Credit/Debit Cards

Launching: BillGuard’s “Anti-virus for Credit Cards”

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Credit/Debit Cards, Launches, Personal Financial Management

imageFintech made a good showing at TechCrunch’s semi-annual Disrupt conference in NYC. Of 32 startups that launched on stage, three were financial-related:

And both InvoiceASAP and BillGuard (discussed below) were selected to come back on the third day and compete, along with four other startups, for the top prize in front of an all-star panel of judges. The judges selected BillGuard runner-up behind GetAround, a clever peer-to-peer car rental service which wowed the crowd, also taking home the People’s Choice award. _____________________________________________________________________________

BillGuard overview
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The TechCrunch judges and analysts went gaga over BillGuard. Everyone wanted to use the service, and most wanted to invest in the company.

However, the company recently landed a $3 million Series A round (February 2011), so they’ll have to wait. Investors include: Bessemer Venture Partners, Chris Dixon, Ron Conway, IA Ventures, Howard Lindzon and Yaron Galai. The Israeli company has 12 employees. The founders are Yaron Samid, CEO, and Raphael Ouzan, CTO.

Currently, BillGuard is free for the first card and can be upgraded to monitor an unlimited number of cards for $4/mo, a classic freemium model.

In the two days following the company’s Monday launch, users added 10,000 cards to the alerting service. In the initial scans, looking back through 30 days of transactions, the company identified potential nuisance charges on 20% of the cards analyzed. The flagged transactions ranged in value from $2 to $6,000 with the latter described as “fraud on a very wealthy person’s card.” ______________________________________________________________________________

How it works
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1. Register at the site with just your email address and ZIP code

2. Enter your username and password for a credit card account into the Yodlee-powered aggregation engine

3. The past 30 days of transactions are immediately downloaded and analyzed for potentially fraudulent or unwanted charges (see screenshot 2)

4. Charges are color-coded by risk assessment (green = good, orange = review, red = flagged) (see screenshot 3). Much like anti-virus companies, BillGuard relies on its user base (crowdsourcing) to identify nuisance and fraudulent charges.

5. You can quickly call up the “reviewable” transactions and choose to mark them “good” or wait for more information on the merchant from BillGuard and its user base (screenshot _______________________________________________________________________________

Analysis
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In my case, the service did not find any bad transactions in the 85 it reviewed from my primary business and personal credit cards. All seven marked “unsure” were fine. None were flagged red.

But according to the company, the average American loses $300 per year in unwanted charges, and I’m way over that. Just last year, I lost more than $1,000 because I had the wrong plan on my mobile phone. But that was a legitimate charge from an existing merchant of mine. BillGuard doesn’t guard against stupidity, yet, but it wouldn’t take a whole lot more intelligence to start flagging this type of out-of-bounds charge as well.

The potential for financial safeguard services is huge. Just look at the multi-billion credit-monitoring industry, or Mint.com for that matter which alerts users to bank fees and keeps a running total. The question isn’t whether consumers want this type of protection, certainly they do. The issue is whether anyone will take the time to set up the service, pay for it, and then take the time to monitor their accounts.

BillGuard knows that and is actively pursuing deals with large banks to package the service into online banking. In its Monday demo, the company said it was in talks with three top-ten banks (on Wednesday they said, “Make that 4”).

Distributing BillGuard would be a mixed blessing for banks. Earlier detection of fraud would be useful, but the labor involved in working through increased dispute resolution, especially false positives, would have to be factored in. But again, BillGuard understands the dilemma and is developing dispute-resolution capabilities that will SAVE issuers time and money.

I predict we’ll be seeing a lot more from this company so keep them on your radar. I know we will.  

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1. Welcome screen after first download & scan (26 May 2011)

Billguard Welcome screen after first download & scan

2. Initial scan results with 7 transactions marked “review”

 2. Initial scan results with 7 transactions marked "review"

3. Transactions are color-coded by risk assessment

BillGuard Transactions are color-coded by risk assessment

4. The transaction review page

BillGuard transaction review page

5. TechCrunch finalist demo (click to watch on TechCrunch site; )

image

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Note: For more on online personal financial management (OFM/PFM), see our Online Banking Report.

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New Online Banking Report Published: Merchant-Funded Rewards Programs

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Cardlytics, Credit/Debit Cards, Fee Income, Online Banking Report, Rewards Programs

image While I like a deal as much as the next person (note 1), I’ve never been much of a coupon clipper. To me, coupons are a hassle to collect, impossible to organize, and mildly embarrassing to redeem. 

