposits of my
| wife's paychecks, has been a call or email and they just do it.
|
| Cons:
|
| - Nothing that I can think of after being with them for 5
| years.
| owenversteeg wrote:
| I generally agree, aside from:
|
| - Lending rates: some CUs don't have the best rates for
| certain products, especially on lines of credit. Auto loans
| are typically cheaper with CUs for whatever reason.
|
| - One big con is the mobile apps - typically terrible at most
| CUs.
| owenversteeg wrote:
| Only annoying thing is that there's no Zelle, so you have to
| use the Zelle app, so if you want to send or receive payments
| over $500 you're screwed.
| nine_k wrote:
| Why not BoA or Chase, for instance? Can you please highlight
| the key differentiating features?
| whalesalad wrote:
| No fees. I can go to any ATM and I will get reimbursed for
| the fee.
|
| I was once behind on a payment to the State of California but
| due to moving multiple times in a short period of time they
| were unable to get the notice to me. I had no idea that I
| owed them such a big chunk of cash (taxes). Chase took the
| money out of my account on their behalf and charged me an
| additional fee. Smaller banks don't do it - but the big banks
| make a ton of profit fom things like this. Suffice to say I
| closed my account with Chase more or less immediately
| afterwards. I felt violated, frankly.
|
| For a while I was making close to 2% return which is pretty
| impressive for a regular free checking account. Once interest
| rates went to hell that stopped, though.
|
| Citi, Chase, Wells, BoA, USBank, they are all the worst.
| Jtsummers wrote:
| BoA has had some anti-consumer habits in the past which
| caused me to burn almost all bridges with them. They were
| among the banks who would process all charges and deposits in
| a day starting with the largest charge and ending with the
| largest deposit. This let them ding you for many more
| insufficient balance fees (each small charge once you were
| below a $0 balance got you a new $25 or $50 fee; this hit a
| colleague and some acquaintances, I don't let my balances get
| that low). They also liked to tuck away account policy
| changes, like minimum balances, into the fine print. I had
| one account with them (wanted a physical bank and had moved
| everything else online) with the minimum $1500 balance to
| avoid any fees, they changed it to $1600 or 1750 and started
| hitting me with $25/month fees (reimbursed) because I'd
| failed to notice that policy change in the documents they'd
| sent. And the main reason, today, to avoid them is that their
| interest rates are terrible. Their CD rates are often below
| checking account rates at other banks (last checked in early
| 2020, not sure what their current rates are but a 10+ year
| history of horrible rates probably didn't change this year).
| ww520 wrote:
| One thing I like about them - no ATM fee worldwide and they
| would refund any ATM fee charged by the local bank.
| meling wrote:
| Sorry to learn this... I enjoyed being their customer.
| roberto8647 wrote:
| Just received an email that Azlo is shutting down as well. BBVA
| not holding back.
| bird_monster wrote:
| Simple is without a doubt, not even close, the best bank app I
| have ever used. Simple as a bank is probably one of the worst
| banks I have ever tried to deal with. I very regularly wish that
| their app was a layer on top of other bank accounts, such that I
| could view my Chase account but from the Simple app.
|
| Unfortunately, their banking business (not the app) was their
| core business, and they were absolutely awful at banking.
| owenversteeg wrote:
| I (and I imagine a number of other people) would definitely pay
| for a high quality app like Simple as a layer on top of an old
| bank. Too many of these neobanks are missing something I need
| (Zelle, or they charge weird fees, or the debit card has a
| foreign ATM fee, or they have problems with checks etc)
| nahtnam wrote:
| Been a huge fan of SoFi. They have similar features to Simple but
| offer a wider range of services
| leafmeal wrote:
| Just looked into them and apparently they are not a bank which
| I'm guessing means not FDIC insured. That gives me pause...
| nahtnam wrote:
| I believe they are also based on BBVA or something similar
| but they applied for a charter license[1] which I think would
| allow them to run without any underlying bank.
|
| This is what it says at the bottom of their website:
|
| > 5 The cash balance in SoFi Money cash management accounts
| is swept to one or more program banks where it earns a
| variable rate of interest and is eligible for FDIC insurance.
| FDIC Insurance does not immediately apply. Coverage begins
| when funds arrive at a program bank. There are currently six
| banks available to accept these deposits, making customers
| eligible for up to $1,500,000 of FDIC insurance (six banks,
| $250,000 per bank). If the number of available banks changes,
| or you elect not to use, and/or have existing assets at, one
| or more of the available banks, the actual amount could be
| lower. For more information on FDIC insurance coverage,
| please visit www.FDIC.gov. Customers are responsible for
| monitoring their total assets at each of the Program Banks to
| determine the extent of available FDIC insurance coverage in
| accordance with FDIC rules. The deposits in SoFi Money or at
| Program Banks are not covered by SIPC.
|
| [1] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sofi-bank-
| charter/fintech...
| ceejayoz wrote:
| They're FDIC insured, or more accurately, the accounts lie at
| actual partner banks (SoFi being a fintech layer on top of
| that) that are FDIC insured.
|
| https://www.sofi.com/money/security-and-protection/
|
| https://twitter.com/sofi/status/1110706933692981248
| da02 wrote:
| How long have you been using them?
