| By Jim Bruene on June 22, 2011 2:29 PM | Comments (3) |
Yet-to-be-launched BankSimple scored more great press this month with a tease on the cover of the July/August issue of Fast Company:
The Zappos of Finance
The one-page profile in the magazine's Next column (p. 32) is titled:
A Bank that Doesn't Suck
For Netbanker readers, the article mostly covered familiar ground. However, there were two huge reveals near the end that I almost missed; two banks the startup is working with to power its services:
- Bancorp Inc, a public holding company (TBBK) that powers 300 affinity banking programs around the country (note 1) which will likely power BankSimple debit cards among other things. Bancorp Bank EVP Pete Chiccino was quoted in the FastCompany article.
- CBW Bank, a small privately held bank based in Weir, Kansas with just $6 million in deposits (note 2), which will likely hold BankSimple-gathered deposits.
BankSimple has a wait-list of 50,000 for beta invites. According to the article, 12,000 of those will be allowed in by year-end before its general-public launch in 2012.
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Notes:
1. The Bancorp is a Finovate sponsor
2. It took 119 years for the bank to get to $6 million in deposits for a net growth of $50,000 per year. They'll get that much in the first 10 minutes after BankSimple opens its doors.
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BankSimple is a prepaid account. No one seems to mention that in the media.
@offthegrid
True, it's a prepaid-card-based account. But it looks like it will be positioned much like a checking account, which is prepaid as well. So not sure why you think media is missing something important.
How can you position it like a checking account?
There are no checks and people that want to write checks will certainly not look at it like a checking account. That's more than a leap there. Checking accounts are not prepaid. You can write a check with zero dollars in your account. You cannot do the same thing with a prepaid card based account.
There will be no over drafts because it's a prepaid account. Try that with Bank America or Sovereign.
It's a pretty simple concept. Still think it's a checking account? Do you think it's surprising that they are partnering with Bancorp? That's what Bancorp does - prepaid.
The same media that filets prepaid accounts is blindly in love with BankSimple. BankSimple does not want to be seen as a prepaid account and the blog world has bought into that hook line and sinker.
There is at least one prepaid card in the same league as Bank Simple - no fees and right now they exist while BankSimple is vaporware.