Chase Adds Mobile Remote Deposit Capture and P2P Payments to its iPhone App

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Chase Bank, iPhone, Mobile Banking, P2P Payments, Remote Deposit Capture

imageChase Bank rolled out a major new release to its iPhone app on Thursday (v. 2.3.1) with the addition of both remote deposit capture and peer-to-peer (P2P) payments (see inset). Chase is the first to support both those important features in its mobile app (note 1). This post covers remote deposit, and I’ll look at the P2P feature later.

How it works
I had been looking forward to depositing a check via the magic of the iPhone. But sadly, despite following the directions and capturing a good image of the front and back of the check, the software failed to scan the amount correctly (see screenshot 7).

The Chase app said the check scanned in at $0, despite it being a printed $200 check. I was testing with my trusty version 1 iPhone (circa 2007), which may not have a sharp enough camera. I’ll try it on a newer iPhone and update the post. 

Here’s the process for new users (click on the thumbnails to view larger versions):

1. The Chase Quick Deposit service has been added to the main navigation bar across the bottom.

2. Customers agree to terms and conditions. Note: The service is limited to $1,000 per day and no more than $3,000 per month, eliminating many businesses as potential users.

3. On the first screen, users enter the dollar amount of the check.

4. The app provides instructions on how to successfully capture the check image.

5. Take pictures of the front and back of the check.

6. Double check image quality.

7. Error message saying that the dollar amount from the scan ($0) did not match the amount entered ($200).

Summary: Despite the glitch on my first deposit attempt, I’m glad to see Chase moving the mobile state-of-the-art forward. I’m sure we’ll see remote deposit added to most major mobile banking apps in the near future.

1. Signup screen           2. Customer agreement  3. Enter amount

image    image    image

4. Hints on image capture   5. Photograph the check front and back

image    image

6. View photo results                             7. Error message

image       image

Notes:
1. USAA was the first major bank with mobile remote deposit, launching it in Sep. 2009; while WV United FCU was the very first with it almost exactly one year ago.
2. For more on mobile banking and payments, see the most recent issue from Online Banking Report.

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Online Financial Management Pioneer Wesabe to Shutter its PFM Functions, Open Source its Code

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Personal Financial Management, Wesabe

image I’m sorry to see that Wesabe has thrown in the towel and will shutter the financial management portion of its website, leaving just the online forums intact. Customers have until July 31 to export their financial data stored at the company.

I have been a long-time fan and have been inspired by founders Jason Knight and Marc Hedlund. The company was the first VC-funded player in the online PFM space, beating Mint to market by a good nine months back in 2006. We’ve written about them in Netbanker and Online Banking Report, and they presented on stage at our first FinovateStartup (2008 video). 

Wesabe’s been pretty quiet this year and traffic has been on the decline, but it’s still a respectable 40,000 uniques per month (see below). I was hoping they would soon be announcing a new round of funding, but obviously that didn’t come through. But I am somewhat surprised no other PFM player stepped in to purchase the assets, especially given Mint’s $170 million exit nine months ago (note 1). I’m afraid it’s a sign that the standalone OFM space is struggling.

image
Source: Compete, June 30, 2010

It also illustrates the point we’ve been making for a long time: The first hurdle for market acceptance is trust. And it’s difficult for a non-bank financial management startup to earn enough trust from enough people fast enough to survive. Mint proved that it can happen, but most OFM players will need to partner with banks and credit unions to overcome the trust barrier.

Still, the Wesabe case is surprising. Well into its fourth year, with a solid track record, a core group of fans, some cool technology, and a straightforward white-labeling model, it seemed the company had made it far enough down the trust curve to be one of the survivors. But in a Wesabe groups discussion forum a few hours ago, CEO Hedlund gave a pessimistic assessment of the company’s revenue outlook. In response to several posts from members saying they’d gladly pay a subscription fee to keep the company afloat, he said:image

One interesting side note, Wesabe says it will open source some of the code base, so users can continue to operate the service on their own computers. That may create opportunities for scrappy entrepreneurs to build something from the ashes of Wesabe, a fitting tribute to the PFM pioneer.