| nahtnam wrote:
| I would say a year or so, happy to answer any questions. (Not
| at all related to them, just a happy customer)
| [deleted]
| zepto wrote:
| I used and was happy with Simple from the very beginning, right
| up to the point they removed the check sending facility.
|
| It wasn't the removal of the facility itself that caused me to
| leave.
|
| It was the utterly disingenuous statement from the CEO explaining
| the removal.
|
| They got a lot of pushback on this, and ultimately the CEO wrote
| a defensive followup which was slightly more honest, but
| confirmed his original disingenuity.
|
| If Simple had sold itself as a normal bank this would have been
| business as usual. Not good but not unexpected.
|
| However their original sales pitch was all about how they were
| going to be more honest.
|
| It's worth noting that this happened soon after they were
| acquired by BBVA and had a new CEO.
| JMTQp8lwXL wrote:
| The problem was assuming anybody, much less Silicon Valley,
| would be breaking the narrative of banks being honest
| institutions.
| zepto wrote:
| They really executed well on the promise up until the
| acquisition, which was _why_ the change was so obvious and
| jarring.
|
| I very much appreciated the straight talk at every level from
| their corporate communications to their support agents.
|
| I don't think it's fair to be cynical about them in a more
| general sense.
|
| It's just a classic problem with the model of acquisitions,
| and a misaligned new CEO.
| JMTQp8lwXL wrote:
| You can't exclude the exit and say "oh, they changed the
| narrative". Because the exit is the whole point of
| embarking on making the business in the first place.
|
| At least in other areas -- like say, solar energy or
| battery charging, the startup would have be left us with
| something had a tangible mark on society. Here, I don't see
| any of that. No lasting impact. No changed narrative.
| zepto wrote:
| 'You can't exclude the exit and say "oh, they changed the
| narrative". Because the exit is the whole point of
| embarking on making the business in the first place.'
|
| I agree that this is essentially a failure.
|
| However, for many years they provided exactly the service
| they said they were going to provide.
|
| As for 'the exit is the point'. Maybe for those who
| controlled the stock, but definitely not for everyone
| involved.
|
| And even for the founders, do you think this was the exit
| they planned on? I very much doubt that.
|
| The end result is a bad one, but I don't think you've
| made a case for being cynical in some broader sense.
| tadfisher wrote:
| Good thing we were never in Silicon Valley :)
| agentdrtran wrote:
| It's an attitude, not a place
| udfalkso wrote:
| What did you switch to after that?
| deaddodo wrote:
| I switched to Chime.
| zepto wrote:
| Same
| zaksoup wrote:
| do you have any links to these statements? I was one of the
| very-upset users and I missed this.
| [deleted]
| bichiliad wrote:
| A while ago, I had a landlord who withdrew rent directly from my
| bank account[1] and who kept charging me rent after I had left.
| They also refused to return the money to me and insisted I file
| an ACH dispute through my bank, Simple. I was responsible for
| rent for me and my roomate, so being double charged rent for a
| month meant I was suddenly short two peoples' worth of rent.
|
| Simple was super, super good about the whole thing. They gave me
| an interest-free loan for the whole amount and told me that if
| the dispute was successful (which it was), I'd just get to keep
| the loan. They also put an ACH block[2] on my account, and
| generally were super responsive in support.
|
| Simple wasn't great for a lot of stuff you could expect from
| normal banks, like writing checks (for a while, you couldn't get
| a checkbook from them), cashier's checks, and money orders, but
| for everything else, they worked really well. I'm kinda sad to
| see them go.
|
| [1]: I now know this is a bad idea. Always use a 3rd party or pay
| manually! [2]: ACH blocks are weak, but they're the only sort of
| protection against malicious actors like this. They prevent a
| specific amount of money from being withdrawn from a specific
| party, but there's no way to, say, block all withdrawal attempts
| from a party.
| rige wrote:
| On your note [1] - could you explain more about using a 3rd
| party? I currently use auto-withdrawals, but it sounds like I
| should switch before I get in a bad situation like you
| mentioned.
| Yhippa wrote:
| I will miss them. I remember getting a debit card and a thick
| piece of cardboard with a rubber band that you could use as a
| wallet. I still use that thing now.
| CamelCaseName wrote:
| The linked thread has been removed by the moderators and the
| entire subreddit is locked.
|
| You can view a backup of the original thread below (will take a
| few seconds to load).
|
| https://www.removeddit.com/r/SimpleBanking/comments/ksize0/s...
|
| Edit: Here is another article with the same information:
|
| https://www.androidpolice.com/2021/01/07/simple-bank-is-shut...
| blacksmith_tb wrote:
| Our local newspaper has also chimed in:
|
| https://www.oregonlive.com/silicon-forest/2021/01/simple-por...
| dang wrote:
| We've changed to that from https://www.reddit.com/r/SimpleBan
| king/comments/ksize0/simpl.... Thanks!
| chungy wrote:
| Can someone explain what Simple was so I might understand the
| significance of their closure?
| da02 wrote:
| Imagine if a bunch of Apple employees decided to open an online
| bank. It felt like that: intuitive bank app, no fees for most
| services, checking accounts, a nicely designed debit card
| (VISA), US-based customer service reps, no brick-and-mortar
| branches. They lived up to their name in their app and service.
| Hopefully, the Simple employees move over to BBVA.
