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Bill Me Later Lands at #6 in the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing List

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 29, 2007
Categories: Bill payment, CashEdge

It's isn't often you see one of the companies that we write about make it to the top of Inc. Magazine's list of fastest growing private companies (note 1). But this year, Timonium, MD-based Bill Me Later landed at number six.

To make it to the top, it takes an amazing amount of growth over a three-year period; in Bill Me Later's case, 87-fold, usually combined with a very small number in the base year ($600,000 in 2003) to top the chart (note 2).

The self-reported revenue figures for the company are:

2003: $610,000
2006: $53.6 million
3-Year growth: 8,650%
Number of employees: 100

The company's been on a fabulous run and it will be interesting to see how long they stay private. Depending on the credit quality of the company's receivables, it could be an attractive acquisition target for a traditional financial institution or for a certain Web-based payment giant.

Two other companies we follow made the top 500:

#205: CreditCards.com (Austin, TX) with an amazing $43 million revenues, up 10-fold from its $3.7 million in 2003. With 16 employees, the company does almost $3 million per.

#382: CashEdge (New York, NY) up 7.5 fold from $2.4 million in 2003, to $20.4 million last year, 315 employees.

Congratulations to this year's high fliers.

Notes:

1. The Inc. list was expanded 10-fold this year to 5,000 companies

2. The percent-growth rankings are far more dependent on the denominator than the numerator. If Bill Me Later would have had $400,000 less revenue in 2003 they would have grown 268-fold and topped this year's list. However, even $10 million more in 2006 revenues would only push them up one spot.

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Last Chance for FINOVATE 2007 Early-Bird Discount

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 28, 2007
Categories: Finovate

Dear NetBanker readers:

Since announcing our first-ever financial-products conference two weeks ago (here), tickets to FINOVATE 2007 have been selling at a brisk pace.

Already we have an excellent group of attendees from several top-10 banks, top-3 card issuers, and top-5 brokerages. In addition, we have representatives from community banks and credit unions along with a half-dozen VCs, analysts, a law firm, and the usual smattering of product folks from major bank tech companies. There is also a small, but growing, international contingent, mostly from Europe but also from as far away as South Africa. And the press and blogger count is now in double digits (see note 1).

In addition, we'll also have execs from the following twenty presenting companies available for one-on-one discussions after their DEMOs (see note 2): Andera, Billeo Inc, CheckFree, ClairMail, Firethorn, Geezeo, Digital Insight (an Intuit company), Identity Theft 911, iPay Technologies, Jwaala, Lending Club, Metavante, mFoundry, Mint, Monitise, MortgageBot, MShift, Online Resources, Prosper, and Yodlee.

To be part of this inspiring day of demos, deal making, and decidedly good networking, sign up today to lock in the $200 in savings from the normal $695 price. Don't delay, the early-bird price ends August 31. And with more than 120 of the 200 available seats already spoken for, it's unlikely there will be any left at the door.

See you in New York October 2nd!

Jim Bruene, Editor & Founder
Online Banking Report & NetBanker
jim@netbanker.com

Notes:

1. Members of the press and bloggers should email me to request a press pass.

2. All the presentation slots are full, so if you want to be part of this event, you'll need to purchase of one the few remaining admission tickets here.

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LifeLock’s Engaging 2-Minute Television Spot

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 28, 2007
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Credit Reports & ID Theft Protection, LifeLock, Security & Privacy

Today, I was home for lunch and my son was watching a recorded episode of Myth Busters, a great show as anyone with a pre-teen child knows. As he was fast-forwarding through the commercials, I happened to see a glimpse of a LifeLock spot (see inset).

My son knows I like the commercials better than the shows, so he graciously replayed the entire thing for me. It seemed to go on forever, he said, "like a sponsored program of its own." Which from him is actually a compliment, I think. I checked out the replay online and saw that it was a 2-minute spot (note 1).

