{"id":49594,"date":"2014-04-09T21:53:30","date_gmt":"2014-04-10T01:53:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/?p=49594"},"modified":"2014-04-09T21:53:30","modified_gmt":"2014-04-10T01:53:30","slug":"how-technology-companies-are-taking-customers-from-deceptive-banks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2014\/04\/09\/how-technology-companies-are-taking-customers-from-deceptive-banks\/","title":{"rendered":"How Technology Companies Are Taking Customers From Deceptive Banks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By <a href=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/10cDh0v\" target=\"_blank\"><u>MoneyMorning.com.au<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The US stock markets closed just a few hours ago.  The Dow, NASDAQ and S&amp;P 500 were all up over 1% each. The NASDAQ alone was  up 1.72%&#8230;a good day for <a href=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/1kgrX03\" title=\"More on technology stocks and investments from Tech Insider\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>technology stocks<\/strong><\/a>. This is off the back of the minutes from  the US Federal Reserve&rsquo;s last meeting easing concerns of future interest rate hikes.<\/p>\n<p>Bloomberg reported that, &lsquo;<em>Several Fed policy makers said a rise in their median  projection for the main interest rate exaggerated the likely speed of  tightening, according to minutes of their March 18-19 meeting released today.<\/em>&rsquo; <\/p>\n<p>Around the world the Nikkei had a harder  time of it, down 2.10%, and markets across Europe were subdued with nothing  more than a few minor shifts upward. The FTSE performed the best of Europe with  an upward movement of 0.68%<\/p>\n<p>Back home on the ASX the All Ords moved up  about a percent yesterday although Financials ex-AREITS lagged the overall market  at around 0.7% in the  black.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking of financials, I&rsquo;ve come to the  conclusion that <strong>banks<\/strong> as we&rsquo;ve known them over the last few decades have come  to rely on an increasing array of obscure and potentially deceptive business  practices in order to make ever great profits.<\/p>\n<p>In fact today, I&rsquo;d like to show you a story  that proves just how far banks are willing to go keep generating fees and  charges off your accounts, even when you don&rsquo;t have an account anymore!. And  what I&rsquo;m about to explain to you is evidence that banks as you know it are a  dying breed. <\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\n<h2><strong>They&rsquo;ve screwed us all too often for too long<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>If you ask the average man in the street,  he&rsquo;d probably agree with the general sentiment that with all their fees and  charges, banks manage to make fat profits from their customers. At the very least,  they make life harder and more complicated than it needs to be, and soon enough  they&rsquo;ll strangle themselves to death.<\/p>\n<p>And in the wake of their failures,  <a href=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/14mHOzJ\" title=\"More on technology and innovation\">innovative smart financial technology companies<\/a> will swoop in to take all their  customers and profits. And I&rsquo;ll even tell you which ones are primed to beat the  banks and change the way we manage our money.<\/p>\n<p>Now someone I know recently reduced two  accounts with a Victorian-based bank to $0. One of those accounts was a normal  everyday, savings and transaction account. The other was a credit card account  with the same bank. This account balance was also $0.<\/p>\n<p>Over the next couple of months both  accounts had fees and charges debited from the account, subsequently putting  them both into debit. The bank demanded payment for these fees, ultimately  threatening to call in debt collectors.<\/p>\n<p>Now here&rsquo;s where it gets interesting. A  sternly worded email to the bank went to the complaints department. This led to  them wiping the ridiculous fees and closing both accounts. Well that was the  idea&hellip; <\/p>\n<p>And of course they said they would do it as  a &lsquo;<em>gesture of good will<\/em>&rsquo;. Please. A  gesture of good will would be not squeezing your customers to start with.<\/p>\n<p>Yes one account was shut down, the credit  card. However the savings account is still open. Further to this, and this is  beyond belief, a brand new account has been opened in the person&rsquo;s name.<\/p>\n<p>Now let me make one clear point here. At no  time whatsoever was authorization or approval given in any form to open this  account.