|
| [I only used their checking and savings features. I never used
| eBills, paper checks, etc, which some people weren't happy
| about. Certain companies also could not transfer money from the
| Simple checking account, like Robin Hood. However, I still kept
| the account open because for my limited needs (debit card and
| savings), the app was great and so was service.]
| cpascal wrote:
| A online bank with IMO great savings and money management
| features. They also had a fairly competitive high-yield
| interest rate on their savings accounts.
| lbotos wrote:
| It is a banking app with features for budgeting and had a
| 'slick app'. Their killer features were 'goals' and 'safe-to-
| spend' where you could auto move money to buckets, and your
| balance in the app would not show the allocated funds.
|
| Acquired by BBVA a few years back, and clearly not 'worth it'
| to them.
| peterlk wrote:
| Simple was an online bank. They had no physical branches and
| charged very low fees. Personally, I think they're one of the
| best banks around, and I'm very disappointed to hear that
| they're shutting down.
| leafmeal wrote:
| I'm pretty sure _no fees_ was one of the selling points.
| cw wrote:
| A sad day.
| ArchOversight wrote:
| I was a Simple customer in their beta days, then stopped using it
| for a lot of things, eventually though right as they moved their
| partner bank to BBVA I switched and started using Simple heavily.
|
| However not too long thereafter they got rid of their Bill
| Pay/Send a Check feature instead expecting me to send physical
| checks myself... which meant I immediately went looking for a new
| bank.
|
| So I found Sofi instead.
| koolk3ychain wrote:
| IMO it seemed like in 2019/2020 with the advent of "consumer
| banking apps" that what the once "groundbreaking" features Simple
| provided had basically become commonplace. Or because of other
| banks at least half implementing them - it stymied the number of
| people who would actually switch to Simple or showed that people
| just didn't really care. At the end of the day, Simple provided a
| slick UI to get people to __use their bank __and it seems like
| there just wasn 't enough of an edge to drive users to their
| underlying financial institutions. Privacy definitely wasn't as
| much of a big deal back when Simple started?
| mbil wrote:
| Moved my budgeting from Simple to YNAB a few years ago, but still
| sad to see Simple go. I was a big Simple proponent for a long
| time (even wrote some hacky automatic goal transfer software[0]
| before they introduced Expenses). Hopefully the employees can
| carry the great UX spirit of Simple to their next endeavors.
|
| [0] https://github.com/bi1yeu/simple-autogoals
| wronglebowski wrote:
| What's your experience with YNAB? I use Mint for balances and
| USAA's forecasting tool to see the future, but I'm not terribly
| happy with either.
| hammeiam wrote:
| YNAB is excellent. They have auto-importing, auto-
| categorization, geotagging transactions with the mobile app,
| and cool community-led addons
| (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/toolkit-for-
| ynab/l...)
| mbil wrote:
| I use YNAB only for granular budgeting, not for big-picture
| or forecasting (for that I use personalcapital[0]).
|
| At first I was skeptical of YNAB -- the idea of giving every
| dollar a job and tracking transactions down to the penny
| seemed hellish -- but I've since become a convert. I like
| having all bank account and card transactions in one place
| and having the budgeting decoupled from the institutions. The
| goal-setting features are great. And keeping a careful budget
| of all inflow and outflow has been pretty easy and makes it
| nice to set up lots of small budgeting buckets. After an
| initial setup, it feels like a machine that keeps my finances
| in order without too much intervention.
|
| If you get into YNAB, also check out the toolkit[1], which
| gives some additional budget analysis and planning tools.
|
| [0] https://pcap.rocks/matt1688 (includes my referral code)
|
| [1] https://www.toolkitforynab.com/
| red_hare wrote:
| Check out lunchmoney.app!
|
| I've been using it for the past year. It's clean, snappy,
| easy to use, and has VERY powerful categorization for anyone
| with a programmers mindset.
|
| I used mint but it was too much work to keep the categories
| up. I looked at YNAB but it seemed too overbearing.
| Lunchmoney has been a really refreshing tool for me.
|
| It's also a solo developer's project, they make regular
| updates, and it's a clean business model of a simple monthly
| fee.
|
| If you use someone's referral link you get an extra free
| month after their trial. Here's mine:
| https://lunchmoney.app/?refer=kvy5xf49
| asenchi wrote:
| 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.
| joaoreynolds wrote:
| Do you know of any alternatives to simple that have a similar
| awesome budgeting tool with "safe to spend"?
| da02 wrote:
| Why did you leave? Did they downsize after the BBVA
| acquisition?
| asenchi wrote:
| I took an opportunity at Heptio in 2019 (which was acquired
| by VMware soon after). They did not downsize and in fact we
| were growing when I joined a couple of months after the BBVA
| acquisition.
| mkr-hn wrote:
| Getting a Simple account in 2015 with its envelopes helped me get
| my spending under control and develop better financial habits.
| I'll miss the envelopes, but the budgeting habit already moved
| out to a spreadsheet.
| nunez wrote:
| This is disheartening, but not terribly surprising, news.
|
| I was with Simple back in 2014. I left in 2015 then came back and
| left for good in 2016.
