Bank Simple: I’ve been waiting for this

I just watched the demo for Bank Simple, the start-up that aims to reinvent the way we do personal banking. It is backed by prominent VCs, closely watched and got even more attention when Alex Payne left Twitter to join the Bank Simple team.

I am no economics major, but what I have seen in the demo is enough for me to believe they will succeed. Because they already offer one of the features I am flabbergasted nobody has done yet, and from the looks of it will no doubt offer the other pretty soon. Because they are focused on the customer side, not the “how can we get more money from the customers at a small interest rate to invest it at a high interest rate to make us rich”.

1. (this they have): Have budgets
In online banking so far, you have one (!) big basket. But what if you have quarterly or yearly payments which you want to plan ahead to? In Bank Simple you have something called Goals which let’s you do exactly that: no matter if it is car insurance, vacation or mortgage – make it a goal and you have planned ahead. Your available balance changes accordingly, Bank Simple calls this “Safe-To-Spend” balance. Brilliant.

2. (I want this): plus 3% for saving/health/pension fund
Any time I use my credit card for sums under 500 Euros, I want 3% added that go directly into a cause I specify, e.g. my pension fund. Enough said.

3. (noteworthy): Simple
While I am not so sure I care about the search, the truly revolutionary part is the “send money”-feature. Bank Simple puts all the account data in the background. ‘I want to send money to Adam’ – Done!
Truly, this puts the simple into Bank Simple.

BankSimple Demo from BankSimple on Vimeo.