It features street scenes of New York (I think). It plays like news coverage as the big "billboard trucks" drive through town plastered with CEO Todd Davis's social security number in red, 3-foot high numbers. Interspersed are man-on-the-street soundbites from astonished pedestrians and a great testimonial from a LifeLock customer who credit the company from saving him from having someone buy an $83,000 RV in his name. It also has Mr. Davis pitching the product through a bullhorn on a crowded Manhattan street.

It's a real in-your-face commercial, but I really liked it. It does a great job of grabbing attention, reinforcing the benefits, and providing a can't-miss call-to-action. It's a good compliment to the over-the-top print ads featuring the CEO's social-security-number (see previous coverage here and note 2).

LifeLock uses two different URLs in the commercial, the normal <lifelock.com> and <lifelocktv.com>. Both point to the same page now, but the company must be considering a distinct landing page for the TV URL.

The video is available in the lower-left corner of the company's homepage (below). For more information on the market for credit report and identity theft services, see our most recent Online Banking Report here.

Note:

1. The commercial doesn't appear to be on YouTube yet, so I was unable to post the actual spot here.

2. A half-page version of LifeLock's social-security-number ad was in a recent WSJ.

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Bank of America’s Electronic Statement Icon

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 27, 2007
Categories: Bank of America, Electronic Statements, Website Usability & Design

Is there anyone left in America that doesn't have an account at Bank of America? Probably a few, maybe even some of our readers. But if you haven't logged into your account lately, you might have missed the subtle "green marketing" the bank is using to encourage customers to go paperless.

In the screenshot below and closeup above, you can see the little green leaf next to the words "Go Paperless." It's subtle, as good green marketing should be. The leaf not only makes the link stand out, it provides a small reminder that customers can do a little something for the environment, and the bank's bottom line, while they are online.

Also of interest (by the second arrow), since I only have a credit card, is link cross selling a free "MyAccess Checking Account."

BofA "account overview" page (23 Aug 2007, Washington state credit-card-only customer)

Finally, the bank doesn't ignore the important logout page, a often-forgotten piece of real estate that can be far more effective than a homepage banner ad. This month, the bank is promoting it's No Fee Mortgage Plus.

BofA logout page (23 Aug 2007, Washington state credit-card-only customer)

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FINOVATE 2007 Lineup: The Lending Innovators

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 27, 2007
Categories: Finovate, Lending Club, Loans & Credit, Mortgagebot, P2P Lending, Prosper

As we enter the final week of summer, we will begin showcasing the companies that will be DEMOing new products and services at our inaugural conference FINOVATE 2007. See here for the complete lineup.

Person-to-person lending
P2P lending has grabbed headlines around the world since it launched in the the United Kingdom in March 2005 by Zopa. We are pleased to have on the FINOVATE agenda the two leading U.S. providers: Prosper, the brain-child of E-Loan founder Chris Larsen, and Lending Club, which launched its exchange on the Facebook platform just three months ago.

Both companies received significant cash infusions this summer and we're looking forward to seeing what enhancements the lenders will showcase at FINOVATE 2007.

Lending Club received a significant $10.3 million first round last week (blog entry here). Since the company's launch of Facebook three months ago today, it has closed 134 loans averaging approximately $5,600 for a total of $750,000 in originations.

In June, Prosper, the winner of an OBR Best of the Web award last year (note 1), secured a $20 million third round bringing total funding to $40 million (previous post here). The company now has more than 380,000 members and has funded nearly 14,000 loans totally $80 million. Since inception, Prosper has posted more than 168,000 loan listings from more than 75,000 borrowers.

Mortgage lending
Here's a bit of trivia for Monday afternoon (or Tuesday morning if you read NetBanker via email): What was the first profitable banking website? And no, this is not a trick question with the answer being "none" or "no one knows" (see note 1).

The answer: Bank of America in 1994, or at least that's what an exec told the audience at the first conference on Internet banking held in the summer of 1995. Practically before anyone outside of academia or Silicon Valley had heard of the Web, BofA was using it to produce mortgage leads in the lucrative California market. I can clearly remember the woman who ran BofA's website saying, "mortgage leads are already more than covering the bank's costs (of its website)." Of course, that was in the days when a website cost less than a couple billboards.