|
| On one hand, no other bank has tried so hard to make financial
| responsibility a first-class citizen in their mobile and web
| apps. They made setting aside money and budgeting expenses very,
| very seamless to do. I wish other consumer banks learned from
| what Simple was trying to accomplish. Simple also had the most
| pleasing and tech-forward mobile and web apps of any consumer
| bank; it was a step above everything else. Lastly, Simple's
| customer service was unrivaled. Being able to use a chat platform
| that didn't suck _and_ get connected with a human within five
| minutes was not possible elsewhere back then.
|
| On the other hand, some of Simple's business decisions
| were...frustrating.
|
| It took me _over five days_ for them to replace a lost card. Most
| banks can replace overnight for an additional fee; Simple didn't
| even give you that option. This was pretty frustrating given that
| they encourage you to use their card for everything.
|
| I couldn't pay a bill larger than $3,000 one time (which was
| ironic given that I was paying off a credit card). I don't
| remember why, but I remember thinking "this is dumb; any bank
| would process this payment no questions asked." Trying to pay
| this bill through Simple was a massive exercise in frustration.
|
| I actually encountered _multiple_ bill pay failures with Simple.
| Paid bills would never get funds disbursed. Payments would show
| up multiple times in my ledger. The worst of the failures I
| experienced happened when I paid one of my student loans but
| found out _days_ later that the payment actually never went out
| due to a "technical error." This caused me to miss a payment and
| eat a late fee. I actually landed up speaking to their CEO at the
| time about it over the phone; he gave me $50 as an apology
| consolation, which I thought was cool.
|
| They also didn't support eChecks, which meant that every payment
| I made would take _at least_ three days to clear through ACH. I
| remember being very relieved when I switched to Chase and could
| process payments in 24 hours.
|
| I'm _still_ salty about a failed database migration they
| performed which took out their backend ATM services while I was
| on vacation. Couldn't get money out or move money in for a day or
| two. This would _never_ happen with a bigger bank, and even if it
| did, they have brick-and-mortars as a fallback.
|
| After BBVA pseudo-acquired them and their legendarily-prompt
| service went south, I switched over to Chase and never looked
| back. After Simple removed their Bill Pay feature, I wondered why
| they just didn't get fully-acquihired or something.
| blklane wrote:
| I loved simple, have used them for ~10 years, and gotten 5+
| people in my circle to use them, they were the greatest. But at a
| certain point simple's budgeting system breaks, once you have
| another card. I would make payments per transaction on my CC to
| maintain that tagging data within Simple for reporting.
|
| For years I was left unsatisfied with a tool that managed
| expenses with multiple cards and I found it half a year ago in
| CoPilot: https://copilot.money
|
| Great app and handles internal transfers (ie payments to a card
| or another account) with grace. Smart rule system, recurring
| transactions, etc. Mint on steroids. Highly recommend for people
| like me looking for tools to replace simple.
|
| Note: I am in no way affiliated with CoPilot, just found them
| super useful for that function as Simple wasn't hitting it.
|
| Shameless referral code for a free month: 7UWQ7W
| https://copilot.money/link/cXPAZ3zJ3QT2N4LS6
| Jayschwa wrote:
| This is disappointing news. Their app is pretty nice and they
| made shared banking with my wife easy. I also have a backup Chase
| account. I just fired up their mobile app for the first time in
| awhile. It's a slow and cluttered mess. Hopefully a spiritual
| successor to Simple will emerge.
| tomjakubowski wrote:
| Coming from Chase and Simple, I've found Ally's mobile app and
| website both to be delightfully functional. None of the
| obnoxious advertising that plagues so many of Chase's user
| interfaces.
| PascLeRasc wrote:
| I like Ally but be warned that a lot of stuff doesn't work on
| Firefox. Whole pages won't load and the fonts are somehow
| blurry.
| tomjakubowski wrote:
| Works fine for me as a daily Firefox user.
| noirbot wrote:
| Even crazier, they seem to have un-sent the email? I got a
| notification that I had an email from Simple, but didn't check it
| immediately, and now it's completely gone from my email account.
| I've never seen that happen before.
| minton wrote:
| This happened to me but it somehow ended up in Spam. I use
| gmail.
| nixpulvis wrote:
| On a related note, anyone got a good bank recommendation?
| camel_Snake wrote:
| I just started researching alternatives last night. Nerdwallet
| is a good resource. Ally bank seems like the closest online
| bank in terms of customer support/services. They lack the
| advanced budgeting tools though, it seems.
| [deleted]
| kgwxd wrote:
| I had Simple from 2012 until 2015. I was buying a house and the
| unusual parts of the bank were making it difficult to get it
| done, so I transferred everything to a local bank. I remember
| liking it a lot at the time, but now I'm having a hard time
| remembering what set it apart. I think by the time I switched,
| most banks had all the features that made it unique.
| cmurf wrote:
| I have a Chime account. It's pretty good except for one untenable
| problem. They routinely reject paper check deposits via the app,
| and will not tell me why.
|
| I recently had a U.S. Treasury check rejected by them. And in
| multiple messages, they refused to say why. Their reply
| apologized for both the inconvenience and that they couldn't tell
| me the reason for the rejection.
|
| I've never had an in-person/traditional bank refuse to explain
| their actions before this. The rejection might be acceptable with
| an explanation. The refusal to explain is unworkable. And the
| explicit apology about the refusal to provide an explanation
| actually makes it even more frustrating.