Wesabe homepage (30 June 2010)

image

Notes:
1. Wesabe was philosophically opposed to taking outside advertising, figuring that it was not in their users’ best interests, so the ad-sponsored biz model used by Mint was probably not on the table.
2. For more on the OFM/PFM market, see our latest Online Banking Report.

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PNC Bank Pitches Rewards Program at Logout

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Login/logoff marketing, PNC Bank, Rewards Programs

image The logoff page is one of the most important marketing platforms available to financial institutions (see note). The latest example: PNC Bank’s logoff screen delivered last week after leaving my Virtual Wallet (VW) account (see first screenshot below).

I like the two-column design with useful info on the left side for someone who’s just logged out and on the right a simple eye-catching advertisement for the bank’s free rewards program, PNC Points. A single Enroll Today button makes it easy to figure out what to do next, although that direct approach is not carried through on the landing page (second screenshot).

Overall, it’s a good effort, but I noticed something slightly off — the lack of VirtualWallet branding after logging out. The page is branded PNC Online Banking, and the two choices in the left box are:

  • Return to PNCVirtualWallet.com
  • Return to PNC.com

At minimum, the second choice isn’t worded correctly since I just left my VW account. Worst case, it leaves customers wondering why the bank doesn’t know where they came from. I assume the bank is using the same logout screen for both regular and VW customers and that everyone is accustomed to it by now. Still, it would be better to continue the VW experience all the way through logout.

PNC Bank logoff screen (24 June 2010)

image

Landing page (link)
Surprisingly, after choosing Enroll Today on the logout page above, users go to another sales page, with a less prominent Enroll button buried in the lower right. Instead of this roundabout process, users should go directly to the enroll page. 

image

Note: For more information on login/logoff marketing see our Online Banking Report: Selling Behind the Password published April 2009.  

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ING Direct (USA) to Offer Special Independence Day Bonuses July 1 & 2

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, ING Direct

imageI love holiday-themed online promotions. It’s the low-hanging fruit of online marketing. Why not dress up your website for the holidays and offer a little savings on the side? Worst case, you get a smile from your customers. Best case, you turn a tidy profit on the effort.

Last fall, I wrote about ING Direct’s Black Friday (pre-Thanksgiving) sale. I liked it so much, I am now the proud owner of an ING Direct mortgage refi thanks to the $683 incentive to apply that day.

Knowing what a fan I am, the bank provided me with a preview of the offers planned for next weekend to celebrate the events of 1776:

  • Investing for financial freedom: Investors who open a new ShareBuilder account receive a $76 bonus (after making one transaction). 
  • Pursuing the happiness of homeownership: Prospective homeowners who apply for a mortgage  receive $776 off closing costs, a 40% discount. 
  • Liberation from checking fees: A surprise promotion for its no-fee Electric Orange Checking account. 
  • Spreading the wealth of savings: An undisclosed boost to the bank’s usual refer-a-friend offer.

More details will appear on the bank’s landing page at 12:01 AM on July 1 <ingdirect.com/independence> (see teaser page below, first screenshot). The teaser campaign has already been implemented on the bank’s homepage, Twitter page, and Facebook page (see screenshots below).

Anyone else have something special planned for next weekend? Add it to the comments below or drop me an email.

Landing page teaser (link, 24 June 2010)

ING Direct 4th of July sale landing page

ING Direct homepage

ING Direct USA home page with indpedendance day sale teaser

Twitter page preview (link)

ING Direct twitter page with July 4 teaser

Facebook page (link)

ING Direct Facebook page with 1776 sale teaser

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Citibank Adds Text Banking to its Mobile Lineup

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Citi Mobile, Citibank, Mobile Banking, SMS, Text banking

image With today’s launch from Citibank (press release), the big four U.S. banks now all support text banking (Bank of America, Chase, Citibank, and Wells Fargo) (see note 1).