But I love frequent flyer miles. Once registered, they pile up automatically, are maintained at the airline or card site, and there is no stigma to redeeming them. However, miles are pretty worthless unless you spend a lot and have the flexibility to use them during the off season.

That’s why financial rewards programs have moved away from a sole reliance on airline miles and towards broader programs with cash and merchandise rewards. However, with falling fee revenues, especially interchange, these programs are becoming harder to justify cost-wise.

But customers have grown to expect them, especially the big-spending households that drive banking and card profits (note 3). And this is not a time when you want to irritate a lucrative segment of your customer base.

What to do?

imageEnter a new breed of loyalty program called “merchant-funded rewards.” Instead of financial institutions buying goods and services to give away, the system is turned around. Merchants pay direct cash rebates to your customers. And they may even pay you for the privilege of giving away money.

The catch? Because the cash-back offers are targeted to customers who shop at the competition, merchants need actual cardholder-level spending data to make the right offer, e.g., a $25 rebate offer to Home Depot customers who come to Lowes and spend at least $50 on your card (note 2). And to boost awareness, they need to plug directly into your online banking and statements. 

Making this work takes sophisticated integration between spending data and merchant offers. Enter an important new vendor in the banking world: the rewards service provider. In the report, we look at the five biggest, each with 100 or more financial institution clients:

  • Access Development
  • Affinity Solutions
  • Cardlytics
  • Cartera Commerce (recently merged with Vesdia)
  • RewardsNow

While these companies have the early lead, clever newcomers are creating their own hybrid programs connecting APIs with ad-serving and social networks. It’s a wide-open field with dozens of players, including Finovate alums Billeo, BillShrink, Micronotes, and Segmint as well as others such as Clovr Media, DBG Loyalty, EDO Interactive, and Offermatic. MasterCard and Visa also have rewards programs that issuers can plug in to.

____________________________________________________________________________

About the report
______________________________________________________________________________

Merchant-Funded Rewards Programs (link)
Rewards 2.0: Turning a money pit into a profit center

Author: Daniel Thomas, principal consultant, Mindful Insights

Editor: Jim Bruene, editor & founder, Online Banking Report

Published: 28 Feb. 2011

Length: 32 pages

Cost: No extra charge for OBR subscribers, $495 for everyone else (here)

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Notes:
1. Probably more, as the son of a frugal Iowan (thanks Dad!)
2. Of course, private cardholder data is not revealed to merchants or service providers. It’s done through computer matching programs.
3. According to COLLOQUY, the average U.S. household is enrolled in 18 rewards programs, and nearly a quarter of those are financial.

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Discover Card Pushes Paperless with $30k Sweeps after Login

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Credit/Debit Cards, Discover Card, Login/logoff marketing

image Getting customers to go paperless is not easy. That’s why only 15% have enrolled even though more than three times that number pay the bill electronically. 

Discover Card is working to change that with a well-executed sweeps. The graphics are impressive (see below) and the dollar amount ($30,000) is enough to get your attention. But what I really like are the three benefits of going paperless listed at the bottom of the screen:

  • View online statements 3-5 days earlier than paper
  • Get an automatic email reminder 6-7 days before your payment is due
  • Access and download up to 24 months of password-protected statements

Analysis
While this is a great effort (Grade = A), I think Discover would be better off dividing the prize pot into ongoing monthly prizes for anyone who is paperless. That reinforces the behavior over time.

Also, I’d add one more benefit to the three listed above:

  • Go back to paper statements with a single click if you ever change your mind

Customers want control of their statements (and payments). So even if they agree to full automation, they need to understand that it’s easy to reverse directions even if few will.

Discover Card interstitial (splash page) when logging in to an account (12 Feb 2011)

Discover Card interstitial (splash page) when logging in to an account (12 Feb 2011)

Landing page

Discover card paperless statement signup

Confirmation screen

Discover Card confirmation after signing up for paperless statements

Side note: On my relatively new account (started in December), Discover prompts me to complete my profile.

Discover Card prompts to complete profile
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Note: For more information and examples of login/logoff marketing, see our Online Banking Report: Selling Behind the Password (April 2009).  

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American Express Wants to Power Your iTunes Purchases

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, American Express, Apple, Bill payment, Credit/Debit Cards

image How much does the average American Express cardholder spend in the iTunes store each month? A lot. And how often do you go to iTunes and change your default card? Never. Is it worth $5 to have your card powering an iTunes account? To American Express it is.

I’m sure the card company’s spreadsheet shows a payback within a year or two on incremental interchange alone. But more important is the added stickiness these frequent Apple purchases give to the card. Plus, it can’t hurt to associate your brand with the most valuable tech company on the planet.  