|
| The problem with "well I rarely need to deposit paper checks" is
| that what if I have some other problem? And they just refuse to
| explain themselves?
| minton wrote:
| I wonder if something like Simple's Goals could be implemented
| using Stripe Treasury.
| dang wrote:
| Related ongoing discussion about Azlo:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25676301
| swyx wrote:
| any speculation on why it failed? i was fairly optimistic on
| Simple a year or two ago and then they fell off the map
| piva00 wrote:
| Maybe a murder by acquisition from BBVA?
| uncletaco wrote:
| I think it was murder by acquisition. BBVA USA was recently
| bought out by PNC bank and there probably wasn't room for
| Simple in the new company. For the most part simple provided a
| superb ui on top of BBVA bank accounts. I'm sad to see them go.
| perardi wrote:
| I don't know a lot about bank economics, but it's not clear to
| me how they would have made much money. Interest rates are
| basically 0%, and they didn't charge much in the way of fees.
|
| I bank with Charles Schwab, which is very low cost in terms of
| fees, but I'm sure they make money by using my money in all
| sorts of trading shenanigans. _(I feel somewhat guilty for
| contributing to the financialization of everything, but...no
| ATM fees, anywhere!)_
| cweagans wrote:
| They made money on the interchange fees from their debit
| cards, as many other similar services do now.
| nickip wrote:
| Wow, this is heartbreaking. Simple was extremely instrumental in
| my budgeting success. Anyone have a bank similar with features
| like "expenses" and "goals"? I honestly can't imagine not being
| able to use simple for my savings anymore.
| heavymark wrote:
| Knew it was only a matter of time, and told their support on
| multiple occasions they had so much potential but there were
| simply to many fundamental issues they weren't addressing to get
| mass market appeal and be sustainable. I was one of the first
| customers, (early beta), and was absolutely thrilled to try it
| out back in 2011. It had a lot of shortcomings, but was hopefully
| it would iterate quickly, and was a beautiful modern interface
| compared to the horrible experience at the big banks (Which are
| still awful in comparison but a million times better now). There
| were so initial deal breaker issues, notably no support for
| written checks, no option to deposit checks in person (only
| mail), and very low mobile upload limits, slow transfers (no next
| day transfers for a fee like others offered), no joint checking,
| no business accounts, and countless other issues. The lack of
| checks and joint checking were major issues that while I dealt
| with, were things that prevented any non beta/technical friends
| and family from ever considering it. I'm someone who certainly
| very rarely writes checks so I was an ideal customer, alas when I
| did need to write checks... it was because I had to. Maybe you
| need to write a check for a service provided on the spot, buying
| a house at closing, among other scenarios. And for the the
| average person there are countless more use cases. Simple's
| approach was to avoid fees, and if they allow checks (other than
| mailed certified checks) then people could overdraft and thus
| need ability to charge fees, and the safe to use amount would be
| off. While I get that, if I over draft, I'm fine paying for it,
| and I understand if I write a check the safe to use would be
| less. Instead of dealing with those issues they just ignored
| them. There were times when needing to transfer money next day,
| and was not an option. Once again, when that need arrises it's
| because it's needed and thus completely fine paying for it
| accordingly. Support was amazing back in 2011 and 2012, but as
| they grew support become much worse since that level of support
| is hard to scale. Once again I was an ideal user in most ways, ad
| I HATED having to go to branches, and would much rather mobile
| deposit all checks and rarely ever used cash, but because of the
| very low deposit limits had to often mail in checks instead which
| was no good. If you don't have branches you have to have high
| mobile limits. Luckily other banks did offer such high limits. I
| spent so many years providing long emails with all the issues in
| detail as I wanted to see it grow and improve, and while over the
| years some of the issues were resolved, other deal breakers
| remained and then they got new ownership and still no big
| changes, so new it was only a matter of time until it would shut
| down.
| xd1936 wrote:
| 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.
| cweagans wrote:
| 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 illiterate.
|
| Simple made it incredibly easy for me to get my shit together and
| start being proactive with my money, so there was really no
| excuse to not do so. Now, my wife and I are well on our way to an
| early payoff on our mortgage (~18 years early), paying off our
| vehicle loans early (~2 years early), having a pretty good safety
| net in the bank, and being otherwise debt free.
|
| So if you haven't heard it above the sadness of losing Simple:
| thank you. Seriously, thank you. You really did something great
| and you should all be proud of what you've accomplished.
| enobrev wrote:
| I'd like to add to this. I used simple for a couple years back
| when it was first released, and it helped immensely in getting
| out of debt and on the right track. I've since moved on to
| other banks (at the time there were no joint accounts or
| savings, and I needed both), but I had friends reach out to me
| today in a panic because I'd recommend they use it over the
| years.
|
| It was an excellent tool that absolutely improved my life and
| the lives of others I know personally.
|
| Well done.
| rossmohax wrote:
| I never used or heard of Simple. What do they do to make
| people manage their finances wiser?
| dougmany wrote:
| 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.
| kipple wrote:
| Depending on your mortgage interest rate, have you considered
| continuing the 18 years and investing your extra cash in index
| funds? Market returns ~10% over 20 years, so if your mortgage
| is 6% or less it's in your best 'interest' to continue.
