Outside Look

Use Case for Decoupled Debit Cards

There has been a fair bit of buzz around decoupled debit products (here is a good write up with many good links from Digital Money Forum). I just haven't been able to figure out why people would take the time to get one. The points are a nice idea, but most people get those with a credit card, and more banks are beginning to offer points and rewards with their check cards. The user experience doesn't seem any different (I don't have one yet), it is a point of sale card that you use like any othe...

BarCamping

It's not what you think - not a bunch of people hanging around a bar, not is it going camping with lots of booze. BarCamps are informal conferences, without an agenda, loosely organized, and incredibly cool. For me, BarCamp Bank SF was my first BarCamp experience, and this is a little bit about that experience for those who haven't attended one. Since this was my first time, I didn't know what to expect beyond what I'd read on the BarCamp wiki and some blogs. At first blush, it seems that it ...

Of Banks and Blogs

The other day I went looking at banks to see what they were doing with blogging, and I wanted to share my results here. I looked at the top 20 US banks by deposits, and left out a few with high deposits but low consumer presence. My expectation was that of the top 20 banks, 4 or 5 would have a blog presence, and I expected that they would be focused on things like retirement planning, online security, and new products. It turns out I was completely wrong. List of bank web sites reviewed: ...