Comment by jaysonelliot | Hacker News Reader

Comment by jaysonelliot | Hacker News Reader

I've been with Simple for about a year and a half, and slowly moved from my TD Bank account to using Simple exclusively for personal banking. They've blown me away with how a bank can operate if it just joins the 21st century. Everything from their UX to their customer service is outstanding. Calling them on the phone reminds me of going in to my local bank when I lived in a small town in Iowa.

Then again, this is pretty much the way I felt when I joined Commerce Bank in 2002. They were leaps and bounds above any other bank in everything from their down-home attitude to their evening and weekend hours. Then they got acquired.

Things weren't too different with ING Direct. Joined up for their interest-bearing checking and used them as my savings account. Had wonderful experiences. Then they got acquired.

Tangential, but relevant, I got HostGator as my hosting provider many years ago—they were a little company in Texas with great service and great people. I'm leaving them this month. They got acquired, and everything changed.

I hope this goes well for Simple. I really do. But I'm preparing myself. I know the signs to watch out for. First they'll get an automated phone tree, and I'll have to tell the robot what I want. Then it will get just a little longer to wait for a person. A couple fees will show up, nothing much, just little stuff. Tiny, unobtrusive, totally defensible, annoying policies will start taking hold. And soon, it'll be just another online bank—albeit one with a very pretty iPhone app.

I hope that doesn't happen. But I'm bracing myself anyway.

I've had pretty much the exact same banking experience. Commerce Bank was incredible when it came to service, both in the branches and over the phone. The web site wasn't so great, but not specifically bad either compared to most others. TD Bank (which acquired Commerce) was just OK.

ING was absolutely remarkable. Less so after being acquired.

And Simple is by far the best banking experience I've had. The interface is so well done, the customer service has been phenomenal. I actually find myself on my banking tab nearly every day (happily), adjusting goals and making sure I'm on target.

I still use mint to manage all my accounts and consistently wish the interface was even half as good as Simple's. Mint is another example that stopped being incredible after being acquired - or at least stopped progressing in any useful manner.

Agreed on all fronts. Rooting for the Simple crew to keep their product rocking.

I also have to note that the Spanish banking system is among the worst, most troubled, in the world. Santander recently bought Soverign bank (US regional bank) and it makes me wonder whether they are trying to address solvency from bad loans with fresh deposits however they can acquire them.

makes me nervous to think about having any serious amount of funds with a spanish bank.

Simple's support is definitely outstanding. I get little notes like "Fixed it! By the way, it's not my business but I like that you hyphenated your name when you got married." that really reinforce that there are actual humans being allowed to solve problems, not fill out a script.

Exactly. Here's a recent interaction I had with Simple support. http://cloud.mattermill.com/image/2w0W1v0z3E0d

I have a 40+ message support thread comprised of me and Simple support sending gifs back and forth to each other.

Pics or it didn't happen.

It's a thin line to walk. I would feel quite different if that happened to me.

In all seriousness, why?

I might wonder which of my personal details they don't like on this cozy level.

If I'm still getting excellent support, I'm not sure I care.

Does it matter?

Simply put, I parse that as a creepy attempt of simulating a personal relationship that just isn't there.

I feel the same way. It would bother me to know that the support person has an opinion regarding my personal details regardless of what that opinion is.

They have an opinion, whether or not they're stating it to you.

Agreed; I'm getting sick of this faux-friendliness that's trendy in American customer service these days. Banks and B2B startups are equally as guilty. I don't want to be asked how I'm doing or discuss the weather every time I call you for a quick question, wasting lots of time with useless polite banter. I'd rather a business call with an established vendor go like this:

* Ring, quick answer

* V: Yeah?

* Me: I need X changed to Y.

* V: Got it.

* Me: Thanks. end call

What about at Trader Joe's how they always have a nice conversation with you, what's your take on that?

In my experience it feels different in part because you have the person in front of you (it's harder to fake seeming genuine face to face).

