Finovate Alumni News– January 4, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Budgetpulse, Buxfer, Lending Club, MiiCard, Mint.com, Prosper, ReadyForZero, Yodlee

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  • Forbes recommends Budgetpulse, Mint.com, Buxfer, and Yodlee as PFMs to help keep track of your money.
  • Fox News advocates ReadyForZero to help pay down debt.
  • Prosper launches Kindle Fire sweepstakes.
  • Fast Company breaks down how ReadyForZero works.
  • Tamebay shares how miiCard is helping to increase trust online.
  • P2P Lending News reports that Prosper and Lending Club facilitated $40 million in loans in December.
  • Expensify gives users 10 free scans per month.
  • Geezeo signs 5 credit unions during the last week of 2011.
  • Cortal Consors announces new version and expansion of Hopee.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Lending Club Removes Service Fee on Large Loans

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Lending Club

LendingClubLogo.jpg

Last week Lending Club announced that, for a limited time, it will forgo the 1% lender service fee on loans in excess of $20,000 for the entire life of the loan. 

P2P Lending News reports:

“Lending Club is likely dropping its service fee on a test basis to increase investor demand in larger notes. Because borrowers with larger loan sizes have much larger payments, investors tend to see them as riskier investment options.”

Lending Club has not yet disclosed how long the fee waiver will last.

To learn more about Lending Club, watch its FinovateStartup09 demo.

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The Receivables Exchange Announces Strategic Alliance with Insperity Investment

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Receivables Exchange

ReceivablesExchangeLogo.jpg

Last week, The Receivables Exchange announced a strategic alliance with Insperity Investment, a human resources and business performance solutions company.

“This venture will enable The Receivables Exchange’s working capital solution to be offered to small and medium-sized U.S. businesses, including more than 100,000 businesses supported by Insperity.”

In addition, Insperity invested capital in The Receivables Exchange. The amount of capital and terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

To learn more about the Receivables Exchange, watch its FinovateFall 2010 demo.

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Credit Karma Launches Free Credit Monitoring Service

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Credit Karma

Thumbnail image for creditkarmalogo.jpg

Today, Credit Karma launched a free credit monitoring service for all U.S. consumers. The service will monitor a consumer’s credit file on a daily basis and notify them of significant changes.

Here’s how it works:

    • The consumer visits CreditKarma.com and begins the free, two-minute registration process.
    • Every day, Credit Karma monitors the consumer’s credit report.
    • After a new credit inquiry, missed payment, or improved payment status hits the consumer’s credit file, Credit Karma alerts the consumer via email.

Credit Karma is the first company to provide this service for free and existing Credit Karma members need only to opt-in to take advantage of the service.

To learn more about Credit Karma, watch its FinovateStartup09 demo.

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Finovate Alumni News– January 3, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Andera, Credit Karma, Dwolla, eToro, Jemstep, Lending Club, Ping Identity, Receivables Exchange, RobotDough, TSYS, Zopa
  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgRobotDough leaves GoDaddy due to SOPA support conflict.
  • Philly.com describes the Jemstep signup process.
  • Providence Business News reports Andera moves to a new office building.
  • eToro blog launches new column dedicated to analyzing the weekly activity on eToro OpenBook.
  • Forbes looks at Dwolla’s payment revolution.
  • Ping Identity announces PingFederate is now available as an Amazon Machine Image on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud.
  • Credit Karma launches free credit monitoring service.
  • The Receivables Exchange announces strategic alliance with Insperity Investment.
  • Lending Club removes service fee on large loans.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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FinovateEurope 2012 Early-Bird Deadline Extended to January 6th — Register now to save!

By finovate Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2012

europe-blog.gif

With 2011 put to rest, the Finovate team has returned to the office excited to make FinovateEurope 2012 in February our biggest and best European event ever.

Over the holidays we received a number of inquiries about whether it was still possible to get an early-bird ticket to the event. Given that, we’ve decided to extend our early-bird ticket deadline until this Friday (January 6th) so that you can lock in your spot at the early-bird rate.

Tickets for the event have been selling strongly and we expect a record crowd on February 7th in London. Here is a small sample of the organizations that have already registered to attend:

  • ABN Amro
  • American Express
  • Balderton Capital
  • Bank Julius Baer
  • Barclaycard
  • Barclays Bank
  • Best Buy
  • BN Bank
  • BNP Paribas
  • Capital One
  • Celent
  • DAB Bank
  • EFMA
  • Fiserv
  • Gartner
  • Greylock
  • Handelsbanken
  • IBM
  • ING Bank
  • Intuit
  • Jack Henry
  • La Poste 
  • Microsoft
  • MorningStar
  • PostFinance
  • Rabobank
  • Silicon Valley Bank
  • Skandiabanken
  • SpareBank
  • Standard Chartered
  • Volksbank
  • Yahoo! Finance
  • Yodlee

If you want to guarantee your chance to watch the future of European finance and banking technology debut in London in February, please register soon. As I mentioned above, tickets for the event are selling quickly — well ahead of last year’s pace when we sold out weeks ahead of the conference. In addition, with the extended deadline, if you register by Friday January 6th then you’ll get the affordable early-bird price on your ticket.

FinovateEurope 2012 is sponsored by: Bluerock Consulting & The Bancorp Bank

FinovateEurope 2012 is partners with: BankerStuff, BankInnovation, Celent, Deutsch Startups, Finance on Windows, The Financial Services Club, The Financial Services Innovation Centre, and PYMNTS.com.

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CBS Early Show Features Weemba, Lighter Capital, and Rebirth Financial

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Lighter Capital, Rebirth Financial, Weemba

Last week, The Early Show on CBS featured three Finovate alumni (see video below). The newscast describes how Weemba, Lighter Capital, and Rebirth Financial are all working to find funding for small businesses.  

