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FiLife Debuts, Personal Finance Powered by Dow Jones and IAC

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 13, 2008
Categories: FiLife, Lead Generation, Personal Financial Management

I’ve been reading the FiLife blog and monitoring its URL since I heard about the intriguing concept last summer. After a couple false starts, the site went live yesterday.

The unique joint effort between News Corp’s Dow Jones and IAC is a cross between a personal finance tool like those powered by LeadFusion, a finance forum like FatWallet, a voting site such as Digg, and a full-blown magazine such as Money. It’s dripping with Web 2.0 touches from the trendy design to blogging with attitude and harnessing the collective intelligence of the user base.

The core FI Deals area shown below allows users to self-assess their financial situations. In FiLife-speak, it shows how you stack up, in key areas such as income, home value, credit score, debt and even the value of your car. The people pyramid (in the screenshot below) shows an orange stick figure representing where you stand against the rest of the country.

Following a few ideas on how to improve your standing, FiLife presents financial deals in descending order of how valuable the FiLife community deems them. In this case, a mortgage offer from Citibank is listed first due to its top-of-the-line 5-point score. In this case, since it’s the first day the site’s been live, the score comes from a single review by a FiLife staffer. As the site gains users, this score would reflect the average across all reviewers.

The other key area is the FiDeals (screenshot below). Here users can search the top deals across all categories as voted on by the community. Some deals have been placed in the site via sponsorship dollars. Those are indicated by the gold pyramid. Blue pyramid offers have been added by staff members. In either case, the score shown within the colored pyramid reflects the vote of the community, which includes staff member votes.

First Impressions
The deep-pocketed owners have the resources to build traffic and establish the FiLife brand, if they find it profitable. Assuming it gets significant visitor traction, this could be the place to find financial and banking deals online, at least in the United States.

The business model is clearly ad-supported. There’s nothing on the site at this point that would command subscription fees. And so far, the advertising is less intrusive than many other financial portals. And the bright look and good organization, not to mention professional personal finance content, add up to a potential winner.

But FiLife faces the same problem all ad-supported personal finance sites have: how to walk the fine line between the needs of users who want to find the best price vs. that of the advertisers that do not want to compete solely on price. FiLife sponsors may bolt if the community consistently posts poor reviews on their price-value. On the other hand, Google is dong just fine with AdWords, by ensuring that advertising is relevant. It will be interesting to see how FiLife strikes the proper balance.

And it’s no sure thing that FiLife ends up as the winner in the space. FiLife faces competition not only from startups such as SmartHippo, Wesabe, and Mint, but also from entrenched sites such as BankRate and TheStreet.com. And don’t count out the incumbent personal finance magazines, including Dow Jones’s own SmartMoney. These properties have enormous brand recognition and have already built substantial websites.

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Bank of America Hits Two Milestones: One Million Mobile and 25 Million Online Users

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 11, 2008
Categories: Bank of America, Metrics & Market Research, Mobile Banking

As expected, Bank of America reached the one-million-mobile-user milestone this week. Last month the bank disclosed it had 840,000 active mobile users as of March 31. With 160,000 new users in the past 9+ weeks, it appears that BofA has stayed on the 75,000/mo pace of first quarter.

Even more interesting to me was the news that the bank has "nearly 25 million" online banking users. That's 3 million more than the bank had last fall, an impressive 13% gain. Six years ago, there weren't even 20 million online banking households in the entire country (see note 1).

The bank also passed along a few other mobile metrics in today's press release:

40% are using mobile for money movement (bill pay and/or funds transfer within BofA accounts)
80% viewed transactions and balance data (leaving 20% who check balances only)
In May, the bank had 4 million mobile sessions, or 4.2 sessions per user/per month, assuming 950,000 active users
Two-thirds of mobile users are under 35, about 13% are age 35-44 and 20% are older than 45

Note:

1. Source: Online Banking Report: 2008 through 2017 Forecast

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Put Your Bank in Apple’s iPhone 3G App Store

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 10, 2008
Categories: Apple, Intuit, iPhone, Mobile Banking

I’ve written about how the iPhone could change the way consumers use mobile phones to access data (see note 1). But this slide from the Steve Jobs keynote yesterday at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), says it much better:

In case you can’t read the slide, it says that 98% of iPhone users use the built-in Safari browser, 94% use email and 90% use text messaging. That’s an amazing level of usage for what used to be considered “advanced” smartphone features. So far, the impact on ecommerce companies has been relatively small, with just 6 million users worldwide. But with Apple dropping the price by 50% to $199, there will soon be 10, 20, or 30 million Americans connecting to the Web via iPhone. If 90%+ use the browser and messaging, it will have a major impact in online/mobile banking usage.