It also feels different because they are talking while they are doing something else, unlike on a phone call where these questions are preventing you from doing the communication you need to do to finish the call. It would be more similar to Trader Joe's employee stopping you on your way in to ask you a bunch of questions about your day and the weather outside.

I live in NYC and was actually thinking about Trader Joe's and checkout lines here generally when I wrote my comment. Cashiers here generally don't waste anytime with small-talk and that's understood as common practice since we're all in a hurry. In other parts of the country, some small talk is expected and one party will be viewed as rude if they don't participate. I prefer we skip it.

Depends on what the conversation is about. The ring on my finger? (similar to the example above?) No-no.

The weather, because it is summer and hot? Ok. Just banter.

The crowded store and the fact that I had to stand in line 5 minutes? ("Crazy, we didn't expect that many customers today!") Yes! Shows they are aware and care.

It's not that I don't want to interact, I just don't want to be dragged into that 'we're friends' game.

I use self-checkout even when the line's longer, so that I don't have to talk to someone.

One institution I am forced to deal with regularly has this horrific phone intro (from a live person):

"Thank you for calling XXX where it's always a great day, my name is XXX and how about you tell me what I can help you bring home today?"

I would be genuinely depressed by having to lie all day. This makes me appreciate more my standard European grumpy wait-staff.

One thing is that it can be a sort of breach of trust. While of course banks have access to this info, it's sort of an unwritten rule that they're not going to go looking through it just out of curiosity/malice.

Obviously this depends on the situation, but usually info like bank transactions are considered private.

Same here. One time a Simple rep made a comment about how they liked my employer. While the comment itself was innocuous, I expected them to have a bit more discretion when going through my transaction history.

Really? That reaction strikes me as quite odd. Do you not chit-chat with tellers at your bank in person?

No, I've never chit-chatted with tellers, nor would I want to.

You may be the odd one out then. I've spent a fair amount of time in lines at the bank and most people are quite chatty.

Cultural behavior differs widely even between regions. Whats true at your bank could be entirely different 500 kilometers down the road.

Even still, there's a difference between random chit-chat and the bank representative looking into your transaction history and making comments on it.

I do not chit-chat with my teller about items they see in my transaction history.

Neither do I, but they almost always mention my employer -- that's what we're talking about.

But they figure out your employer by looking at your direct deposit?

It could be a very subtle AML tactic. BofA asked me if I remembered the name of the staff member who set up my business account prior to letting me make a wire transfer. Of course, since they can't tell you it's AML you think they're insane until you catch on and give the standard answers.

Seriously. I don't want to myself or my wife to be judged by my bank support because my wife took my last name.

Just because they didn't say something doesn't mean the judgement isn't there.

I love ING Direct.

I just wish they offered Two-Factor authentication for "360" accounts.

Relevant link: https://www.facebook.com/CapitalOne360/posts/101515573342295...

Honestly, it would be great if they had passwords instead of just a maximum 6-digit number (!!!) for auth. It's fucking absurd.

>It's fucking absurd.

On an unregistered browser, someone has to guess the answer to two security questions and the PIN. Did it occur to you that maybe it's not a problem since it's been that way for at least 8 years now (I signed up in 06)?

Yes 8 years ago poor security was a bit less of a risk.

Do other internet-only banks offer such a feature? I'm pretty done with "360".

Same. Ever since they ticked under the 1% interest rate, I've been looking for a better alternative (ah I loved the 6% back with ING in '05).

Surely the interest rate has more to do with the Fed than the bank?

In the UK it's common to use card readers which can use the chips in our cards to generate a response to challenges from online banking.

It also allows you to only authorise specific actions e.g. transferring a specific amount to a specific payee, so protects against replay attacks.

I think acquirers are aware of notions like yours (I used to work for one of the acquirers you mentioned). These companies will eventually start to take great care to preserve the brand and product of the acquired company.

My experience with one of the banks you mentioned has not changed since it's been acquired.

I love ING direct. Even after converting to 360 they've still been pretty good.

Hi Jason, Consider www.grb.net - John.Pozzi@comcast.net

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