| renewiltord wrote:
| Yeah, even though that 10% is net tax 8.5% (vs. the full 6%)
| it seems like one could refinance it down in future. Still, I
| don't think most payment terms are flexible enough to make
| them an indefinite loan (go interest-only).
| jsight wrote:
| Depending upon their tax situation, the loan rate may be
| effectively a little lower due to the tax deduction too,
| though. And, tbh, 6% is a really high mortgage now. Rates
| below 3% are common.
| massysett wrote:
| Market returns are not guaranteed, unlike a fixed mortgage
| rate.
| pradn wrote:
| It's refreshing to hear someone write well about some
| technology that has improved their lives. :)
| xd1936 wrote:
| Interestingly, my wife and I both have separate Simple accounts.
| I haven't gotten the email, but my wife has.
| skapadia wrote:
| 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.
| whoisjuan wrote:
| I hope they don't do the same with Azlo, because that would suck
| a lot.
| sman591 wrote:
| Just got an email that Azlo is closing too.
|
| Messaging was almost exactly the same as Simple's email.
| whoisjuan wrote:
| Yeah! Just saw that! fuck.
| drewpc wrote:
| 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).
| uses wrote:
| 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 defensive strategy.
|
| I'm not sure what to use as my primary financial institution now.
| I have an account with my local credit union, but their app is
| mediocre. Simple's high quality app was the main reason I used
| Simple. I really just want an institution + app representation of
| such, that provides a 21st century experience.
| hundchenkatze wrote:
| I started out on ING Direct as well, but I stuck with it
| through the Capital One transition. Overall I'm still happy
| with the checking/savings account features, no maintenance fees
| etc. The mobile app/website is pretty good. However the
| "desktop" website is annoying as it's just a scaled up version
| of the mobile one, but it still gets the jobs done.
| Unfortunately they've removed the ability to easily add
| multiple savings accounts for budgeting, or at least I can't
| find a way to do it. Luckily I still have the ones I created
| back in the ING days.
| BayAreaEscapee wrote:
| I started out on ING Direct and also liked the savings
| account feature. I created several saving accounts for when
| some website wants ACH routing information but I don't trust
| very much: I can put just enough in that account to cover the
| transaction I want covered.
|
| I didn't realize that they god rid of the ability to add new
| ones. I guess I'll have to make do with the eight I have lol.
| ArchOversight wrote:
| It still works, it just isn't as seamless as before. Now
| you have to go through the "open account" flow, and half-
| way through you'll get an option to login and join an
| existing account, after that it is a couple of clicks.
| embwbam wrote:
| You can open multiple high performance savings account by
| going to the normal account application online. It has you
| login partway through the process and then adds it to your
| account
| Diederich wrote:
| I also used ING Direct, and switched to Simple when it turned
| into Capital One. About three years ago, I switched from
| simple.com to ally.com, and it's been pretty great.
| bigie35 wrote:
| Former C1 employee: I would give Capital One another shot.
| Their tech and apps are best in class and and built in-house.
| They also contribute to the open source community (or did).
| abrowne wrote:
| Their website for credit cards is my favorite of any I've
| tried. My least favorite by far was Chase when I had the
| Amazon-linked card.
| e40 wrote:
| I beg to differ. Notifications for transactions stopped
| working. As I always do when things like this happen, I went
| to twitter and tweeted at them. They claim it works, yet
| replies on twitter beg to differ. They support people point
| me to a document that shows UI elements which have been
| removed.
|
| Still broken. Still no word from them.
|
| And there's the issue about financial software. A couple of
| years ago they stopped supporting what Moneydance uses.
| Basically, Cap One only supports Quicken. I would rather cut
| off my nose than use Quicken. I moved all my accounts to
| other banks after Moneydance stopped working. Problem is, my
| SO still has accounts there and the notification issue is a
| real problem, as she was not notified of fraudulent
| transactions due to their new bug.
| bigie35 wrote:
| That's seems like a customer support issue and not software
| related but it's definitely frustrating. I use YNAB and
| their integration with C1 has been great so maybe push on
| Moneydance as to why that integration is no longer an
| option.
| e40 wrote:
| The website has a page changing the notification
| settings. It used to be there. It's not anymore. Their
| own documentation says it should be there. I've looked in
| the not very many places it could be. It's no where to be
| found.
| rrix2 wrote:
| I have been really frustrated with C1 not integrating with
| youneedabudget and Plaid-backed tools for quite a while now
| and intend to close my C1 credit account as a result. i
| know it's "as simple" as logging in to C1 and finding the
| transaction download tool but golly what a waste of effort.
|
| https://support.youneedabudget.com/t/p8h6814/a-real-
| capitalo...
| war1025 wrote:
| > Notifications for transactions stopped working.
|
| I get an email for every debit transaction on my account.
| I've had to update my inbox filters a couple time because
| they change the email they send it from, but it's been
| pretty reliable ever since I set it up maybe three or four
| years ago.
| mikey_p wrote:
| I've been really pleased with Capital One overall. The only
| thing that I wish could be resolved is that it can't be
| synced with You Need a Budget automatically.
| LucasBrandt wrote:
| If that syncing is done through Plaid (or maybe even if
| not), it might be fixed now. I use a similar product, Lunch
| Money, and syncing didn't work for a long time but within
| the past month it became possible.
