Blog - Page 1154 of 1191

Boeing Employees Credit Union Posts User-Generated Content

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 14, 2006
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, User-Generated Content

Playing into the summertime digital photo frenzy, Boeing Employees Credit Union <becu.org> is asking members to send a photo and short story for posting on the Seattle-based CU's homepage <becu.org> (see below for an example).

Photographs can be uploaded through the website, emailed in, or for those not into digital photography, a 4×6 or larger print can be mailed in. Either way, every person in the photograph must sign a release, also available on the website.

Here's how it looks on the homepage (click for larger version):

Click on the continuation link below to see the landing page for the promotion and the upload form.

—JB

Notes:
The landing page (accessible through link from lower portion of homepage, see above):

Here's the uploading form:

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Bank of America Pays $15 to Enroll in Online Banking

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 11, 2006
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Bank of America

What's better than free online banking and bill payment? Getting paid 15 bucks to sign up. In a late summer effort to bump up the size of what is already the world's largest online banking program, Bank of America is paying non-users $15 to sign up for online banking. And it's not a subtle statement-stuffer program: the large banner dominates the bank's homepage today (click on inset for a closer look and see the landing page below).

BofA checking customers must merely complete the online sign-up application before Sept. 1 to receive an extra $15 in their accounts before Thanksgiving. They aren't even required to use the service after the initial signup.

Analysis
First, why Bank of America, already synonymous with FREE online banking, would pay to get more users is beyond me, but I'm sure they have research to back up this move. And even if you agree it is worth paying for enrollment, $15 seems like too much. Why not $10 or even $5? If the bank is just trying to nudge fence-sitters into online banking, it doesn't seem like the dollar amount needs to be very high. Even a sweepstakes might do the same thing.

–JB

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TreasuryDirect adds Virtual Keyboard

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 11, 2006
Categories: ABSA, ING Direct, Security & Privacy

A number of banks, including ING Direct <ingdirect.com> and ABSA <absa.co.za> have added virtual keypads to defeat keyloggers, but the U.S. Treasury Department's Treasury Direct <treasurydirect.org> website is the first time we've seen an entire virtual keyboard. The layout is scrambled after each login, an extremely non-user-friendly feature.

The Treasury may have added a bit more security than is necessary, especially in light of Aite Group's <aitegroup.com> latest research that online banking fraud in the United States was a scant $4 million last year (correct, that is no typo, it's MILLION as in 4 cents per U.S. household). The virtual keyboard itself would defeat most hacks; there's no need to scramble it every time.

Thanks to MyMoneyBlog for the tip. Interestingly, most of the 16 comments on the new security feature were negative because of the extra hassle.

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Foonance Launches Web-based Expense Tracker

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 10, 2006
Categories: Foonance, Personal Financial Management

Foonance <foonance.com> is an online personal finance program with a Web 2.0 design. The free service is similar to Moneytrackin' (NB Aug. 9), but with a much simpler URL and a more interesting design.

Users create "Money Stores" anywhere that cash is stored, and then add "in" or "out" transactions to track balances. Each transaction is tagged with multiple descriptors and a "tag cloud" can be used to access running balances in each category.

The company promises new features every two weeks, an unusual pledge. I'm not sure the average user wants that much excitement in their personal finance app, but it does have an appeal to the ultra-early adopter who'd be likely to give Foonance a try.

Banks looking to add personal finance functionality to their offering should take a look at how Foonance accomplishes relatively simple functions with panache.

—JB

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Mo.neytrack.in’ Launches Personal Finance App

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 9, 2006
Categories: Bank 2.0, Moneytrackin', Personal Financial Management

Launched May 16, Moneytrackin' <mo.neytrack.in> is a Web 2.0-inspired personal finance application from a Spanish developer. The free service, in public beta (looks more like alpha), has just one function, storing and categorizing transactions (click on screenshot below for a closeup). However, much more functionality is in the works (see blog here).

It's ultra-simple to use. Users can set up sub-accounts/projects on the fly then add transactions to each. Transactions can be "tagged" with as many categories as desired. A "tag cloud" runs on the bottom of the screen allowing users to click easily on any category to view the transactions. Finally, a pie chart shows a breakdown of expenses by tag.

