Please forward to Corporate Headquarters:
With new online Internet technologies and the pressure to cut costs and move customers online, the following measures are possible at no cost to banks and credit card companies, and will help consumers greatly. Thus it helps both banks and customers save money. ING Direct has made good advances here, with no monthly fees/overdraft fees, etc. Your bank should also look at such more win-win situations, especially as banks profits are now eroding from loan losses.
Credit Card requirements:
a) Credit cards should list exact date when introductory APRs etc expire and such information should be easily find-able on the website, when one logs in. And every monthly statement should have information, on exact date when Introductory APR etc will expire.
b) Credit cards should list what the APR will be after that Introductory period. Right now, that information is not on online monthly statement.
c) Credit Cards should update finance charges DAILY, in their user's online accounts; this way, user does not have to wait till end of month to know what montly finance charges were
d) Credit card email alerts : should be available, so that as soon as the to-date finance charges exceed , say $10 or pre-determined amount, consumer should get an email alert.
e) Credit card should have easy and instant withdrawal of cash-back rewards from credit card account, and to see how such rewards accrued (for example 1% on certain categories, 5% on others): Wellsfargo credit card has complicated way of logging onto different site with different id, then view and redeem rewards. Discover card does this easily, but Discover currently does not show how such rewards accrued(for example 1% on certain categories, 5% on others). Also I should be enrolled in cash-back automatically. At Discover , I have to do this manually, which is tedious.
f) Easy scheduling of monthly payments (say, setting payment amount of minimum+$10, etc), and to select ANY desired dates of payment. This helps consumers in case they are going on vacation, to schedule future payments, in advance. Some credit cards like those from american express, do not allow scheduling of future payments, ie those more than 2 days away.
g) Direct payment to credit card from external bank checking account : Right now, if I try to pay my Bank of America credit card with money from my wellsfargo checking account, this is not possible directly, although other credit cards like American express, Discovercard etc have this ability to directly credit my credit card from external bank checking account. At Bank of America for example, I have to first deposit money from external bank to BAC checking account, and then from BAC checking account to BAC credit card, which is tedious. And for this reason am thinking of switching over to American Express credit card or Discovercard.
Right now, if I try to pay my Wells Fargo credit card with money from my Bank of America (BAC) checking account, this is not possible directly, although other credit cards like American express, Discovercard etc have this ability to directly credit my credit card from external bank checking account. At Wells Fargo for example, I have to first deposit money from external bank to Wells Fargo checking account, and then from Wells Fargo checking account to Wells Fargo credit card, which is tedious. And for this reason am thinking of switching over to American Express credit card or Discovercard.
h) Rewards redemption : Rewards redemption should be automatic and online. Right now to redeem my rewards on credit card , I have to physically call your bank on phone or login to send you a message to redeem rewards. But redeeming rewards should be a default option (ie in online account, I should be able to say that whenever my reward points reach say 5000, I would like it redeemed in a particular way). This will help me save time and ensure that I do not forget about my rewards, and this will help me use your credit card more frequently and recommend it to friends etc when I receive those gift cards in the mail. Other credit cards like Discovercard etc have this setup beautifully.
i) Viewing complete online disclosure of credit card, online : Right now, when I opened a new account from your bank, I got a booklet about the disclosures on my credit card. Since it is not possible for a person to keep collecting those booklets (in this age of computerization,) I should be able to view the exact same booklet, online, in my account, at all times
j) Bank of America issue with minimum payment due for credit card, not updating correctly: There is a bug here. I had a minimum payment due on an account , say account A which when I tried to make, I mistakenly paid from my checking account to my other bank of america credit card, ie card B (which was not being used at all). So, this credit card B has excess credit and I requested that the money that was paid to credit card B, be moved over to credit card A. This was done, but inspite of making more than minimum payment, the credit card A still shows payment due. This is a bug.
k) Credit card closing : I should have online option to close credit card. Right now, I have to manually call up credit card company to close the account, or send them email, which wastes time. Also, closed credit card accounts should not show up when I log into my online account, only open, active accounts should show up
l) Credit card online accounts and bank online accounts to have voice messaging: Right now ,I am able to send text email message to customer service when I login to online account. I should also be able to quicly leave voicemessage when I login to my online account (using my PC microphone). That way, I do not need to type out online message to customer service.
m) Voice chat with customer service after login to my online account : For bank and credit card issues, after I login to my online account, I should be able to place a voice call to customer service from within my online account and share my online view of my account with customer service representative, so that they can quickly help me out the issue, instead of customer having to call 1-800 number, getting authenticated, and then explaining the issue to the rep. That way, bank also saves on costs of 1-800 number calls that customers use to call customer service. eStara provides this, American express uses it: http://www.atg.com/en/ecommerce-optimization-services/estara-connections/click-to-chat.jhtml
n) LivePerson online chat with banking associate after login, to include voice chat, besides text chat: I logged into Bank of America and was doing LivePerson chat with banking specialist, and wrote in text about my credit card request, and explained in detail, they then asked me to call up separate 1-800 number for credit card. So this is painful process, and timeconsuming. Please have your website to accept voice calls using LivePerson, besides text chat. Then Bank of America should be able to transfer my voice call to appropriate department, online, without customer having to worry about calling another 1-800 number for a different department.