<\/p>\n<p>So a new account, without consent or  approval. In my book, that&rsquo;s not right.<\/p>\n<p>So there&rsquo;s a few issues with all of this  that clearly shows how archaic and backwards banks are.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The fact they charge fees on $0  balance accounts is simply astounding. Sure the fees are buried somewhere in  the 24 page long Fees &amp; Charges terms and conditions. But the fact it even  exists is crazy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>You can keep the fees down&hellip;only  if you have $2,000 pass through the account each month. That means you have to  funnel all your cash to this account if you want to keep your fees low. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>And the fact that these banks  can simply open an account in your name as they see fit without your permission  seems questionable, at best.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Apparently it&rsquo;s the responsibility of the  customer to realise when the bank is screwing them over.<\/p>\n<p>And it makes me laugh when they claim they  will sort it all out &lsquo;<em>as a gesture of  goodwill<\/em>&rsquo; and then go and open a new account.<\/p>\n<p>The other part that defies me is the  extreme difficulty in just getting two simple accounts closed&hellip;sorry, now three  accounts.<\/p>\n<p>But let me compare this to a couple of  other banking and finance related experiences I had personally in the last few  months.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\n<h2><strong>How banking should be<\/strong><\/h2>\n<\/p>\n<p>I set up a new PayPal account this week. Now  you&rsquo;d think I already would have a PayPal account? Well I did. I had an Australian  PayPal account.<\/p>\n<p>But living in the UK means a different set  of rules and regulations. So I had to shut down my Aussie PayPal and set up a  new one.<\/p>\n<p>Now if I decided to do that with  &lsquo;traditional&rsquo; banks, it would be a nightmare. When I first moved to the UK it  was weeks of forms, emails, bank visits and headaches to set up a UK account  and to transfer funds across.<\/p>\n<p>But it took me all of three minutes to shut  down my Aussie PayPal, and exactly three more minutes to set up, and link bank  accounts and debit cards to my new UK PayPal account.<\/p>\n<p>Now you might start to see my point when I  say there&rsquo;s a swathe of <a href=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/1m83Kuv\" title=\"More on technology markets from The Daily Reckoning\" target=\"_blank\">technology companies<\/a> ready to steal customers from the likes  of Bank of Melbourne.<\/p>\n<p>Setting up a Google Wallet account is just  as easy. Now although Google Wallet isn&rsquo;t available in the UK yet, it&rsquo;s not far  off. But in the US not only can you keep your money in your Google balance you  can even have a physical linked debit card to the account.<\/p>\n<p>But why would you when you can simply use  your <a href=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/1eTXuPs\" title=\"More on digital currency from Tech Insider\" target=\"_blank\">smartphone to make payments?<\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Regardless, to set up a Google Wallet takes  about the same time as a PayPal account.<\/p>\n<p>But that&rsquo;s not it. I also recently  installed a Starbucks app on my smartphone. Now you might be thinking why the  hell am I talking about a Starbucks app in a discussion on banking?<\/p>\n<p>Well with my Starbucks app I can load funds  onto my virtual Starbucks card. That means I can saunter down to Starbucks, and  pay for my coffee through my phone. I don&rsquo;t even need my wallet.<\/p>\n<p>Now I&rsquo;m not necessarily going to store thousands  of dollars in my Starbucks app, but it&rsquo;s a sign that there are companies  thinking about better ways to manage money.<\/p>\n<p>And it&rsquo;s only a matter of time until the  likes of Google becomes a fully-fledged bank. They&rsquo;ll do savings, loans,  investments and payments.<\/p>\n<p>But it&rsquo;s not just the big tech giants of  Google and PayPal changing the banking landscape. There are a number of smaller  start-ups gobbling up customers at great speed.<\/p>\n<p>Here&rsquo;s how the future of <a href=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/1hh8U3r\" title=\"More on banks from The Daily Reckoning\" target=\"_blank\">banking and  finance<\/a> is going to look.<\/p>\n<p>I&rsquo;ll keep my day-to-day transaction savings  in my Google Wallet or PayPal account. <\/p>\n<p>I&rsquo;ll use my smartphone to pay for goods and  services down the street. Instead of PayPass cards, it&rsquo;ll just be a tap and go  of my phone. That&rsquo;s because of NFC technology.