The multi-language service is offered in English, Spanish, French, German, and in what must be unique in the personal finance space, Catalan, a Spanish dialect spoken by 10 million Southern Europeans.

For a complete run-down of personal finance functionality for online banking, check out our next Online Banking Report, available mid-August.

—JB

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Best Internet Banks from Global Finance Magazine

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 8, 2006
Categories: Bank of America, Citibank, Metrics & Market Research, Wells Fargo

In its seventh annual Internet-bank "beauty contest," Global Finance Magazine <gfmag.com> named Bank of America the best consumer Internet bank in the United States and Citigroup the best corporate Internet bank. Apparently, the magazine loves Citigroup's work, naming it the best corporate Internet bank in 46 countries and best consumer Internet bank in 11 countries including Germany, United Kingdom, and Indonesia (see list of complete winners, by country, by clicking on the link at the bottom of this article).

The magazine also named winners in specific categories. In the United States, the winners were:

Consumer Internet Banks:

Best investment management services: Bank of America

Best bill payment and presentment: Bank of America

Best online consumer credit: Wells Fargo

Best website design: Wells Fargo

Best integrated consumer bank site: Bank of America

Best information security initiatives: Bank of America

Best online deposits acquisition: TD Bank Financial Group
–

Corporate/Institutional Internet Banks:

Best online cash management: Citigroup

Best trade finance services: Citigroup

Best website design: Wells Fargo

Best integrated corporate bank site: Wells Fargo

Best information security initiatives: JPMorgan Chase

–

Global Finance Magazine's Best Internet Banks for 2006

Country	Consumer	Corporate/Institutional
Argentina	Banco Rio de la Plata, S.A.	Citigroup
Australia	HSBC	Citigroup
Austria	RZB	RZB
Bahrain	Citigroup	—
Belgium	Citigroup	—
Bolivia	—	Citigroup
Brazil	Banco Bradesco	Banco Bradesco
Brunei	HSBC	—
Cameroon	—	Citigroup
Canada	TD Bank Financial Group	TD Bank Financial Group
Chile	Citigroup	BBVA
China	Ind. & Com’l Bank of China	Citigroup
Colombia	Citigroup	BBVA
Congo	—	Citigroup
Costa Rica	—	Citigroup
Cote D'Ivoire	—	Citigroup
Dominican Republic	—	Citigroup
Dubai	National Bank of Dubai	National Bank of Dubai
Ecuador	—	Citigroup
Egypt	Citigroup	Citigroup
El Salvador	—	Citigroup
Finland	—	Citigroup
France	—	Citigroup
Gabon	—	Citigroup
Germany	Citigroup	JPMorgan Chase
Greece	Citigroup	Piraeus Bank/Winbank
Guatemala	—	Citigroup
Haiti	—	Citigroup
Honduras	—	Citigroup
Hong Kong	HSBC	Citigroup
India	ICICI Bank Ltd.	ICICI Bank Ltd
Indonesia	Citigroup	Citigroup
Ireland	—	Citigroup
Israel	—	Citigroup
Italy	—	Citigroup
Jamaica	—	Citigroup
Kenya	—	Citigroup
Korea	—	Citigroup
Kyrgyzstan	AsiaUniversalBank (AUB)	AsiaUniversalBank (AUB)
Malaysia	HSBC	OCBC
Mexico	Banamex	Banamex
Netherlands	—	Citigroup
Nigeria	—	Citigroup
Oman	BankMuscat	—
Pakistan	Citigroup	Citigroup
Panama	—	Citigroup
Paraguay	—	Citigroup
Peru	BBVA	Citigroup
Philippines	Citigroup	Bank of the Philippines
Poland	Bank Millennium	Citigroup
Portugal	Millennium BCP	Millennium BCP
Puerto Rico	Banco Santander	Citigroup
Qatar	Qatar National Bank	Qatar National Bank
Russia	ZAO Raiffeisenbank	Citigroup
Saudi Arabia	Samba	Samba
Senegal	—	Citigroup
Singapore	Citigroup	—
Spain	BBVA	Citigroup
South Africa	—	Citigroup
Sri Lanka	HSBC	—
Switzerland	—	Citigroup
Taiwan	Citigroup	Chinatrust Com’l Bank
Tanzania	—	Citigroup
Thailand	Citigroup	Citigroup
Trinidad & Tobago	—	Citigroup
Turkey	Garanti Bank	Akbank
Uganda	—	Citigroup
United Arab Emirates	HSBC	HSBC
United Kingdom	Citigroup	HSBC
United States	Bank of America	Citigroup
Uruguay	—	Citigroup
Venezuela	Banco de Venezuela	BBVA Banco Provincial
Zambia	—	Citigroup