We've been writing about online mortgage lending since that first 1995 conference. One of our favorite lending platforms, winner of the second mortgage-related OBR Best of the Web award in 2001, is MortgageBot. The company was also named to last year's INC 500 list of the nation's fastest growing private companies producing a 560% revenue increase during the YE 2002 through YE 2005 period.

At FINOVATE 2007, MortgageBot will take the stage to show a radical new approach to mortgage shopping that its been testing for some time now. We can't release the details yet, but we were luck enough to get a sneak peek on Friday and were very impressed!

Note:

1. Our sister publication, Online Banking Report (OBR), typically names 6 or 7 companies as "Best of the Web" during the course of each year. It is earned by launching a product or service that significantly "raises the bar" in online delivery of retail banking and lending products.

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Zopa’s International Expansion

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 25, 2007
Categories: Loans & Credit, P2P Lending, Zopa

I think I understand Zopa’s delayed U.S. launch a bit better now. Apparently, the company is looking to expand not just in the U.S. but in Asia as well (along with the previously announced Italian licensee).

Here’s a quote from a recent blog entry

“…we have had over 100 different teams in over 40 countries get in touch with with us, looking to launch a version of Zopa locally. These have ranged in distance from France to New Zealand, and included countries as diverse as Brazil, Mexico, Canada, India, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, South Africa, Ghana, Turkey, Spain, Germany, The Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Lithuania and Romania.”

We’ve seen that interest at Online Banking Report as well. Our Feb. 2006 report on Prosper and P2P lending was our best selling issue of all time. We’re planning an update later this year, hopefully with an analysis of Zopa’s U.S. version, which the company still says is coming this year.

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Password Reset Alert from American Express

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 25, 2007
Categories: Alerts & Messaging, American Express, Credit/Debit Cards, Email Samples, Security & Privacy

I received an email from American Express late last night after resetting my password earlier in the day (see screenshot below). I can never remember my AmEx password, because I can't use my usual one due to the company's surprisingly short field of just 8 characters that also doesn't support special characters. I have it written down somewhere, but I can never find that either.

I went online late Friday afternoon to pay my overdue bill at AmericanExpress.com. I was pretty sure it was one of three possibilities, but after two unsuccessful attempts, and with the website warning me the third attempt would cause a lockout (note 1), I decided to go through the online reset process instead.

That was easy. I just needed the card number, the code on the front of the card, and the answer to a security question. At that point, AmEx displayed my username and let me reset the password. It's one of the easier reset processes I've tested. That's a benefit to customers and helps cut customer service costs for AmEx.

But the thing I liked most was the email message sent later that night informing me of the password reset (screenshot below). But I don't understand why it was sent more than six hours later. Why not send it right away? That would be way more impressive to customers, and would help reduce any potential fraud or privacy violations. Better yet, send a text message right to the customer's mobile, so they have real-time knowledge of the account changes.

Email Critique
Personalization: The company uses two pieces of personalization, cardmember name and the last five digits of the account number, to differentiate this message from the average phish. Excellent.

Subject line: Your American Express Forgotten User ID is good and right to the point

From: "American Express" using an American Express email address. Good.

Headline: Verify Your Account Transaction is a little confusing. All I did was reset my password. I'm not sure that average person views that as a "transaction."

Copy: The copy is short and to the point, but it could use a little editing for clarity. The third sentence, "If you did contact us…." seems unnecessary. And "If you did not complete the retrieval…." is not very user friendly language.

Design & Layout: Excellent.

Overall Grade: A- for the message, B- for timeliness

Note:

1. We recommend allowing more than three attempts before lockout. It's pretty easy to forget a digit or make a typing mistake. See our Online Banking Report on Security (#119) for more information.

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FINOVATE 2007 to Showcase the Future of Mobile Finance

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 20, 2007
Categories: Conferences, Finovate, FINOVATE Conference

You may have noticed that the blogging machine has slowed down a bit during the past few weeks (see note 1). It's not because of a lack of industry movement. Far from it. It's because we've been putting together a scorching hot conference, our first ever!