| whitepoplar wrote:
| I second this. I was an ING Direct customer who was rolled
| into a C1 360 account and it's honestly been great. It's just
| a consistently hassle-free experience. TBH, I mostly use a
| combination of Fidelity + Merrill Edge these days due to my
| particular cashflow management setup, but I keep my C1 360
| account open for use every now and then. It's night and day
| between C1 360 and Chase, BofA, etc.
| war1025 wrote:
| On the off chance you or someone else knows:
|
| How do I close old savings accounts in Capital One 360?
|
| I used to have my savings split between several buckets, and
| now I just keep it all in one savings account, but I have
| four savings accounts with $0 in them because near as I can
| tell you aren't allowed to close them.
| ArchOversight wrote:
| You have to call them. It's the only way to close an old
| savings account in Capital One 360. It was relatively
| painless when I had to close my 4 buckets.
| orange_tee wrote:
| I cannot blame the founders. They worked hard and risked a lot
| and were successful so they want to cash out. Here's a radical
| idea. Maybe if countries care so much about keeping markets
| competitive, they could buy out late-stage startups to allow
| them to keep operating independently.
| dnautics wrote:
| What tricks should I, as a founder of a company, maximize the
| valuation of my startup at government acqusition time, which
| revolving-door ex-regulator consultant should I hire to make
| sure my i's are dotted and t's crossed on all of my
| applications (and how expensive are they), who in the
| bureaucracy should I make friends with to ensure the
| smoothest possible acquisition.
| umeshunni wrote:
| Or you could reduce the barriers required for companies to go
| public/IPO.
|
| What has changed over the last 20 years in the US is how much
| more expensive / difficult it has been for a company to go
| public. A lot of that is a result in 'consumer protections'
| that came into place after the .com bust and the financial
| crisis, but as with every short sighted government
| regulation, it has unintended consequences.
| zepto wrote:
| The obvious retort would be to mention the problems with
| state ownership/control of companies.
|
| However maybe you have a model in mind that doesn't result in
| control ending up in the hands of the government.
|
| If so, I'm curious!
| PascLeRasc wrote:
| Maybe that model doesn't work, but I wish there was some
| government oversight preventing huge companies from buying
| out small competitors just to shut them down entirely. Like
| Apple did with Dark Sky, Microsoft did with Wunderlist, and
| Twitter did with Vine. It's really unfortunate that we
| can't have much small tech.
| orange_tee wrote:
| Government could buy it out and sell shares back to the
| public, sort of like an IPO, but with some conditions
| attached, so that it ensures the company remains
| independent for a specified number of years post IPO.
| zepto wrote:
| How would the price be determined?
| gowld wrote:
| This isn't necessary. All the government has to do is block
| these acquisitions or shutdowns on simple antitrust grounds.
| umeshunni wrote:
| Great, now there's even less reason to do a startup and
| it's even better to just take a FAANG job.
| pjscott wrote:
| That would reduce the expected net present value of
| startups to investors, making it harder for them to get
| investment money in the first place and probably reducing
| the number of successful startups, acquired or otherwise.
| It's not obvious that this would be a net improvement.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| Consider Fidelity's cash management account. Great mobile UX,
| great financial product.
| PascLeRasc wrote:
| Can you speak a bit more about this? I actually have a
| Fidelity cash account open but I have no idea how to access
| it. I'm open to it though if I'm just missing something.
| toomuchtodo wrote:
| I use the Fidelity iOS app and fidelity.com, and also have
| a checkbook and ATM debit card for it. They reimburse all
| ATM fees, checks are free, and it's trivial to move money
| between it and your brokerage, investment, and retirement
| accounts. They don't support Zelle, so if you need that P2P
| instant payment functionally, you're better off with Ally
| (I keep a high yield savings account at Discover Bank as a
| Zelle slush account).
| [deleted]
| _jal wrote:
| 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 handy.
| noirbot wrote:
| 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?
| ac29 wrote:
| FYI: "Credit unions generally follow the principle of "once
| a member, always a member", which allows a member with a
| current credit union membership to remain a member even if
| they would otherwise no longer qualify to be such, such as
| leaving the company with whom they initially gained
| membership or moving outside the credit union's defined
| geographic area."
|
| This is certainly true for the credit union I am a member
| of.
| pradn wrote:
| Moreover, credit unions seem to have good relationships
| with each other. I've never actually even seen a branch
| of the credit union I've been using for ten years in real
| life. But, if I need a notarization or to deposit a
| cheque, I can easily visit a branch of any credit union
| and they are usually happy to do it for me.
|
| I've been hit with fines for my mistakes (transferring
| money out of the wrong account) but I've never paid them
| since they are always willing to remove them via a simple
| text chat. (I find text chats much easier than phone
| calls, too.)
| hinkley wrote:
| The majority of credit unions share a vendor that handles
| a lot of their logistics for them. That's one of the
| reasons why they're so accommodating about certain inter-
| credit-union transactions. It's a value added service of
| a shared vendor, who just pushes some numbers around in a
| database.
| nucleardog wrote:
| Can add more anecdata. Joined a regional credit union,
| moved across the country.
|
| I can use the ATMs of the regional credit union in the
| new area for free if I need an ATM, and my original
| credit union has been more than happy to facilitate
| everything else I need via phone and email. And the
| "phone" agents are literally just the same staff I'd be
| talking to at the branch I opened the account at, not
| some call centre, so there's no real need to go in to
| actually get customer service.