New App Store
And to help those millions of new users find useful things to do on their phone, Apple is building a new App Store, accessible directly from the main deck of the iPhone once users download the 2.0 software in July. The App Store will include thousands of applications optimized for the iPhone that can be downloaded over the air.

Some will have a cost, with the developer keeping 70% of the revenue, but most are expected to be free. Since there is NO COST to list your app in Apple’s App Store (see update below), financial services companies should rush to get their app loaded as close to the July 11 launch date as possible.

So far, only two banks, Bank of America and Germany’s Postbank, have included their apps in the current online applications directory (here). A number of other financial apps are listed including Wesabe, Buxfer, and the latest, QuickBooks from Intuit (see inset right and screenshots below). Expect many more in the months and years to come.

Update 11 June: Important clarification from commenter “gerontius” (number 3 below). The current app directory includes webpages optimized for the iPhone. The new App Directory will include “native” apps that run directly on the iPhone operating system. That makes the bar quite a bit higher, depending on what you want to do.

Bank of America Bank of America on iphone Buxfer Buxfer on iphone

myBudget myBudget on iphone Postbank Postbank ibanking on iphone

Wesabe Wesabe on iphone Yodlee Yodlee on iphone

Note:

1. For more info, see our Online Banking Report on Mobile Banking

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MoneyAisle Launches Real-time Deposit Auctions, a Potentially Disruptive Technology

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 9, 2008
Categories: Lead Generation, MoneyAisle, Pricing

If you were to sit down with a blank piece of paper and design the perfect friction-free system for determining deposit rates, your invention would almost certainly include some type of competitive bidding. Over the years we’ve seen several banks test eBay-style auctions including PNC Bank, WaMu, and most recently Zions Direct. Those incorporated a traditional auction model, with the bank putting a deposit up for auction and selling it to the highest bidding consumer.

The latest entrant into auction-style finance, is MoneyAisle, a deposit marketplace from neoSaej, that launched today. MoneyAisle employs a reverse auction, where the consumer offers to buy an item, in this case a deposit of a certain size, and sellers bid against each other to offer the best price, in this case the highest interest rate.

In theory, MoneyAisle comes closest to the perfect deposit-pricing model. It’s right out of the Economics 101 textbook. If they can get enough buyers and sellers to make it work, it could cause a serious disruption in the market for so-called high-yield savings accounts and certificates of deposit (CDs).

I really like the auction model, but there are some obstacles for it to overcome on its way to market dominance. Here are a few that come to mind:

1. How to convince users that it’s in their best interest to take the rate offered at the end of the auction? The first thing I did after seeing the 3.1% offer was to type in www.ingdirect.com and see how it compared. And given that ING was just a bit less, 3.0%, it’s hard to get excited about opening a new account with an unknown bank for just 10 more basis points. Or worse yet, type “high yield savings rates” into Google and see five advertisers that can beat the 3.1% (see Google screenshot below).

2. How to make the auction’s feel “real?” It seems like a game, which is not necessarily bad. Users choose a deposit product, $ amount, and their state of residence, then spin the dial. Then in real time you watch the results as banks bid against each other for your money (see Step 2 screenshot below). Then after 60 seconds or so, the winner is displayed (see Step 3 screenshot below) and you can proceed to make your deposit, provided you are satisfied with the rate and the bank making the offer.

3. How to keep one bank from dominating the bidding? If the lowest-cost bank, or the one most skilled at cross-selling, or the one most in need of deposits, consistently bids “above-market” rates, will the remaining banks stay in the game?