Source: Global Finance Magazine <gfmag.com>, July 8, 2006

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Citibank Leaves Card Applicants Vulnerable to Identity Theft

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 7, 2006
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Citibank, Credit/Debit Cards

We were impressed with Citibank’s full-page ad in Sunday’s New York Times travel section offering 25,000 miles to take a new American Airlines co-branded credit card. As usual, we looked for a link to the Web-based application and were pleased to find a large, reverse-type URL along the bottom of the ad. Unfortunately, Citi did not follow the usual convention for printed landing-page URLs, creating potential problems for applicants.

Typically, offline advertisements use a special filename after the normal domain name, such as <www.yourbank.com/special>. This allows users to go directly to the landing page explaining the special offer (see landing page below).

Instead, Citibank used the unique server name "miles5" as in: <www.miles5.citicards.com>. There are several problems with this approach. First, it’s long and not easily recalled. But the biggest problem is its non-standard format. Internet users do not expect to see an extra period in the middle of a bank's URL. So many users, myself included, may read this as a unique domain name, <miles5citicards.com>.

Normally, that would be okay. But in this case Citibank neglected to register that domain name. An identity thief could easily have registered that domain, and then taken “applications” for days or weeks before anyone caught on, possibly leaving hundreds of applicants vulnerable to identity theft after entering their personal info, including social security number, in the application.

By mid-day on Monday, almost two days after the ad first appeared in print, the domain was still unregistered. We went ahead and registered it to prove the point, and keep it safe.

Implications
The moral of this story: If you live in a glass house, make sure any transparencies are covered. Register your domain name. Citibank, which has spent millions on its anti-identity theft campaign, left itself and its customers vulnerable for the price of an $8.95 domain name. Make sure you register the domain name of any cute URLs you put out there for marketing campaigns. While you are at it, spend $60 and lock it up for 10 years.

Memo to Citibank’s legal team: We have no commerical interest in the domain and will happily transfer it to your ownership. All we ask is reimbursement of our 9 bucks.

—JB

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LendingTree Emphasizes Monthly Payment Amount Instead of Rate

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 7, 2006
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, LendingTree, Loans & Credit

LendingTree owns MSN’s homepage again <msn.com>, locking up the main page sponsorship today (9am Pacific Time) with a refi pitch in the upper-right corner and an ad for home equity loans in the Money area (see inset).

In an approach popularized by car dealers, both ads emphasize monthly payment amount rather than rate. This theme is carried through on the landing page which has no mention of rate. In fact, you could complete the entire loan application without ever seeing the rate.

The only rate link is the relatively faint reverse-type line in the upper-right corner. Clicking on it delivers a small, quarter-page popup with disclosures for all 41 promotional offers currently in use by LendingTree — 6,800-words in all across 24 screens (download lendingtree_disclosures.doc).

Interestingly, both offers lead to the same landing page. While it would probably be more effective to craft different pages for each loan type, LendingTree may prefer a common landing page to more easily compare results from its different promotional ads.

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Two-For-One Offer to BAI’s Retail Delivery Conference

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 3, 2006
Categories: BAI, Conference Calendar

Update: The 2-for-1 offer is no longer available through this link. However, you can still save $350 ($700 for two) before Sept. 5 — enough for a snazzy new monitor for your desktop anyway. But first, check your inbox for an Aug. 2 or 3 email from BAI with the 2-for-1 offer. You should still be able to claim it with your promo code.

If your team is headed to Las Vegas in November to take in BAI's <bai.org> bank-tech extravaganza, you better jump on this offer before Sept. 5: two admissions for the price of one (main conference only). That will save you nearly $1,700, enough to put that new plasma display in the conference room. If you are going by yourself, you'll still save $350 with this offer.