But it will all pay off on Oct. 2 when twenty of the most innovative companies in the financial, banking and lending industries gather in New York City to offer a glimpse of the future of online and mobile banking at FINOVATE 2007: DEMOing the Future of Financial Services.

Following the popular format pioneered by DEMO, FINOVATE 2007 will provide companies with a mere seven minutes to “wow!” an audience of 200 leading executives, investors, analysts, members of the press and bloggers with actual demonstrations of their latest and greatest products and services (no Powerpoint allowed!). The demos will be followed by intimate networking sessions where attendees will be granted unprecedented access to these innovative companies and their executives.

Many of the twenty presenters have mobile solutions, but five are focused entirely on the mobile space (see note 2 for the full presenter list):

ClairMail, Firethorn, mFoundry, MShift, and Monitise

General admission tickets for the event are extremely limited (fewer than 100 remain!). And with only 44 shopping days left, you'll want to get yours today and qualify for the early-bird rate of under $500. To register, visit our registration page at finovate.com or call us at +1 (206) 517-5021. Don’t miss out on your chance to see what’s next in P2P lending, online account opening, bill payments, mobile banking, social personal finance and more!

(Member of the press or industry blogger? Email us at finovate@netbanker.com to request a press pass.)

Notes:

1. Special thanks to guest blogger Brandon McGee for keeping the spiderwebs from accumulating the last two weeks.

2. Full presenter list (in alphabetical order): Andera, Billeo Inc, CheckFree, ClairMail, Firethorn, Digital Insight (an Intuit company), Identity Theft 911, iPay Technologies, Jwaala, Lending Club, Metavante, mFoundry, Mint, Monitise, MortgageBot, MShift, Online Resources, Prosper Marketplace, and Yodlee.

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US Bank Pitches Electronic Statements at Login

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 20, 2007
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Electronic Statements, US Bank

Using a splash screen after logging in to online banking (see screenshot below), U.S. Bank is asking customers to move to electronic statements, specifically for credit card and loan accounts, although the online-only option is also available for checking accounts. I saw the message, dated Aug. 20, for the first time today. I've been a customer of U.S. Bank through the entire online era (note 1) and this is the first time I recall being asked at login to go paperless. Unlike PayPal, BofA, and others, U.S. Bank rarely uses the login splash screen technique.

Let's look closer at the bank's pitch:

Title: Internet Banking Updates
NetBanker comments: OK…but would be more effective if it directly mentioned the purpose of the message

Opening line: U.S. Bank Internet Banking just keeps getting better!
NB comment: That's a bad opening line. This is not a new feature. Some U.S. Bank customers have had electronic statements available for 13 years now. Everyone customer has had them for at least 9 or 10 years. The only new thing is that you stop receiving paper statement, hardly the "bank getting better." Most customers know this is a cost savings move for the bank.

Benefit statement (bullets): Online Statements Only help you: Deter fraud, Reduce clutter, Manage your account online….
NB comments: Beside the grammatically challenged opening, the bank did a good job getting the anti-fraud message into the first bullet. The second bullet, "reduce clutter," is OK, but the third is pretty weak. Why are you telling online banking customers they will benefit from "managing your account online?" And only 18 months of archives is hardly going to give customers a good feeling about doing away with their paper statement.

Call to action: The bank provides specific instructions on how to turn off the paper statement.
NB comments: The specific instructions are good, but a small graphic of where to click would be more powerful (see the example at right). Also, the choice to view the message later is a user-friendly option.

Overall graphic design: The splash screen is laid out like a letter.
NB comments: That's OK, but a graphic image or two would give it a more modern and professional image.

Overall grade: C
NB comments: The bank does a good job getting right to the point. But the overall look and feel along with some of the specific copy points lower the score. This would have been an A- in 1997, but a decade later, Internet users expect and deserve a more sophisticated message.