4. How do you compete with the offers available via Google AdWords, another type of auction (see below)?

How it Works
After registering with a bare minimum of info (username, password, and security question only), it’s a simple three-step process that couldn’t be easier:

1. Decide whether you want a high-yield savings account or a CD (see step 1, screenshot below)

2. Start the auction (see step 2, screenshot below) and participating banks bid in real time via a preprogrammed, proxy bidding system

3. A few minutes later, accept the winning rate and arrange for account opening with the winning bank (see step 3, screenshot below)

In testing today, 51 banks bid on my high-yield savings account (at just after midnight Pacific Time) and 72 bid on a 1-year CD (at 5 PM Pacific Time). We were offered identical 3.1% APYs for a $5,000 savings account in Washington state and a $50,000 one in New York. When we ran an actual savings-account auction after registering, the winning bidder was Massachusetts-based Beverly National Bank with again, a 3.1% rate (see note 1). A $25,000 1-year CD in Washington earned a top bid of 3.90% by Michigan-based Isabella Bank, similar to the best rate advertised on Google.

MoneyAisle step 1: Choose a deposit product

Step 2: Watch as banks go through several rounds of bidding to reach the final rate

Step 3: Confirm you want the rate within 30 minutes and complete the rest of the form; the winning bank then contacts the customer to complete the transaction

Note:

1. The bank’s bid was more than double its published rate for a $20,000 deposit. But Beverly does currently pay 3.0% APY on $100,000 balances. When I reran the auction at 5PM Pacific Time, the bid was 30 basis points higher, 3.4% from Umbrella Bank.

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GreenNote Introduces P2P Student Loan Hybrid: Virgin Money Meets Facebook with a Dash of Prosper

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 5, 2008
Categories: GreenNote, P2P Lending, Social Networks, Student Loans

This week two Finovate Startup alums launched the
services they demo’d a month ago at our conference:

June 2: CheckingFinder from FirstROI/BancVue
June 4: Friends & family student loan facilitator, GreenNote

We’ll start with GreenNote and look at CheckingFinder tomorrow. Although I’d seen the GreenNote demo, since it was in closed beta, I hadn’t had a chance to use it until earlier this week.

My first impressions are favorable. The site helps students reach out to family and friends to put together a “personal loan consortium” to finance educational expenses (also called a “pledge drive”). While GreenNote does not currently provide access to funds from outside the student’s own network of friends and family, the service does offer tools to solicit loan pledges via email. It also collects the resulting loan pledges from interested parties, then sets up and services the resulting loan.

The process:

Students solicit loan pledges from their network, and hopefully the networks of their network
Interested friends, family, or anyone else who’s received a loan request from the student (either directly, or through forwarding) create a GreenNote account and make loan pledges (minimum $100)
Once the loan is funded (minimum $1,000, no maximum), GreenNote verifies enrollment, collects the money, and packages it into a single loan agreement with the student
When it comes time to repay the loan, lenders can choose to forego the principal and/or interest and gift it to the student; lenders will also be able to lower the rate

The terms:

Loans are deferred for up to five years while the borrower is in school, then initiate a six-month grace period before repayment begins
Interest accrues during the deferment period
Repayment is over a 10-year period, meaning that lenders must commit their money for 15 years
The rate is currently 6.8% fixed, but GreenNote takes 100 basis points of that, so lenders receive a 5.8% return (which they can elect to lower at repayment time)
GreenNote charges a 2% loan fee at funding, with a minimum of $49

Coming soon:

Allow third parties to browse loans they might want to fund (e.g., alumni)
Facebook integration

Analysis
At first glance, it looks like an expensive way to put a nice wrapper around funds that have already been made available by the student’s family. And certainly, if moms and dads are providing the bulk of the cash, it’s not necessary to pay 2% for a promissory note. For most loans, you can do that for less at online paperwork specialists such as Virgin Money or LoanBack.

However, the power of GreenNote’s model is tapping into the friends of friends, and the friends of those friends, and so on. As a student puts together an email pledge drive, recipients are encouraged to pass the request on to appropriate parties who might be willing to participate. For example, Pat who is headed to Michigan State, knows Jon whose uncle is a successful alum of the school. Jon’s uncle, who’d be highly unlikely to simply write Pat a check, might be very interested in putting a few thousand dollars into a long-term 5.8% deposit that earns him a fair rate of return and helps someone go to Michigan State.