Here's the link: http://www.bai.org/retaildelivery/

–JB

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Quicken/Money Release 2007 Versions

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 2, 2006
Categories: Personal Financial Management

With the release of Quicken 2007 yesterday, the annual PFM-upgrade season is in full swing. Microsoft beat Intuit by a few weeks with the launch of Money in mid-July. Although still one of the more popular consumer software applications, new PFM releases don't garner near the interest of a decade ago.

Why? Because online banking has made the programs irrelevant for most consumers, unless they run some type of home business or are off-the-charts organized. Also, like many packaged software applications the "upgrades" have little that is truly new and different for the average user. That's not because the software developers have grown lazy, it's just that about every useful feature was incorporated a decade ago (Quicken is celebrating its 23rd birthday this year).

Interestingly, in an attempt to appeal to a broader cross-section, the companies both use "back-to-basics" appeals in their press releases (here for Quicken, here for Money). Walt Mossberg's Wednesday column, Mossberg Solution, echoed this theme in evaluating the "basic" versions of each, finding Quicken Basic to be somewhat superior to Money Essentials.

Above is a screenshot of Money's budgeting worksheet (click for closer view).

However, we see little likelihood the programs will increase their market share. As banks add basic PFM functionality and long-term archives to online banking, the packaged apps become even less necessary for the broad market. That said, the installed PFM user base is an important banking segment that should not be ignored.

For a more thorough analysis, along with usability lessons from the packaged apps, be sure to read the next issue of Online Banking Report (#131), due out in mid-August.

—JB

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The Wall Street Journal Profiles Identity Theft Protection Services

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 1, 2006
Categories: CardCops, Credit Reports & ID Theft Protection, Cyveillance, LifeLock, Security & Privacy, TrustedID

Today's Wall Street Journal ran a run-down of identity theft startups. Companies mentioned:

LifeLock: Founded by Todd Davis, the Chandler, AZ-based firm has been offering its $10/mo service since April 2005. The company also protects children living in the same household for an additional $10 per year. Its plain-language guarantee featured prominently in the upper-right corner of its home page should serve as an example for financial institutions (see inset).
TrustedID: A Redwood City, CA-based company co-founded in January by former Fair Isaac executive Scott Mitic offers protection services for $7.95/mo.
CardCops: The Malibu, CA-based firm scans the Internet for stolen information and for $24.95/mo alerts its customers if their data has been compromised.
Cyveillance: The Arlington, VA firm also sifts through the online world looking for stolen data. The company resells its service as Identity Guard through Intersections Inc.

Financial institutions should be partnering with credit bureaus and/or identity theft providers to provide education and protection services to banking customers. Refer to previous articles here.

— JB

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WhatBills – Bill Payment Reminder Service

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 31, 2006
Categories: Bill payment, Personal Financial Management, Whatbills

Launched this month, Whatbills <whatbills.com> is a simple $1.95/mo Web-based service for tracking your bills and sending yourself email reminders to pay. Although the functionality is limited, it's the kind of service banks should be offering. We found out about the service through its Google advertisement on the phrase "quicken online" (see screenshot right).

The interface is similar to Billeo (NB Feb. 14), but with far fewer functions. Users can do three things:

Enter bill name, category, due date and amount
Send themselves email reminders to pay
Mark bills as paid

The entire program today is shown on the screenshot below:

Business model
At a cost of $1.95/mo, which is about what you'd pay each year for Intuit's Quicken Basic, the company doesn't seem to have a compelling selling proposition. It would make more sense to offer a limited free version, perhaps earning a few pennies per month per user by displaying advertising on the user interface. Then upgrade users to a premium plan with more features.

But neither of those business models will yield much more than low-six figures per year. A more likely scenario for the San Diego-based company is a sale to Microsoft, Google, or a major financial institution for a few hundred thousand, a price that would be less expensive for a large company than developing the application internally.

Update: A similar Web-based service, BudgetTracker <budgettracker.com> founded in 2003, has a free version that uses Google AdSense revenue to keep it running. For $19.99/yr users can upgrade to an ad-free version that also provides unlimited data storage and several additional features such as bank-data import. See the price plans here.

–JB

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Argentina

HSBC

TD Bank Financial Group