|
| On top of that, the accounts are completely free. I pay
| $0/mo for a handful of accounts (one for general monthly
| bills, one linked to my debit card, another for savings,
| etc) with unlimited transactions/transfers/etc.
|
| The _only_ thing I'm missing is the ability to deposit
| cash. Which has yet to be any sort of issue for me.
| cosmie wrote:
| That's a legally required quirk of credit unions; in order
| to get a federal charter/license to operate, they have to
| define a field of membership[1].
|
| That said, I've never had a credit union bring up
| membership requirements post-joining, and have been able to
| both use existing accounts and open additional accounts at
| credit unions long after no longer qualifying for their
| field of membership.
|
| A lot of credit unions even participate in shared
| branching[2], which lets you use the physical branches of
| one credit union to manage the account you have with
| another. Which comes in handy for the few things you can't
| use ATMs or online banking for, such as large transactions
| beyond ATM limits or depositing cash.
|
| [1] https://www.ncua.gov/support-services/credit-union-
| resources...
|
| [2] https://www.thebalance.com/co-op-shared-branches-how-
| custome...
| patentatt wrote:
| Alliant
| druiid wrote:
| Plus 1 to Alliant. Their savings rate is top-notch and
| their apps are pretty good.
| mdgrech23 wrote:
| try radius
| cko wrote:
| 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.
| brobinson wrote:
| They even refund international ATM fees which is awesome. If
| you're an investor, their margin rates are usurious, though.
| funkaster wrote:
| I'm also moving to Schwab mostly because my previous and
| current employer have stocks linked to that platform. TBH
| seems good enough for my use case (long term investing,
| mostly ETF)
| gcblkjaidfj wrote:
| 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...)
| vinay427 wrote:
| > they refund ATM withdrawal fees
|
| Most importantly, they do this (as well as priority mailing
| replacement cards) globally. I have yet to find another bank
| besides possibly Fidelity's checking account (?) that does
| this with no stated limit. It's invaluable for those who
| travel abroad to have access to local currencies with no
| hassles and a refund of all fees.
| mustacheemperor wrote:
| The GreenDot competitor to Simple, GoBank, launched around the
| same time as "the first digital / app based bank." It was
| corporate from the outset, but their partnership with WalMart
| seemed to reorient it into an internet based check cashing shop
| complete with cringeworthy "sweepstakes" offers for connecting
| your direct deposit. The product went downhill abruptly around
| that time, I still keep it around as an extra debit account so
| I get some ongoing visibility to the spiral. I have to call a
| special support number printed on my card, newer customers
| called the one on the website. The oft-promised chip supporting
| GoBank card still has not arrived for me, today, in 2020,
| despite their support promising me literally years ago it would
| be available in a month. It doesn't work with Apple Pay.
|
| The app, which when they launched was one of the first decent
| bank apps, simply has disabled its most compelling features.
| You used to be able to peek your balance without signing in,
| the slider is still there but it doesn't do anything.
| Fortunately most other mainstream banks have great apps these
| days.
|
| The app still lacks FaceID support. You can use FaceID only
| through the Apple autofill keyring.
|
| And as I just Googled them to make this post, I see there will
| never be a chip card at all because GoBank doesn't offer a
| debit card anymore. Apparently GreenDot is powering payments at
| Uber and Apple Pay P2P now though, so good for them.
| jasonpeacock wrote:
| I use Ally, it's an online-only bank with a good website & app,
| and great customer service:
|
| https://ally.com/
| da02 wrote:
| Their app can also be used for no-fee stock trades.
| __david__ wrote:
| FYI Ally is just a marketing rebrand of GMAC, one of the
| financial giants involved in the 2008 housing crash. That
| alone makes me steer clear of them.
| misframer wrote:
| I switched from Simple to Ally a few years ago and had 0
| problems. I recommend them all the time.
| fossuser wrote:
| I also used simple and saw the writing on the wall a few years
| ago.
|
| I've since moved everything to Fidelity and it's probably the
| best option.
|
| Their software could be better, but it's good enough and the
| other options are worse.
| dcolkitt wrote:
| I'd suggest Bank of America if you have more than $100k in
| stocks or index funds that you can move to Merrill. That
| qualifies you for free ATM refunds, and gives you access to
| unlimited 2.6% cash back on all credit card purchases.
|
| https://frugalprofessor.com/best-credit-card-rewards-strateg...
| renewiltord wrote:
| Oh that's a good one. Thanks for the tip.
| [deleted]
| jdpedrie wrote:
| If you're a veteran or the child of a veteran, highly recommend
| USAA. Tech is fairly good (they had online deposit years before
| anyone else I was aware of) and the service is unbeatable.
| gst wrote:
| Simple was one of the few US-based checking accounts that
| required US citizenship in order to open a new account (a Visa or
| a Green Card was not sufficient):
| https://medium.com/@bartclaeys/simple-bank-discriminates-aga...
| (this has only been an issue since BBVA acquired them).
| muhammadusman wrote:
| Simple has been on the decline for a long time, I remember before
| their acquisition, their support was great and slowly it
| declined. I think for a long time Simple has just been a nice UI
| and slowly fading away. This is the last lap for them.
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