GreenNote is well thought out and well implemented. The main problem though, is finding enough deep pockets willing to put thousands of dollars on deposit for up to 15 years with no guarantee of repayment.

Financial institution opportunities
Lenders have taken some heat recently as they’ve cut back on student lending during the credit market turmoil. A bank or credit union could gain some positive PR by facilitating this type of lending among their own customer base and community. It could be built from scratch or potentially in partnership with GreenNote.

Background
GreenNote is backed by Menlo Ventures, among others, and has an impressive board and advisors including prolific blogger and partner at Glenbrook Partners, Scott Loftesness. Bill Harris of Intuit, X.com (now PayPal), and Passmark (now RSA) fame is on the board. The launch was covered this week by TechCrunch, VentureBeat, and C|Net among others.

GreenNote homepage (5 June 2008)

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Financial Direct Mail Drops 10%, Still Delivers 40 Offers to Every U.S. Household

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 3, 2008
Categories: Direct Mail, Market Research & Metrics

Did your recycling bin feel a bit lighter last quarter? According to Mintel Comperemedia, financial service direct mail was down 10% in the latest quarter:

Total
Q1 2008: 4.2 billion pieces Down 10%
Q1 2007: 4.6 billion pieces

Credit cards
Q1 2008: 2.6 billion pieces Down 14%
Q1 2007: 3.1 billion pieces

I’d like to think that online marketing has turned the corner and is finally making a dent in traditional direct marketing. But it’s probably more likely that card companies, using stricter underwriting, simply had 14% fewer credit-worthy prospects. Plus, a few more people are opting out of snail mail (see note below).

Assuming 80 million credit-worthy households in the United States (out of 110 million total), the average household received 53 mailings in first quarter. If you are prime or alt-prime credit, you likely saw little-to-no change in your junk mail pile.

Note: photo credit
Proving once again that you can find anything online, the picture above is from Jason Carter’s blog where he is collecting credit card offers. This is his first-quarter haul, 23 for his wife and 7 for him. While that is slightly below the national average, Jason has been actively opting out of direct mail offers, so it is not a representative example.

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Wachovia Way2Save Lands 650,000 Accounts

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 2, 2008
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Wachovia

In an interview in the Charlotte Business Journal (here), Wachovia’s Savings Director Kathryn Black reveals that the bank has added 650,000 Way2Save accounts since its launch four months ago, and are “well ahead of our goal to have 1 million Way2Save customers by the end of (2008).” She also said they are looking at expanding the service:

We consider (Way2Save) generation one. We’re continuing to think through what’s next — how do we make this product better? How do we add on to this idea for other segments who have different needs?

— Kathryn Black, Wachovia’s Savings Director, 30 May 2008

The Way2Save account offers up to 15% APY in the first year on a maximum average annual balance of $600, built up through automated savings of up to $100/mo. That works out to a maximum of $90 in interest the first year (not including the golf bonus detailed below), about $70 more before-tax than you can earn on other high-yield accounts. For more details, see our previous coverage here. For small savers, it provides above-average returns and helps them sock away cash without thinking about it.

Way2Save Golf Bonus
In addition to the maximum 15% first-year rate, Wachovia ran a promotion in May tied to this year’s PGA tournament Wachovia Championship (see screenshot below). All Way2Save customers, new and existing, will earn a rate of interest in June, July and August pegged to the number of strokes under par scored by the tournament winner. With Anthony Kim beating the course record by 3 strokes, for a 16-under score, Wachovia is now paying 16% interest for the next 3 months. For the savers that started their $100/mo contributions in February, it will be another $15 in extra interest. For those just getting started in May, it’s only $5 more before tax. It also means that the first year’s blended rate — (16% x 3 months) + (5% x 9 months) — is just under 8% (see note 1).

Analysis
So it’s no wonder Wachovia has attracted a slew of accounts. It’s been live for about four months, so it’s adding about 150,000 accounts per month. The most anyone could have amassed in the account so far is $400 plus a buck per electronic transaction. Assuming average balances of $200 per account, the product has attracted approximately $130 million so far.