Bank requirements: Merger of High-yield checking and credit card account (no more overdraft/monthly/NSF fees, etc):
With the advent of electronic transactions, it is now possible to provides consumers and banks, to have the best of both worlds for everyone to save, ie
high-yield checking account and a credit card : the combination helps consumers:
a) end overdraft/non-sufficient fees etc : if checking account goes overdraft, automatically charge credit card at standard credit card APR (no overdraft, non-sufficient fees for consumers) : this also helps reduce customer support, and such savings can be passed on to consumer
b) high-yield checking account that helps consumers maximize on receiving interest
c) cash back on credit card purchases : ie 2% cash back, or better yet, 2% less charges to begin with, when purchases made directly from checking account
d) with complete online access, the banks costs are reduced, and it is convenient for consumers too.
e) Electronic Bill pay etc on the checking account.
f) $0 online stock trades, like Bank of America provides
g) Ease of opening new account at a bank, when one already exists (for example, when I have a CD at a bank, and want to open a money market account) : Lots of online banks need customer to re-enter information (like address, SocialSecurity number etc), when say customer is already logged onto his online bank with money market account, and needs to open a CD account or credit card account. If I am logged onto my online bank and have money market account, and simply want to add CD account to it, I should not have to re-enter information to open a CD account. ING Direct has a beautiful, easy way to do this and also easy way to renew/not-renew CD if needed. Also if I am logged into my account and I am applying for credit card, etc, then I should not have to re-enter information again. I had online savings account with HSBC Direct, and opened a CD , but it did not show up in my online accounts immediately, it said it will show up sometime in the future; ING Direct has a beautiful, easy way to do this and it immediately shows you the CD created online and the funding account debited by the amount put into the CD.
At HSBC direct and FNBO direct: I already had a savings account, and to add a CD account, I had to reenter all personal info, which wasted a lot of time. Please make it simple like ingdirect.com, which makes easy, and in just a few clicks of mouse, I can add a CD account to my online savings account, and also the new CD account shows up as funded and setup instantly, not after a timegap.
h) Besides showing the earnings ie interest etc accrued for a year, every bank should also show the total fees paid by the consumer in that year: such fees can be due to early closure of CDs, overdraft/NSF fees etc. For example, Indymac bank, Countrywide do not show the total fees charged, especially lots of consumers do not even know that fees got charged for early closure of CD (when that was not even the intention).
i) Corusbank etc have old account opening procedure, and to withdraw funds etc, they do not provide ACH out, but have to mail out paper checks. INGDirect has much smoother processes here.
j) Schwab onesource should have access to say high yield CDs (from say Indymac bank offering 6month 4.05%apy CD, GMAC bank , etc), and also high yield money markets (like countrywide emoney market, yielding 4.05%, etc), whereas schwab offers only 3.22% apy at most for 6month cd.
k) Schwab : please simplify online site. For example INGDirect online site is very simple to use etc, and has fewer tabs, links, information etc on one page. Right now, the schwab site seems pretty cluttered, after one logs in.
l) Ability to set Alerts for checks cashed : Say, I have written a check to someone and would like to set an alert to let me know by email when that check has been cashed and amount withdrawn from my checking account. That way, I do not need to login to check my checking account to see if the check has been cashed.
m) Schwab: In brokerage account, right now ,I have to manually buy money market fund that yields 2.1%apr. There should be option to automatically enroll in that money market fund, without me having to manually enter that order
n) Using ACH instead of credit card: With ACH facility available, consumer should be able to use that instead of my credit car to initiate purchases using Direct-Debit transaction, and since Direct-Debit transaction fees are much lower than credit card fees (for the merchant), both the merchant and consumer will be able to benefit from lower transaction costs , and the cost savings of merchant can be passed down to consumer.
Bank & Brokerage requirements:
Bank & brokerage merged to one, with high interest rates on uninvested cash (automatic), and low online trade commissions. the ideal combination is the highest rate on uninvested cash (instead of consumer moving money on his own to money market fund), AND low commissions, around $5 or so if possible.
This gives investor best of both worlds. Some banks like Ameritrade/Etrade offer low commissions, but almost 0% interest on uninvested cash. On the other hand, some banks like ING Direct etc offer good savings rates, but no integrated, built-in cheap online stock trades. Schwab, Bank of America, ING Direct offer decent (but not great) yields etc should also make this VERY convenient for consumers.
Can you please let me know what is the interest rate you offer on uninvested cash, along with commissions on stocks,options, and comparison with other online brokerages/banks ? And is this money market to stocks sweep, and vice-versa, automatic ? thanks, Avinash
Banks should move online more and more (ie have customers use Internet more and more for banking needs) , to reduce costs and pass on the savings to consumers. Having less real estate needs for banks (ie going through more online transactions) , not only reduces their costs and ours, but also helps keep environment green.
This is published at blog http://people20.blogspot.com/2007/11/banks-online.html,
More details in http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dthcr25_139fjrbbb (Contact me livingstone_partners@yahoo.com for details)
Wrote brokerages : customerservice@zeccotrading.com , tellmemore@etrade.com , support@scottrade.com
http://www.tdameritrade.com/contact.html http://schwab.com/
FNBO Direct: https://www.fnbodirect.com/welcome/MarketingDropDownProdList,,service@fnbodirect.com HSBC direct : https://www.hsbcdirect.com/1/2/1/default/contact?code=MIW0000155