All three startups use different approaches to provide small businesses with funding when banks fail to come through:

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Weemba

Approach: Serves as a matchmaker for borrowers and lenders
Average loan amount: $27,500
FinovateFall 2011 demo

lighterCapitalLogo.jpg

Lighter Capital
Approach: Lends money based on business earnings
Average loan amount: $150,000

FinovateFall 2011 demo

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Rebirth Financial
Approach: Matches borrowers with lenders based on a desired loan amount and interest rate 
Average loan amount: $80,000

FinovateFall 2011 demo

Source: CBS News http://bit.ly/t2inQG

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Finovate Alumni News– January 2, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on
Categories: Bill.com, Boku, BrightScope, CashStar, LearnVest, Lighter Capital, Rebirth Financial, SecondMarket, Weemba
  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgMaine Public Broadcasting Network profiles CashStar.
  • Bank Technology News describes how Bill.com uses capital infusion to build a cash flow dashboard for businesses.
  • SecondMarket’s homepage gets a makeover.
  • The CBS Early Show features Weemba, Lighter Capital, and Rebirth Financial.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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FinovateEurope 2012 Early-Bird Deadline Extended to Friday January 6th — Register now to save!

By finovate Posted on
Categories: FinovateEurope 2012

europe-blog.gif

With 2011 put to rest, the Finovate team has returned to the office excited to make FinovateEurope 2012 in February our biggest and best European event ever.

Over the holidays we received a number of inquiries about whether it was still possible to get an early-bird ticket to the event. Given that, we’ve decided to extend our early-bird ticket deadline until this Friday (January 6th) so that you can lock in your spot at the early-bird rate.

Tickets for the event have been selling strongly and we expect a record crowd on February 7th in London. Here is a small sample of the organizations that have already registered to attend:

  • ABN Amro
  • American Express
  • Balderton Capital
  • Bank Julius Baer
  • Barclaycard
  • Barclays Bank
  • Best Buy
  • BN Bank
  • BNP Paribas
  • Capital One
  • Celent
  • DAB Bank
  • EFMA
  • Fiserv
  • Gartner
  • Greylock
  • Handelsbanken
  • IBM
  • ING Bank
  • Intuit
  • Jack Henry
  • La Poste 
  • Microsoft
  • MorningStar
  • PostFinance
  • Rabobank
  • Silicon Valley Bank
  • Skandiabanken
  • SpareBank
  • Standard Chartered
  • Volksbank
  • Yahoo! Finance
  • Yodlee

If you want to guarantee your chance to watch the future of European finance and banking technology debut in London in February, please register soon. As I mentioned above, tickets for the event are selling quickly — well ahead of last year’s pace when we sold out weeks ahead of the conference. In addition, with the extended deadline, if you register by Friday January 6th then you’ll get the affordable early-bird price on your ticket.

FinovateEurope 2012 is sponsored by: Bluerock Consulting & The Bancorp Bank

FinovateEurope 2012 is partners with: BankerStuff, BankInnovation, Celent, Deutsch Startups, Finance on Windows, The Financial Services Club, The Financial Services Innovation Centre, and PYMNTS.com.

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Happy New Year!

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Advertising Age, Holiday promotions, Website Usability & Design

imageOn the first day of 2012, we found a few financial institutions wishing their customers well, while also informing them of holiday branch closures. Always festive Amplify Credit Union (Austin, TX) had a great look as did First Federal Bank of Florida (see below). 

First Federal also remembered to address New Years Eve hours on Saturday, a more likely question. 

Final note: While you’re at it, also mention holiday hours in your call center and online banking support.

——————————

Amplify Credit Union (1 Jan 2012, link)
Note: Amplify switches out its header graphic and logo treatment on major holidays. Here was their Valentine’s look in 2010.

Amplify CU homepage on New Years Day

First Federal Bank of Florida (1 Jan 2012, link)
Note: First Florida had the best New Years graphics. They not only ran two banners, but also used subtle animation to cause the logo and top banner to twinkle when it was moused over. The bank also addressed Dec 31 hours along with those on the official holiday.

First Federal Bank of Florida homepage on New Years day


U.S. New Mexico Federal Credit Union (1 Jan 2012, link)

US New Mexico FCU homepage on New Years Day

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Holiday Promotions from Credit Unions and Community Banks

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, BancVue, Holiday promotions

imageLast week we looked at the holiday efforts (or lack thereof) of the 20 largest U.S. banks. But aside from PNC Bank’s “Christmas cost index” and ING Direct’s “12 days of mobile,” not much this holiday season was particularly noteworthy (inset for Midland Bank gift cheques, circa 1956, see credit below).

For inspiration, you need to look at the smaller banks and credit unions. Here are five we found through random googling today: 

1. Michigan State University FCU: 6.9% Holiday Loan (homepage promo #2)

image

2. Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union: Visa Gift Card (homepage promo #2)

image

3. OnPoint Community Credit (Oregon): Mobile gift cards (homepage, promo #1) , Visa Gift Card (promo #2)

 image

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4. Community First Credit Union (Florida): iPad giveaway for eStatements (homepage, promo #3; landing page)

image

5. Texas Bank: “Stash the Christmas cash” (homepage, one of four rotating promos; landing page)
Note: “Stash the cash” is similar to BofA’s “keep the change;” debit card purchases are rounded up to nearest dollar with the extra 1-99 cents deposited into savings. The holiday promo included a 5% bonus match on each transfer in December (website powered by Bancvue)

image 

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imageNote: Picture credit. Midland Bank advertisement for holiday checks from The Illustrated London News, 17 Nov 1956. (Click to enlarge, for sale here). 

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