Whether the new account pans out for the bank is yet to be seen. Assuming it pays out an average of $60 extra to each new Way2Save customer, Wachovia will have invested more than $60 million to attract a million low-balance savings accounts. And that doesn’t include the marketing or customer-service expenses or the cost to open 15 new checking accounts for one person so they can open 15 Way2Save accounts (see previous post). It will be years before Wachovia knows if this product has a positive ROI.

Granted, a bigger strategic issue is at play here: creating awareness of the Wachovia brand. It could be a huge success if the bank opens up hundreds of thousands of new customer relationships due to the promotion.

Note:
1. The 16% rate applies to accounts opened before May 30th.

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Snack-Sized Innovation: Safe Deposit Box Content Archives

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 29, 2008
Categories: Alerts & Messaging, Insurance, Security & Privacy, Wells Fargo

I heard from a new company last week that has created a service to help life insurance and bank-account holders to notify beneficiaries periodically that they are named on the account. According to FindYourPolicy.com (see screenshot below), $1 billion in insurance policies go unclaimed each year due to unknown or lost beneficiaries. Although it sounds simple, tracking down beneficiaries can be a timely and expensive process. Outsourcing some or all of that is an appealing idea.

However, as a consumer-direct service, I don’t think FindYourPolicy.com will get a lot of traction. The list price of $29.95 plus $3.95 per month is a lot for twice-yearly postcards (see note 1) to your beneficiaries. But the company is likely more interested in setting a high retail “value” on the service so they can wholesale it to financial institutions for pennies on the dollar.

Using the same concept for safe deposit boxes
While the beneficiary notification is an idea deserving of a second look, I was more intrigued with another of its features, safe deposit documentation and notification service. I just spent 30 minutes last Friday making a trip to the bank to look in my safe deposit to see if my son’s social security card was there (note 2). Of course, it wasn’t. I could have saved the trip if I’d had good records on its contents. I’m sure I wrote it down somewhere, but it would likely take much longer than 30 minutes to find it.

Ideas to help memory-challenged customers like myself:

Simplest: It would be great if my bank had a simple email-like software app available near the safe-deposit area where I could list the contents of the box and then email the info to myself AND store a record of that communication within online banking so I could access it years from now when the email is long lost.
Harder: In addition to manually entering info, have a scanner available so that I can scan copies of the documents in the safe deposit box for a digital record.
Hardest: Extend the service to the home/office and allow me either to store items virtually, using my home/office scanner, or by uploading/emailing documents into the virtual safe-deposit box. This is the core idea behind vSafe from Wells Fargo.

However, as Tripp Johnson at Gonzobanker so eloquently laid out in this article, there are serious questions regarding overall demand for virtual safe-deposit services, not to mention pesky compliance issues that cannot be ignored.

FindYourPolicy.com homepage (29 May 2008; see note 3)

Note:

1. Why TWICE yearly? Once per year seems like plenty. Or how about one postcard and one email message each year? (Update 1 June: The reason for mailing 2x per year is that the U.S. Postal Service forwards mail only for six months, so with this frequency the company ensures it gets the forwarding address. (See comment #2 from Michael Hartmann of FindYourPolicy.com)

2. My bank is requiring a faxed copy of my 18-year-old son’s social security card in order to add him to my account. I’m all for good authentication (who isn’t?), but that seems extreme. More on that in a future post.

3. Sometime during the past 10 days, FindYourPolicy.com added the “member of American Bankers Association” seal. It’s a reasonable touch, but it only means they’ve paid at least $1,250 for a service membership to the ABA.

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Call for Entries: FINOVATE 2008, NYC Oct. 14

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 28, 2008
Categories: Finovate

Our second annual financial innovations conference, Finovate 2008: Experience the Future of Finance, will take place Oct. 14 in mid-town Manhattan. Like the sold-out event last year, 20 innovative financial tech companies will demonstrate their latest products and technologies. Each company exec has seven minutes in front of the audience, and is then available at a dedicated demo station for 90+ minutes of one-on-one discussions.

While we won’t be releasing presenter names for some time, you can get a taste of the content by reviewing our blog coverage (here) and videos from Finovate 2007 (here). Last year, the audience selected Mint, Mortgage Marvel from Mortgagebot, and Prosper as Best of Show. For the entire list of 2007 presenters, see our blog post here.