The fine print
To earn the five-song credit, cardholders must make a purchase with their Amex card between Feb. 10 and March 15. That earns a statement credit equal to five song downloads. It doesn’t say which song price-point is used in the calculation, but I’m guessing the standard $0.99.

Relevance to Netbankers
It’s always good business to get your card installed as an automatic payment source. Interchange goes up, credit card receivables improve, and you’ve added one more electronic hook to the account. So consider taking a similar approach and offering a small bounty after your card is used with a new biller.

iTunes promo on main Amex account page (Business Gold, 11 Feb. 2011)

iTunes promo on main American Express account page

Enrollment screen (link)

 Amex Enrollment screen

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American Express Now Offers Basic PFM Functions

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: American Express, Credit/Debit Cards, Personal Financial Management

image I was pleasantly surprised today to find that American Express has slipped basic PFM (personal financial management) functionality into its online card management area (note 1). The company allows the user to tag transactions and view results in graphical format (see screenshots below).

According to the FAQ, each transaction can have up to five tags. And each user can create up to 200 unique tags to apply to transactions.

Significance: Combined with the categories automatically assigned to each transaction, American Express is now offering basic PFM services. Although a little clunky—a three-click process is required to add a tag—it’s a nice addition and something every online banking service should support. 

How it works
1. Click the “Add Tags to Transactions” link on the right side of the Statements & Activity area (below):

American Express online account managment with tagging function

2. Select a transaction(s) and apply an existing tag or create a new one, then click the Apply Tag button (lower right):

Transaction tagging at American Express

How it looks
After apply the tag “Personal,” it now shows up in the transaction listing:

American Express online transactkion listing showing user generated "tag"

Once tagged, users can view transactions by tag categories:

American Express view my tag

Or view graphs by tag:

image

Note:
1. The example shown is for a Business Gold account. I’m not sure how long it’s been available. The first mention I could find about it via Google was Nov. 2010, so we’ll go with that until someone chimes in with better info. 
2. For more on online personal financial management (OFM/PFM), see our Online Banking Report.

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Set Travel Notifications Online at Capital One and Chase Bank

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Capital One, Chase Bank, Credit/Debit Cards, Travel

image Since I’m about to cross the Atlantic for our FinovateEurope conference, I wanted to warn my card issuers that they’ll soon be seeing unusual charges. Luckily, two of my issuers now allow customers to handle that online, saving time and money for the bank and me. Thank-you Capital One and Chase Bank (see screenshots below).

However, I was only batting .250 since six did not offer an online option (at least not for my account types): American Express, Bank of America, Citibank, Discover, US Bank and Wells Fargo.

Bottom line: In the not-to-distant future, this manual process will be rendered moot, because my issuers will know where I am via mobile phone GPS (see Finsphere posts). But until then, I appreciate the time savings of the online option and am more likely to use these two cards because of it.

Capital One “Set Travel Notification” link within Customer Service area (25 Jan. 2010)

Capital One "Set Travel Notification" within Customer Service Area

Capital One’s Set Travel Notification form

image

Chase Bank’s Travel Notification Form within Customer Center

Chase Bank's Travel Notification Form within Customer Service

Chase Bank’s Travel Notification Form

Chase Bank's Travel Notification Form

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Self-Service: Bank of America’s MyFraudProtection Allows Online Review of Suspicious Card Transactions

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Bank of America, Credit/Debit Cards, Security & Privacy

imageThe reason bank call centers still field millions of calls from online banking customers is that most account problems cannot be solved online. It’s not that banks don’t have the technology or the business case, it’s just a priorities challenge. Effective self-service modules are time consuming to build, test and integrate, while employee and customer education pose an even bigger hurdle.

But slowly, as more and more consumers look to resolve issues with a mouse click or finger flick, financial institutions will add self-service troubleshooting wizards to online/mobile banking.

The latest example comes from Bank of America.

I’ve been a BofA cardholder for the better part of two decades, and every year spend an hour or so verifying flagged transactions via phone with bank-fraud reps. It’s an annoying, but necessary, part of making 50 to 100 charges every month for home and business. 

But my most recent experience was very different. When I went online to pay the bill, not realizing (but suspicious) that my card had been cut off, I was greeted with the following message underneath the card balance on the main Account Overview page (see screenshot 1):

Online access is not available for this account. Please go to
www.myfraudprotection.com and verify recent transactions. Or you may call
1-800-427-2449 for additional information.