<\/p>\n<p>My savings might sit in a bank like Fidor  Bank, a 100% online bank. Fidor bank is different because the number of  Facebook likes directly translates into the interest rate. It&rsquo;s a bank for digital  natives, why do they need branches? They don&rsquo;t, and it reflects in the ease and  community they&rsquo;re building.<\/p>\n<p>If I need to get a loan, I&rsquo;m not going to  BoM or CBA. I&rsquo;m going to Zopa, where the peer-to-peer network will provide me  with my lending needs. Or I might even be a lender myself, and collect interest  payments from someone I&rsquo;ve provided funds to.<\/p>\n<p>You see innovative, and forward thinking  tech companies cover every aspect of the &lsquo;traditional bank&rsquo;. <\/p>\n<p>Transactions, savings, loans, currency and  investments are all arms of banking that consumers can get a better deal  elsewhere. <\/p>\n<p>It might be PayPal or Google Wallet for day-to-day  accounts. It might be Zopa or Wonga for loans. It might be CurrencyFair or  Transferwise for currency exchange. These are all better, user-friendlier  examples of how to manage your finances.<\/p>\n<p>The point to all of this is banking and  finance are under a huge pressure&nbsp; to  change their business model. And I&rsquo;ve seen no distinct change from any of the  major <a href=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/ZHdZZv\" title=\"More on Australian banks\">Australian banks.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Sure they&rsquo;re investing hugely in their  technology, making cool apps, and all that jazz. But they&rsquo;ve missed the point.  They need to change the very fabric of their business model to stay relevant. <\/p>\n<p>That&rsquo;s why I think CBA, ANZ, Westpac and  NAB will be the most boring, underperforming financial stocks over the next ten  years as the attitudes and money of retail customers begins to shift away.<\/p>\n<p>The banks, the big four, will do everything  they can to make life difficult for you. The harder it is, the more likely you  are to give up and stay. And they&rsquo;ll continue with their fees and charges, continue  their underhanded ways of stealing your money from right beneath your nose.<\/p>\n<p>And it&rsquo;ll be these <a href=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/1ebaroS\" title=\"More on new and emerging technology from Tech Insider\" target=\"_blank\">new, innovative technology<\/a> companies that&rsquo;ll lead us to a better way. These &lsquo;banks&rsquo; of the future figured  out if you give us what we want, make it easy, transparent and fair then you&rsquo;ll  have a customer for life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Regards,<\/strong><br \/>\n    <strong>Sam  Volkering<a href=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/ZxdjuC\">+<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\n    <strong>Editor,  Tech Insider<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>From the Port Phillip Publishing Library<\/em><\/strong> <\/p>\n<p>Special Report: <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/1gN7nzF\" target=\"_blank\">Mining Boom Act II<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"feedflare\">\n<a href=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/1ebVR6a\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/Nk9u5P\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/1ebVR6e\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/1gN7lId\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/1ebVTuV\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/1gN7lYx\" border=\"0\"><\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/1ebVTuX\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" \/><br \/>\nBy <a href=\"http:\/\/ift.tt\/10cDh0v\" target=\"_blank\"><u>MoneyMorning.com.au<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By MoneyMorning.com.au The US stock markets closed just a few hours ago. The Dow, NASDAQ and S&amp;P 500 were all up over 1% each. The NASDAQ alone was up 1.72%&#8230;a good day for technology stocks. This is off the back of the minutes from the US Federal Reserve&rsquo;s last meeting easing concerns of future interest &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2014\/04\/09\/how-technology-companies-are-taking-customers-from-deceptive-banks\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;How Technology Companies Are Taking Customers From Deceptive Banks&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49594","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49594\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}