Nomination process for presenters
Presenter slots are by invitation only. But since we don’t (yet) know every cool financial services company on the planet, we’re also taking nominations (yes, you can nominate yourself). The two main selection criteria are simple. The product/service/technology must be:

highly innovative
related to financial services (either direct-to-consumer, or delivered through financial services companies)

If you are interested, tell us how you will impress an audience of banking execs, reporters from the major dailies, top industry analysts and bloggers, VCs and a variety of “new product folks” from major tech companies. Please contact my colleague and conference director Eric Mattson <mattson@netbanker.com> for more information on becoming a presenter.

Attendees, save $350 by registering before May 31
The super-early-bird price ends in three days. So take a moment to lock in your $350 savings on Finovate admission (price = $745). We have a liberal cancellation policy (note 1) if your plans change, so register here before prices go up.

Press, analysts, and bloggers
Subject to space limitations in NYC, we are again inviting press and industry analysts and bloggers to attend at no cost. So get your press requests in early. Contact OBR/Netbanker editor Jim Bruene <jim@netbanker.com> to request a press pass. For bloggers, please detail your reach in the financial and/or tech industries.

Note:

1. Cancellation policy: At any time prior to the day of the show, you may transfer your ticket to someone else or roll it over to a 2009 Finovate event. Alternatively, you may elect to receive a refund of the full amount through the end of July; 75% through Aug. 31; 50% through Sept. 30; and 25% up until two days before the event, in this case, by midnight PST Oct. 11.

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ING Direct to Offer Desktop Security Plug-in from Trusteer

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 27, 2008
Categories: Authentium, ING Direct, Security & Privacy, Trusteer

While everyone wants better online banking security, the business case for most solutions is elusive. Even the simple step of adding an password in front of sensitive transactions can cost millions in customer service, enrollment procedures, employee training, and other soft costs.

So financial institutions, especially in the U.S., have taken a pragmatic approach to security, adding behind-the-scenes monitoring and making it difficult to transfer large amounts of cash out of the bank, rather than incur the expense of more robust login security. Banks have been especially reluctant to get involved in the security of the customer’s desktop due to the potential tech support costs and liability issues.

That’s what makes ING Direct’s new solution especially novel. The large U.S. direct bank, which has pioneered several security procedures, including multi-factor login and PINpad data entry, will offer a downloadable 400k plugin that creates a “secure tunnel” from the user’s computer to the bank (more analysis from Gartner’s Avivah Litan here).

According to the software provider, Israel-based Trusteer, even if the user’s computer is infected with malware, the company’s Rapport software defeats all attempts to view, capture, or take over the transaction. It also encrypts keyboard entry without impacting the speed of the interaction with the bank. If it works as billed, it could be a boon for online banking security.

The optional plug-in is expected to be made available to the direct bank’s 14 million customers worldwide, including 6.5 million in the U.S. The software is already in use by U.S. brokerage Muriel Siebert & Co. which mentions it in the What’s New section of its homepage (see screenshot below; read more here).

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Cost
The software is now available here. It is free-of-charge to communicate with ING Direct and three other websites. Users will likely have the option to purchase a premium version that communicates with a larger number of websites.

This so-called freemium business model should help minimize the cost of the software to the financial institution. But the bigger cost issue for the bank is the customer service expense. ING Direct, which has famously kept customer-service costs down by focusing on serving only profitable customers, likely will offload as much of the tech-support burden as possible to Trusteer. But there’s no such thing as zero impact. So it will be interesting to see if they can make the ROI work across 6.5 million customers, many of whom haven’t a clue about safe computing basics.

A competing system, Safe Central from Authentium, was showcased at our Finovate Startup conference in April. The full-length demo of the program will be available here within a few days.

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Synovus Testing Free iPod Nano at Bank of North Georgia

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 22, 2008
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Synovus

It’s an unusual time of year to see a free iPod offer (see previous coverage here, here and here). Usually, they appear closer to the fall “checking account season” when consumers start thinking about holiday gift giving. That way, even if they don’t need an iPod themselves, they might still be motivated to get one to give to someone else.

However, Bank of North Georgia, one of 36 bank brands owned by Synovus, has an offer running through June 20. Customers opening a new personal checking account, including free checking and sending three bill payments by the end of July, earn a free iPod Nano. The bank may be testing the pull of the freebie during the graduation gift season. We checked the other Synovus banks and none are offering free iPods, at least not prominently (note 1).

