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Comment by sigi45 | Hacker News Reader

It's not hard to see what are disruptive models in fintech.

I have 5 bank accounts and you can see, based on the login method, how modern a banking software is.

There is a ton of potential just not be used at all.

Even without much change at the original banking software layer, putting a modern analysis tool upfront would make a huge difference. Just imagine having a secured mobile app which has limited permissions but allows you to perform a few basic things like checking your balance or transfering small amounts of money.

Or just a web ui which doesn't suck. If it doesn't suck, how about income analysis?

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> Or just a web ui which doesn't suck.

I left Wells Fargo for a credit union. The online banking experience the credit union provides is not as nice.

It doesn't matter. I don't need all those features. The product is commodified.

And I'm happy to be gone from a horrible company that actively victimizes its customer base. I don't have to watch my back, and I don't have to regret that my deposits help Wells to build systems which extract maximum wealth from its most defenseless users and funnel that wealth to its executives and shareholders.

Crazy fintech innovation idea: how about just actually serving the customer's interests?

> Crazy fintech innovation idea: how about just actually serving the customer's interests?

Most retail banking "customers" are more akin to a Facebook user. They're nothing more than an input that can be packaged up and sold to the real customer.

>It doesn't matter. I don't need all those features. The product is commodified.

I've encountered a case when it does matter. I tried applying for a bank online through multiple browsers, OSes, VMs, but never managed to get the form to work. Eventually I called them to apply - there was a valuable perk for me - but most customers just won't bother. A good software team would have spotted the drop in conversions instantly.

I told them about it, using the terrible online form. They weren't interested.

Heh, I was doing an online payment for a government agency. While my credit union’s form asked for my account number for the gov, they really wanted a different sub-account number and kept giving errors.

When I called them to bring it up, they thought I wanted them to change the form just for me. They seemed even more surprised when I said “No, you should make this change for everyone, not just me”.

> “I left Wells Fargo for a credit union.”

congrats! yes, basic banking is a commodity and everyone should switch to credit unions so that the big banks offer competitive, customer-oriented products. the good service provided by credit unions and small banks should be the norm, not the exception. no one should ever pay for banking services (banks already profit on the investment side), especially not their crazy, convoluted fees concocted to extract money from us.

I have had the opposite experience. 5 years ago I moved away from my local area to another state that didn't have a branch and signed up for an account at Wells Fargo. It was painful, the UI sucked and the phone app was terrible compared to my credit union.

I'm still with them today and almost never have to go to a branch. They have a great mint-style money manager, mobile deposit, and bill pay. They obviously spent a lot of time working it out. Plus, you don't have to deal with all the BS you do at for profit Wells, Chase, etc

Note: this is for Mountain America Credit Union in Utah

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