With these four giants on board, text banking turns into table stakes going forward, i.e., a must-have feature. Those without it have a tangible deficiency that will cost them customers, especially in the heavy-texting youth market.

The Citibank service is read-only offering Bal, Stmt, and Hist commands sent to its shortcode MyCiti (692484) (see second screenshot for command list). It also includes the all-important Stop function to turn off all text messages and alerts. Chase Bank recently became the first major U.S. bank to offer text-based funds transfers.

Citibank isn’t making a big deal of the new option on its website. The text option is now positioned on the mobile page with equal billing with the bank’s iPhone and (other) smartphone options (see first screenshot below).

Citibank mobile landing page (link, 22 June 2010)

Citibank mobile landing page

Text banking page (link)

Citibank text banking page

Notes:
1. Update June 23: While BofA and Citi added text banking this year, Wells
and Chase have offered it since 2007.
2. For more on mobile banking and payments, see the most recent issue from Online Banking Report.

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A Big Thank You to the June NetBanker.com Sponsors

By Eric Mattson Posted on
Categories: About Netbanker

As usual, we want pause in our normal blogging to thank the sponsors that help keep NetBanker free and high-quality.

Please consider supporting all our sponsors (listed below in alphabetical order) so they can continue to support us:

Thanks for taking a moment to check out our sponsors. Please let us know if you ever have any feedback on these companies or our blogging.

P.S. If you want to join these companies in supporting NetBanker, please drop me an email at eric@netbanker.com.We’ve almost sold out of advertising space for 2010 and will soon open the doors for 2011 space.

ericphoto.jpgEric Mattson is CEO of Online Financial Innovations, the parent company of NetBanker, Online Banking Report and the Finovate Conference Series. He can be reached at eric@netbanker.com.

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U.S. Travelers Need Chip & Pin Prepaid Travel Cards

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Credit/Debit Cards, Security & Privacy, Stored Value Cards

imageLast summer, I had the opportunity to spend a week in an apartment in Paris’s 6th. The wonderful 1920s building overlooked a transportation solution even older: bicycles.

But Paris’s popular Velib bike-sharing program has a modern twist, an automated rental system run entirely by unmanned kiosks that accept only debit and credit cards.

Subscribers (29 Euros annually, 5 Euros weekly) can ride the bikes free for the first half hour, then the price rises steeply to 3 Euros per hour and higher. But with stations every 300 meters, you can tool around the city very cost effectively. That is, if you are not American. 

imageWhy? Our old-school mag-stripe cards are no longer in step with the international gold standard of security, the imbedded computer chip unlocked by PIN entry, i.e., chip & pin or EMV. 

At most European merchants, it’s not a problem. They are plenty willing to take the old-school mag stripe card in order to make the sale. Last year, we never had any trouble using plastic from our friends at Wells Fargo and Bank of America. But in certain situations, such as unattended ticket machines, U.S. cardholders can be out of luck.  

The Paris bikes are one very visible place where mag strip cards are not honored (see note 1). That explains the perplexed tourists I watched last summer struggling at the Velib kiosks trying repeatedly to get the machine to release a bike.

Financial institution opportunity: Here’s a great way to pick up market share among well-heeled international travelers. Offer a chip & pin prepaid card. It’s a modern-day travelers check, something every traveler will tuck in their wallets and purses, then forget about when they get home (note 2). And it’s perfect for Internet distribution, especially if you issue cards nationwide.

Besides card fees, interchange, and travelers-check-like float, first movers could gain real market share with a great demographic.

According to Payments News, Gemalto is offering a chip-and-pin solution for U.S. card issuers. A few weeks ago, United Nations Federal Credit Union became the first U.S. financial institution to announce deployment of the Gemalto card (press release). The CU says it will be available in the second half of 2010. But, you’ll have to be on staff at the UN to get it.

Notes:
1. Apparently, there is an exception. American Express cards, with or without a chip, can be used at Velib machines. I wish I’d known that when I was in Paris.  
2. Closer to home, Canada is also in the process of converting to the new standard.
3. Photo credit: Clive Andrews. This was the typical tourist look at the Velib kiosk queue, utter confusion.

