As a hardcore online banker: I don’t want another fucking bank. I want the actual problem that is the slow-ass ACH network (looking at you NACHA) to be solved. Online banking was as perfect as it was going to get under Simple until they sold out.
While I’m on a rant: fuck companies that sell out. Fucking tired of amazing companies kicking ass in their field selling out. That goes for Simple → BBVA, ONE Finance → Walmart, Truebill → Rocket.
Shit man. I’m a programmer and I just want to write my own bank at this point, but that won’t happen because I’m not a multimillionaire.
Seriously I asked ChatGPT how to solve this shit and it just said “use personal finance apps” but okay? They all suck. Whose dick I gotta suck for instant ACH (remember Dwolla?), multiple checking accounts and an automated “money manager?” And don’t give me “pOCkeTs.”
You’ve described a big part of why I hate startup culture. “Let’s build cool thing then sell it to a huge company and get rich.” I’m never doing it again, such a waste of time and energy.
Simple selling to BBVA was shit. Simple was never my main bank, but it was a nice, simple service. That was free. Then they moved to BBVA, which almost immediately got bought up by PNC, and then PNC started charging monthly fees. Closed my account before the first fees hit.
I still have a Varo account. Surprised that hasn’t gotten vacuumed up yet by one of the traditional banks.
It’s been a hot minute but IIRC it’s “next day” or “same day” but opt-in on the bank’s side. And of course a bank will never tell you flat out what they use.
I might be petty on this topic. Many times in my life I’ve been screwed due to slow/unpredictable transfers and I go into a research frenzy but I quickly forget the results of said frenzy.
I’m also comparing this to like, what other countries have. Recently I discovered that in the Philippines you can instantly move funds between two debit cards simply by using the card details. It’s like the Visa/Mastercard proprietary P2P stuff (think Cash App) but at the bank level (ACH).
Canada has had e-transfer for ages. You can securely transfer cash to anyone in the country using their email address or phone number. If you have auto-deposit enabled it’s instant, too.
Oh, and it’s free. It only costs money if you use the e-transfer system to request money from someone (for obvious reasons.) And even then, it’s only like $1ish.
The US not having a system like that is frankly ridiculous.
Ugh, I miss Simple so much. I was alright with ONE until they stripped the virtual card function from pockets… What is the actual point of Pockets now if I have to transfer the money directly back to my main checking area??
I ditched ONE pretty quickly after they sold out. A few times I’ve logged in just to see what’s up and the UI sure went to hell. I always knew it was just a wrapped React app but now it’s like they’re not even trying. The Walmart color scheme was a hasty change that seems to break a lot too.
I wish they’d support Webauthn or 2FA with the QR rather than the 2012-era SMS/email code. Why would I want SMS/email OTP codes for a bank? Seriously guys you’re like 10+ years too late but I guess a lot of other websites think this is “modern” too lately. 🙄
Have you found any other decent online-centric banks to switch to? I’ve been wanting to switch away from ONE for pretty much the reasons you listed, but through a basic search I didn’t see anything else to was too appealing to me.
And the 2FA thing is ridiculous, at one point they didn’t actually have the email option (or it was very well hidden) - had a bit of a rough month at some point and wasn’t able to pay my phone bill which got it suspended, I also happened to have my card locked and got kicked out of the app so… I couldn’t unblock my card to pay the phone bill, which I needed to get the 2FA code to login in… Ended up having to reach out to support and they were able to show me how to request a 2FA code over email.
This wouldn’t even be a problem with most sites because I always use TOTP/Webauthn via my Yubikey when I have the option, and for something as critical as my bank account I really do not want SMS/Email to be an option for 2FA (I get why they have it, but I’d like to be able to turn it off for my account).
Not really. I love Betterment to death but they’re more geared toward investing (which is fine). I do know they use nbkc and have only heard good things about them; maybe give them a shot?
Warning: US-centric semi-relevant rant inbound
As a hardcore online banker: I don’t want another fucking bank. I want the actual problem that is the slow-ass ACH network (looking at you NACHA) to be solved. Online banking was as perfect as it was going to get under Simple until they sold out.