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How it works
______________________________________________________________________

Step 1: Following the link, I ended up at an entirely new site, running outside online banking where I was required to re-enter my account number (screen 2), last 4 of SSN, Zip, and phone number (see screen 3).

Step 2: I was then required to answer random questions pulled from the credit bureau to authenticate myself (screen 4).

Step 3: Finally, I was able to review and approve the transactions in question (screen 5). I was then thanked and told I could use my card again (screen 6).

However, after all this, I was still not able to pay my account online and had to call after all. The rep told me that it takes between two and 24 hours for online banking access to become available (note 1).

______________________________________________________________

Analysis
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All-in-all, I liked the system. However, it needs to be more integrated into online banking (see note 2). Given all the extra work required to authenticate myself, it would have been faster just to call the 800-number. If I were a normal customer, that’s what I’d do next time. I hate the stress of going through the authentication process: With everything on autopay, who can remember their exact payment amounts anymore?  

And worse, there is a security disconnect here. I log in to my credit card account only to be told it’s unavailable and that I should log in to some site I’ve never heard of (that doesn’t even have a Bank of America URL, note 3) and turn over personal info. It looks more like a crude phishing ploy than something from a major bank. And as far as I can recall, there was no customer education on this process.  

So, I applaud Bank of America for making transaction verification self-service. But there’s still much work to be done before it replaces the phone process. 

1. Main Bank of America Account Overview screen (14 Jan. 2011)

Main Bank of America Account Overview screen (14 Jan 2011)

 2. First screen at MyFraudProtection.com (link, note 2)Bank of America MyFraudProtection.com

3. Step 2 of 3 of authentication process

Step 2 at MyFraudProtection.com

4. Step 3 of 3 of authentication processimage

5. Transaction reviewimage

6. Confirmation message (and survey invitation)image

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Notes:
1. This was the weekend that BofA was having website trouble, so it may not always be delayed.
2. I realize the bank is using the fraud-protection site as a standalone system so it can direct any cardholder to it without first needing to log in to online banking, hence the authentication requirement. But for logged-in bofa.com users, it seems unnecessary. Although it does provide an extra measure of security, in case the cardholders’ online access had been breeched by the person attempting to use the card, that extra security comes at too high of a usability cost, in my opinion. 
3. The www.fraudprotection.com URL does redirect to myfraudprotection.bankofamerica.com, which helps.

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Cardlytics Partners with ClairMail to Take Merchant-Funded Rewards Mobile

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Cardlytics, ClairMail, Credit/Debit Cards, Electronic Statements, Mobile Banking, Mobile Commerce, Mobile Payments, Rewards Programs

image One of the best innovations to come out of this recession is in-statement, merchant-funded rewards. First-mover Cardlytics launched at last year’s BAI Retail Delivery (see post).

A year later, it was already reaching 30 million consumers  imagethrough relationships with more than 100 card-issuing banks and 100 merchants (see notes 1, 2). That’s unheard of growth in financial services. If just one-third of the 30 million customers look at their statements each month, Cardlytics would have more unique visitors than Groupon (note 3), which has been called the “fastest growing company ever.” 

We’re not saying Cardlytics has anywhere near the $60-70 million in monthly revenues attributed to Groupon, nor the $6 billion valuation. But enough similarities can be seen in their business models that I’d be very, very happy if I were an early Cardlytics investor (note 3). For example:

  • Both earn revenue directly from merchants who pay only when sales are made
  • Both leverage online channels to deliver significant discounts to targeted users
  • Both are first movers with aggressive growth tactics

And Cardlytics is different too:

  • Cardlytics focus (for now) is national merchants, whereas Groupon is closely associated with local merchants (but is adding national merchants)image
  • Cardlytics can target much more precisely and keep offers out of the hands of the merchant’s existing customers, a huge and unique benefit
  • Cardlytics does not need to market its own site to consumers; it rides on the coattails, and leverages the trust, of its banking partners

Mobile opportunity
Cardlytics operates at the intersection of payments and advertising. And while the online card statement is the place to be in 2010 (see screenshot below), clearly the future for any shopping-related service is mobile.

Although no specific products or partners were revealed, the startup signaled its intention to go mobile with its ClairMail partnership announced today (press release).

Cardlytics example: in-statement McDonald’s offer made to Burger King customers

cardlytics in-statement merchant-funded offer for McDonalds

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Notes:
1. Cardlytics will be demoing the latest innovations in its service at our Finovate Europe conference on Feb. 1, 2011.
2. BillShrink won a Best of Show award at Finovate Fall for its take on the concept (video).
3. On the strength of its early growth, Cardlytics landed a huge $18 million C-round in August.
4. According to Compete, Groupon had more than 8 million unique U.S. visitors in October.