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Chase Bank Offering Small Business Clients $2,000 in Free Remote Deposit Capture Services

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Email Marketing, Email Samples, Remote Deposit Capture, Small Business

image Two thousand is the largest banking premium I’ve ever seen, although Chase’s out-of-pocket costs are probably less than $500. The offer was made last week via email (see first screenshot) to existing business-banking customers not already enrolled in Chase Quick Deposit, a scanner-based remote check-deposit service.

The details:

————————————————————————————————————

From: Chase Bank 
To: Business Banking clients
Date: 10 June 2010 (1 PM)

Offer: Two years of free remote deposit services (Chase Quick Deposit), normally $50/mo, plus the $855 Panini 50-50 business-class scanner to power it. Total retail value = $2,055 

Fine print:
— Users must deposit at least 10 checks per month to maintain fee-free service
— New Quick Deposit users only; not valid for current or previous users
— $500 cancellation fee if discontinued within 12 months
— Offer good through July 31, 2010

Notes: This offer does not appear to be available to the general public. On the bank’s website, the current offer is a free scanner with a 2-year contract at $50/mo.

————————————————————————————————————-

Analysis: It’s definitely attention-getting and will drive new remote-deposit business. But I’m a bit surprised Chase is giving away both the razor and the blades (see note 1). Perhaps the bank is testing different offers. But it will be two years before Chase finds out what percentage of its users convert to paying customers. Of course, they are also banking on an account-retention lift to repay the significant cost of the offer.   

Email from Chase offering free remote deposit services (10 June 2010, 1 PM)

image 

Landing page

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Users accepting the offer must first log in to their account to enroll

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Notes:
1. Offer made to a single-service (DDA) small business checking client converted from WaMu.
2. For more info, see Online Banking Report: Micro- and Small Business Online Banking (published Oct. 2009)

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Bank of America Promotes Text Message Banking at Login

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Bank of America, Login/logoff marketing, Mobile Banking

image Logging in to my Bank of America credit card account today, I received a full-page promotion for the bank’s new text-messaging service.

Even though my mobile phone was already enrolled, the bank served the following interstitial encouraging me to to enroll:

Bank of America interstitial 11 June 2010 
Bank of America’s interstitial promotion after logging in to online banking (11 June 2010)

I chose the “enroll now” link in the lower left above and was taken to this page:

image
Mobile enrollment landing page (secure site)

Evidently, I’d already enrolled, which I should have remembered considering I’d blogged about it two months ago.

However, if you arrive at this page, as I did, expecting to enroll in text banking, it’s a bit confusing. It would be helpful to see a bolder statement that “you are already enrolled.” It would also be nice if they provided the short code (692632) to quickly test your phone to verify enrollment. To find that info, you must click the small “Text Banking Guide” link.

Relevance for NetBankers: If you are unable to screen out existing users, make sure you communicate clearly so customers don’t waste their time re-enrolling. 

Note:
1. I don’t know if BofA’s text messaging is down, or if it’s something related to my account, but I am getting no response to my text-message queries (bal, menu) to the bank’s short code (3:41 PM, 4:12 PM, and 4:32 PM Pacific time, June 11). 
2. For more information, see our Online Banking Report: Selling Behind the Password (published April 2009).

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Truliant FCU Raises Fear of Being Declined in New Website Pitch for Opt-in Debit Card Overdraft Protection

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Debit Cards, Loans & Credit

image Three weeks ago I noticed that North Carolina-based Truliant Federal Credit Union had posted a highly visible opt-in overdraft pitch on its login page (see screenshot #5, below). I checked back today and found that the CU is still running a login page ad, albeit smaller (ss #2), and has also taken the message to its homepage (ss #1).

The new ads are more fear-based compared to the previous friend-of-the-customer approach (see note 1). In addition, the 180,000-member CU has moved to an online opt-in form (ss #4). Previously, customers could only ask for someone to contact them (ss #6).