Note:

1. Full disclosure: I was the lead product developer on U.S. Bank's online banking system launched in 1994.

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New Online Banking Report Now Available: A Look at Online Delivery of Credit Report Monitoring Services

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 16, 2007
Categories: Credit Reports & ID Theft Protection, Online Banking Report

Just a quick note to let you know that the latest Online Banking Report has just been uploaded to our website. It’s title: Online Credit Monitoring Services: The robust business case for financial institution distribution. I’ll post some conclusions from the report later, but you can read the abstract here.

Subscribers, you can download it now (here) free of charge. Everyone else, it’s US$595 on its own, or for “just” $500 more you get the new report plus a stack of others, including our report on Social Personal Finance, Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments, the latest online banking forecast and more.

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FINOVATE 2007 Conference to Showcase the Future of Online Personal Finance, Banking and Lending in Fast-paced Demo Format

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 15, 2007
Categories: Conference Calendar, Finovate

If you've wondered why the NetBanker blogging machine has slowed down, it's not because we've wilted in the summertime heat. No, it's because we've been putting together a scorching hot conference, our first ever! I can't begin to tell you how much fun we've had negotiating for a NYC venue, finding a top-notch A/V crew, and building a website on short notice!

Following the popular format pioneered by DEMO, FINOVATE 2007 will provide companies with a mere seven minutes to “wow!” an audience of 200 leading executives, investors, analysts, members of the press and bloggers with actual demonstrations of their latest & greatest products and services (no powerpoint allowed!). The demos will be followed by intimate networking sessions where attendees will be granted unprecedented access to these innovative companies and their executives.

The presenter list includes (in alphabetical order): Andera, Billeo Inc, CheckFree, ClairMail, Firethorn, Geezeo, Digital Insight (an Intuit company), Identity Theft 911, iPay Technologies, Jwaala, Lending Club, Metavante, mFoundry, Mint, Monitise, MortgageBot, MShift, Online Resources, Prosper Marketplace, and Yodlee.

General admission tickets for the event are extremely limited (there are less than 100 left!). And with only 47 shopping days left, get yours today and qualify for the early-bird rate of under $500. To register, visit our registration page at finovate.com or call us at +1 (206) 517-5021. Don’t miss out on your chance to see what’s next in P2P lending, online account opening, bill payments, mobile banking, social personal finance and more!

(Member of the press or industry blogger? Email us at finovate@netbanker.com to request a press pass.)

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Green (Hybrid) Auto Loans from Star One Credit Union

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 10, 2007
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Credit Unions, Green Marketing, Loans & Credit

In many ways, hybrid vehicles are the perfect antidote for guilt about our 21st century high-consumption lifestyle. Buy a Prius, and instantly feel better coasting around the city on self-generated battery power. Yet you still get to motor about in a relatively large, well-appointed and air-conditioned steel box (note 1).

That's why politicians have jumped on this bandwagon in droves. And why it makes a great marketing statement to support energy-saving and/or low-emission alternatives with loan discounts. Not only does it position you as caring about the larger environment, there is a very real environmental education benefit to the efforts.

The most recent example—Star One Credit Union <starone.org>, a $3 billion (assets), 71,000 member CU based in Sunnyvale, California—has a link on its homepage to its hybrid offer. Customers financing a new or used hybrid vehicle save 0.25% on their loan rate. On a $20,000 5-year loan, $139 is saved, enough to fill the tank three, maybe four times. The offer is spelled out here (screenshot below).

Other financial institutions offering hybrid car loans:

UCB Bank (Miami, FL): no payments for 3 months offer here
Deedham Savings (Deedham, MA): offer here
Sound Credit Union (Tacoma, WA): 0.50% discount offer here
Tech CU (San Jose, CA): 0.25% discount offer here
Vancity (Vancouver, BC, Canada): Prime rate for low-emission vehicles here

Note:

(1) I'm not trying to be cynical here. As a former engineer, I think hybrid technology is fantastic. Using waste energy to fuel the car is both elegant and efficient, and I look forward to driving one soon.

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