I try to avoid eating food that “may or may not” contain some ingredient, especially if it’s not even clear what that ingredient is (milk product?). Barclay’s new Ring credit card, I’m afraid, looks tremendously tasty and innovative, but while poking through their Terms of Service over lunch just now,…
Compass Principles: Moving in the Right Direction
My partner in crime, Jennifer Tescher, who runs the Center for Financial Services Innovation, is leading a bold movement to increase quality in consumer finance. High time! Here’s what she has to say: Given the high level of consumer confusion and distrust, the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) set out in…
2012 Underbanked Innovators Challenge Finalists
We received many nominations for the best innovation serving the underbanked in America. Mostly startups, but also some big companies, including banks. Mostly payments, but also credit, savings and financial capability solutions. Mostly true innovations, but also quite a few doozies. Our judges looked for true innovation, demo-ability, and also…
Are you up to the Core Challenge?
We want to shine a spotlight on the most innovative teams serving the underbanked. You could be an app developer in a dorm-room in Beloit, WI or work for one of the largest financial technology companies on earth. If you have built a product or service that works (or will…
Give Credit Where Building it is Overdue
Suze Orman, Credit Karma and others are breathing new life into the important effort of helping people see, track and improve their credit score. My friends at CFSI and at PERC have long been active in trying to expand the dataset used to build ones credit report. The idea was,…
Banks: Don’t bank the underbanked; bank businesses that serve them well
Reposted from BAI’s Banking Strategies: Banks have struggled serving the un- and underbanked for decades. By definition, one wonders how banks can ever serve the unbanked. Even so, to date, it seems that a majority of bank efforts to capture more customers from both segments falls into two categories that…
You Suze, you don’t lose: Approval for the Approved Card
Suze Orman today announced her new Approved Card, because in her words (and inflection), “You. Can. Always. Bank. On. Me.” The card is the latest in a long line of prepaid cards, a relatively new financial instrument that functions basically like a checkless checking account, needn’t be marketed by a bank, offers…
Ninety nine Percent
I’m disappointed in the Occupy Wall Street movement, if you can call it that. I care, because I believe their beef is real. Economic inequality is significant. The poor are getting poorer. Main Street is suffering at the hands of Wall Street. Responsible, hard working people have odds stacked against…
Welcome Green Dot Bank
On Freedom Boulevard in Provo, Utah, nestled between the mountains of Uinta National Forest and Lake Utah is a nice little one-branch bank, pictured above. It looks innocent enough. Its CEO, Doug Christensen, invites personal emails from his home page. Ping him quickly, as I assume he’s soon out of a…
Not Unbanked: Untapped. Underserved spend $45B on financial services
Most believe the underserved are large in numbers and small in market potential. Of course micro lenders around the world, such as Nobel laureate Grameen Bank, who serve the poor with small, market rate “business” loans have demonstrated it’s big business – and largely, good for the world. But here…