Just imagine…
Reading the 'about’ page of banksimple, the new online bank that Alex Payne has left Twitter to work on, I felt sad.
A simpler bank that is easy to use.
A bank that treats you with respect.
No extraneous features.
No hidden fees.
I already have that. I feel sorry for the people who don’t.
Well, not I don’t have that in a bank per se, but Digital Federal Credit Union — the credit union I conduct all my personal banking with — charges me practically nothing for my checking or savings accounts, refunds the fees other banks charge me to use their ATMs, has a credit card with a fantastically low APR, and has never been anything less than ace to me when I’ve needed to speak to a human.
Despite my being thousands of miles away from the nearest branch, they’re still more convenient than the banks that litter the streets of SF, not least since they support scanning paper checks and uploading them on my home laptop (and now, with a new iPhone app, I can just use my iPhone camera!)
Seriously folks, if your bank is a bunch of dicks, look around for a local credit union. They’re not all as awesome as DCU, I’m sure, but it’s well worth it.
[Utterly random geekyawesome history aside: DCU is so-named because the company whose employees they originally serviced? DEC!]