While I’m on a rant: fuck companies that sell out. Fucking tired of amazing companies kicking ass in their field selling out. That goes for Simple → BBVA, ONE Finance → Walmart, Truebill → Rocket.
Shit man. I’m a programmer and I just want to write my own bank at this point, but that won’t happen because I’m not a multimillionaire.
Seriously I asked ChatGPT how to solve this shit and it just said “use personal finance apps” but okay? They all suck. Whose dick I gotta suck for instant ACH (remember Dwolla?), multiple checking accounts and an automated “money manager?” And don’t give me “pOCkeTs.”
You’ve described a big part of why I hate startup culture. “Let’s build cool thing then sell it to a huge company and get rich.” I’m never doing it again, such a waste of time and energy.
Simple selling to BBVA was shit. Simple was never my main bank, but it was a nice, simple service. That was free. Then they moved to BBVA, which almost immediately got bought up by PNC, and then PNC started charging monthly fees. Closed my account before the first fees hit.
I still have a Varo account. Surprised that hasn’t gotten vacuumed up yet by one of the traditional banks.
I’ve looked at Varo a few times but each time I’m always like “nah” and never take the plunge.
These days I’m rocking Betterment. I’ve got two checking accounts but I didn’t realize both would be tied to the same debit card as a toggle; lame.
Maybe it’s time to give Varo a chance.
Isn’t that what FedNow is?
It’s been a hot minute but IIRC it’s “next day” or “same day” but opt-in on the bank’s side. And of course a bank will never tell you flat out what they use.
I might be petty on this topic. Many times in my life I’ve been screwed due to slow/unpredictable transfers and I go into a research frenzy but I quickly forget the results of said frenzy.
I’m also comparing this to like, what other countries have. Recently I discovered that in the Philippines you can instantly move funds between two debit cards simply by using the card details. It’s like the Visa/Mastercard proprietary P2P stuff (think Cash App) but at the bank level (ACH).
Canada has had e-transfer for ages. You can securely transfer cash to anyone in the country using their email address or phone number. If you have auto-deposit enabled it’s instant, too.
Oh, and it’s free. It only costs money if you use the e-transfer system to request money from someone (for obvious reasons.) And even then, it’s only like $1ish.
The US not having a system like that is frankly ridiculous.
Hard agree. I always hear about how easy it is in other countries and get so jealous.
Ugh, I miss Simple so much. I was alright with ONE until they stripped the virtual card function from pockets… What is the actual point of Pockets now if I have to transfer the money directly back to my main checking area??
I ditched ONE pretty quickly after they sold out. A few times I’ve logged in just to see what’s up and the UI sure went to hell. I always knew it was just a wrapped React app but now it’s like they’re not even trying. The Walmart color scheme was a hasty change that seems to break a lot too.
I wish they’d support Webauthn or 2FA with the QR rather than the 2012-era SMS/email code. Why would I want SMS/email OTP codes for a bank? Seriously guys you’re like 10+ years too late but I guess a lot of other websites think this is “modern” too lately. 🙄
Have you found any other decent online-centric banks to switch to? I’ve been wanting to switch away from ONE for pretty much the reasons you listed, but through a basic search I didn’t see anything else to was too appealing to me.
And the 2FA thing is ridiculous, at one point they didn’t actually have the email option (or it was very well hidden) - had a bit of a rough month at some point and wasn’t able to pay my phone bill which got it suspended, I also happened to have my card locked and got kicked out of the app so… I couldn’t unblock my card to pay the phone bill, which I needed to get the 2FA code to login in… Ended up having to reach out to support and they were able to show me how to request a 2FA code over email.
This wouldn’t even be a problem with most sites because I always use TOTP/Webauthn via my Yubikey when I have the option, and for something as critical as my bank account I really do not want SMS/Email to be an option for 2FA (I get why they have it, but I’d like to be able to turn it off for my account).
Not really. I love Betterment to death but they’re more geared toward investing (which is fine). I do know they use nbkc and have only heard good things about them; maybe give them a shot?
Interesting, I will have a look at them - thanks!