Bank of North Georgia is using a homepage graphic of the latest generation iPod Nano, complete with Flash video running on the Nano screen. The fine print (as shown on the offer landing page):

The iPod ships before Oct. 1, just in time for the next holiday. Thanks to Bank Deals for the find.

Bank of North Georgia homepage (20 May 2008)

Note:

1. Tested from a Seattle IP address on 20 May 2008. We refreshed the homepage multiple times to see all offers presented in the main window. We did not search the entire websites of the 36 banks.

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Scooter Loans from "Green" Credit Unions

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 21, 2008
Categories: Green Marketing, Loans & Credit, Public Relations

According to the Wall Street Journal, scooter sales in the U.S. are up 25% compared to last year (article here). While still relatively rare in U.S. cities, I have a feeling that 10 years from now, after a steady diet of $5/gal gas, American cities will look more like their European counterparts, with scooters zipping about everywhere.

For banks or credit unions, this might be the ideal time to jump on the scooter bandwagon by helping customers buy the energy-efficient vehicles. It would be a great way to grab a little PR boost during the slow summer-news cycle, and with some models selling for $4,000 or more, you could boost vehicle loan outstandings by a measurable amount.

A brief Google search located two financial institutions pushing scooter loans, both appropriately with “green” in their name: South Burlington, VT-based Green Mountain Credit Union and a Wisconsin-based credit union (who’s name we removed at their request in Aug. 2010 because the offer is no longer available and they still get inquiries from this post).

Evergreen is promoting a special one-day, 3.99% scooter loan on its homepage (see screenshot below and note 1). The Saturday morning event, conducted in partnership with a local scooter dealer, included test rides, free hot dogs, and prize drawings. The CU also gave away a scooter earlier this month as part of its 50th anniversary special.

Benefits/Opportunities

Incremental loan originations: If you are a good relationship lender, the $4,000 scooter loan today could lead to many $25,000 car loans in the future.
Search-engine marketing: Currently, there are no direct ads running on the keywords “scooter loans,” although you will compete with several advertisers displaying against the generic “loan” in the search term. There are also few organic results for the term, so there’s a good chance an SEO-optimized landing page would rate highly in Google results.
Leverage branch parking: One of the problems with urban scooter use is lack of available parking. Branches with parking could turn over one or more spaces for customers with scooters, creating good will, as well as the occasional picture on the 5 PM news.
Public relations: Anything that saves gas makes for a good story this summer and beyond. It can also be pitched as a “green banking” story, although it’s not a pure environmental win. The gas savings are easy to see, but scooter emissions can be significantly higher than those of the automobiles they replace.
Starter loan/credit: If you can convince your underwriting staff to accept applicants with limited or no credit history, the scooter loan could be a great way for young adults to build a credit file and improve their credit score (thanks, Andrea, for the idea)
Customer acquisition: Scooter loans could be a great way to introduce younger consumers to your financial institution.
Trendy icon: At least for urban customers, the scooter, especially the classic Vespa look, makes for an attractive graphical image, conjuring up memories of trips to Italy, or at least movies shot there on location. Your scooter program could make for good website content, eye-catching outdoor feel (great bus ad!), and or a nice flourish for other media efforts.
Strike a deal with Scooter Financial: The number one result at Google for “scooter loans” is Scooter Financial, which does exactly what you’d expect, make loans to buy scooters. Given their name and Google pagerank, they could be an ideal company to partner with.

Cons and potential problems

It’s an asset easily hidden from the repossession agent, so it’s harder to use the repo-threat to enforce outstanding debt.
The accidental death rate for scooter owners is about 65% higher than that for cars; so you might want to be careful how much you push it as an “automobile alternative.” But the news isn’t all bad: Scooter owners are much less likely to perish than motorcycle owners.
Most gas-powered scooters release significantly more pollutants than most automobiles.
The smaller loan sizes may lead to little, if any, profits.
Not a big market overall.

Green Mountain Credit Union homepage promotes 6.49% scooter loans

(21 May 2008)

Credit Union homepage promotes Saturday “scooter loan” special (21 May 2008)

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