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Who Wins with NFC-Based Mobile Payments?

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Credit/Debit Cards, Mobile Commerce, Mobile Payments

image Now we can stop speculating and begin to plan strategies for the new NFC-in-the-phone world. Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced that an NFC phone running Android Gingerbread would be available “within a few weeks.” He even demoed the NFC capability on stage on what is thought to be a new phone called Nexus S. He showed a location check-in, not a payment (see video below, first 6 minutes cover the NFC announcement).

You can be sure Apple will not let itself be out-innovated on NFC, so expect NFC on the iPhone 5 next summer. So what, if anything, does this mean for banks and credit unions?

There’s much to be determined still, depending on how much control Apple and the carriers try to exert. The Isis venture from AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon is an indicator that the U.S. telecom giants are actively looking to gain an foothold in mobile payments. And it’s not like the huge card issuers and MasterCard/Visa are going to sit on the sidelines. No one knows how it will play out. 

But it’s interesting to try to figure out who stands to gain, and lose, from the inevitable move from plastic to mobile device. One aspect I hadn’t though about was brought to my attention in a conversation with M-Com’s Serge Van Dam yesterday. He pointed out one likely consequence of virtual cards running in phones: the resurgence of retail store-branded “charge cards” (non-Visa/MC).   

By making store cards virtual, almost any size merchant will be able to jump on the loyalty bandwagon issuing their own virtual loyalty/charge “card” hooked directly to customer bank accounts (or PayPal), avoiding Visa/MasterCard interchange. It’s a decoupled debit play, but without the expense/infrastructure of issuing plastic cards.

Here’s my list of possible winners in the NFC world. What do you think?

Potential winners:

  • As outlined above, the small merchant that uses virtual loyalty cards (i.e., in mobile apps) to compete with the bigger players
  • Larger merchants that may be able to cut their interchange costs by routing virtual store card transactions away from MasterCard/Visa/Amex
  • Mobile payment/commerce startups and clever financial institutions (including PayPal) that figure out ways to add value in the new NFC-enabled world (note 1)
  • Mobile telecom players (carriers, networks, and Apple) that derive income from the increase in mobile commerce and advertising
  • Card issuers, if NFC capabilities drive fraud losses down
  • Consumers, who gain convenience by no longer needing to carry a wallet full of debit, credit and loyalty cards around

Potential losers:

  • Incumbent payments brands, especially MasterCard/Visa/Amex, who could lose interchange revenue to upstarts

Google’s Eric Schmidt shows first NFC phone running Android
Note: NFC demo is in first six minutes


Notes:
1. My favorite quote from Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s remarks in the video above,” (NFC) will result in 500 new mobile payments startups.”
2. Picture credit: AsiaBizz.com

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Google Testing U.S. Credit Card Comparison Ads

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Credit/Debit Cards, Google, Search Engine Marketing

image Today, when searching Google for “credit cards,” a small Comparison ad appeared on the top of the results page, above the individual paid spots (see first screenshot below; note 1). The title was “Credit Card Offers” and clicking on it delivered me to the following URL: google.com/comparisonads/uscredit (see second screenshot).

Google had previously disclosed United Kingdom tests for credit card and mortgage comparison ads, but this is the first I’d heard of them in the United States (note 2). The comparison page had 101 credit card offers that could be searched based on certain card attributes such as “no annual fee” and/or by the user’s self-evaluation of their credit quality.

Clicking on one of the offers delivered a page that summarized the salient points, but according to the fine print at the bottom of the page, Google isn’t currently being paid for these credit card ads. However, there was a source code in the URL that delivered me to the U.S. Bank application, so Google may be banking referral fees for completed applications.

If this practice becomes widespread, card issuers will need to adjust their Google search buy and figure out how to gain better exposure on the comparison-results page. Right now, APR (interest rate) is the default sort mechanism.

1. Google search for “credit cards” brings up comparison ad (10 Nov. 10)

Google search for "credit cards" brings up comparison ad

2. Credit card comparison page includes sort and search options

credit card comparison Landing page includes sorting and search refinement options

3. The offer page provides detailed price info
Note: Clicking on the “application form” button takes users to the issuer’s site to complete the application

Google credit card comparison Offer page

3a. Fine print at bottom of the page

image

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Notes:
1. Searching from a Seattle IP address on 10 Nov. 2010 at about 5:00 PM Pacific Time via Firefox 3.6 on WinXP.
2. Apparently a few others have seen them; for example, Search Engine Journal reported on the practice in an October post (here).

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