Truliant has considerably simplified the landing-page message. In May, it offered a credit line option in addition to the simple $29-per-item system (ss #6). Apparently, that wasn’t working as well as hoped. Now, members clicking on either the homepage or login-page promo receive a short, semi-urgent message (ss #3) that links to the online opt-in form.

Analysis: While I think the CU does an adequate job explaining the new opt-in options (see note 2 for suggested improvements), I’m disappointed it moved away from giving the credit line option equal billing. With an APR of 6.5% to 11.5% and no transaction/advance fees, it’s a much more cost-effective option (note 3).

1. Truliant FCU homepage visitors receive a large homepage pitch to opt-in for overdraft protection (10 June 2010)
Note: It must be a brand new banner since the underlying hyperlink, after the ads have cycled once, has a typo causing it to lead to an error page (9:25 AM PDT)

image

2. Overdraft protection message on login page (link, 10 June 2010)

image

3. Landing page (link, 10 June 2010)       4. Opt-in form (link,10 June 2010)
Click to enlarge                                           Click to enlarge

image    image

5. Previous login page had two ads for OD protection (20 May 2010)

image

6. Previous landing page included a line-of-credit option (link, 20 May 2010)
Note: In May there was no online opt-in form; interested members could only select a “contact me” button. The landing page now links to the form shown in #4 above.

image

Notes:
I hate singling out Truliant for this post. It has one of the best blogs in all of banking that does a great job educating and connecting with members. And because the CU has done a decent job with the overdraft opt-in process, I’d give it a B or B- grade. But my job is to look for potential improvements, so here goes.

1. Is making members afraid of using their Truliant debit card really a good way to endear them to the brand? Sure, the ads are likely to produce clickthroughs and they definitely don’t cross over into the misleading category, but is there a little “crying wolf” here? Something to think about.

2. Other suggestions for improvement:

  • The three choices on the online form are not as clear as they could be. The most popular choice, number 2, has both a YES and NO in it. That’s the kind of wording that gives your members a headache. It would be far simpler if you just asked customers to tell you which types of transactions they want covered:
    A. Paper checks and automatic drafts (yes/no)
    B. Debit card transactions that don’t require a PIN (yes/no)
  • The landing page confuses the matter by using three different terms (debit without PIN, debit, and signature debit) without providing a detailed definition. At minimum, a link to a clear definition of the term should be included.
  • The landing pag
    e says you have to “opt in again by August 15.” That sounds like I need to do something now and something again later this summer.
  • The “nightmare” scenario presented on the landing page, being denied at the grocery store POS when you have a hungry family to feed, is a good example of the downside of not electing to have debit-card OD protection. And even though the $29 charge is mentioned in the previous paragraph, members skimming the landing page may still not understand it will cost them $29 to avoid this embarrassment/hassle. I’d go overboard here and place an asterisk by this line and disclose the $29 fee again in fine print at the bottom.

3. If the problem is that it’s too hard to qualify for the credit line, the CU should consider a higher-APR and/or more-fee version for riskier members.

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Spring Demo Videos Now Available Online

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Uncategorized

In keeping with tradition, the videos from our latest event, FinovateSpring 2010, are now available online here (free). You can also view demos from the previous five Finovates here (also free).

There are dozens of great demos. But four you don’t want to miss are from the companies named Best of Show by the live audience on May 11: 

  • Bobber Interactive: Launched a youth-oriented online banking/savings program with gaming and social features.  
  • Expensify: Demoed new tools for managers to track and monitor employee spending via “expense reports that don’t suck.”
  • oFlows: Showed its new end-to-end paperless loan-application system.
  • Wikinvest: Launched its new Hurricane stock information system to deliver real-time info faster than other outlets.

image If you want to be a part of the next event live and in person, save $300 with presale tickets through June 18 here. With two full days of demos, and a few other surprises, you won’t want to miss Finovate October 4 and 5 in NYC. 

P.S. Finally, companies with amazing new products or services; we need your demo applications by the end of June. Email Eric Mattson for more info.

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