The above is a synthesis of CFSI’s conference based on Twitter posts over the past couple days. Not nearly as amazing as the event, but a couple things strike me: “great” is the only very frequent word that’s not a basic descriptor of the event (like conference, consumer, financial). “CFPB”…
The Core Challenge Finalists
A couple months ago we announced the first Core Underbanked Innovation Challenge for the most innovative new products serving the unbanked and underbanked in America. Since our fund is the premiere venture fund targeting innovation for this segment, it seemed like a logical thing to do. Much to our…
Don’t forget, the “underbanked” are actually real people.
My partner in underbanked crime (no pun intended), CFSI’s Innovation Meister Rachel Schneider, has been thinking about real people. Oddly enough, we all do that too little. Besides, this is a very cool project. Behold: It can be hard to understand why 30-40 million households in the U.S. use non-bank…
Prepaid Banks (Post Prepaid Expo)
A month ago BB&T launched a prepaid account, a GPR program targeting the underbanked. It sports a $10 monthly fee (half that if you deposit $1k/mo) and free cash deposits from any branch or via the Visa ReadyLink Network. Several banks have approached Green Dot about managing GPR programs for them.…
ConsumerFinance.gov
Just posted some comments at FastCompany.com on CFPB’s new online presence. If you’re interested, click here.
Rent in credit report!!!!
This is a big-deal announcement: “As of December 2010, Experian® will include positive rental payment data as part of a consumer’s credit file.” Sound dry? Not so: My numbers are old, but before the recession 50-odd million Americans had no or thin credit reports. So, if you’re an immigrant…
Innovation in Financial Literacy?
I have long believed almost all financial literacy or financial education is a waste of time. Well intended, but very low impact. The correlation between information delivered and behavior changed is small. At Finovate, I was interested to see quite a few companies with “financial capabilities” offerings. Our partners at…
Depository-AFS Hybrids
Last week, unnoticed to most of the world, something noteworthy happened: a hybrid credit union and check-casher opened in East San Jose, CA. This is not without precedent (CheckSpring Bank opened a bank-like check cashing branch in the Bronx, Kinetka Federal Credit Union bought the Nix Check Cashing chain in…
Why the underbanked
When thinking about the underbanked, it’s easy to assume there are people at the bottom of the economic pyramid who are generally underserved. What’s not so obvious is what appears as a small fringe of financially disenfranchised people, is actually a very large consumer market: over 100 million adults strong in…