BBVA Says That It Is Shutting Down Banking App Simple, Will Transfer Users To BBVA USA (techcrunch.com) 8
BBVA today told users of Simple -- the pioneering mobile and online banking app that it acquired for $117 million in 2014 -- that it is planning to shut down the service, moving accounts to BBVA's USA business in the process. TechCrunch reports: The move is part of an ongoing effort at BBVA -- which had been an active investor and acquirer of startups -- to streamline its business as it works on closing a merger with PNC. The latter bank announced in November last year that it would acquire the U.S. business of BBVA for $11.6 billion. In a note Simple sent out earlier today to users -- being shared on Twitter by a number of them -- the bank said that it will be transitioning their accounts to be serviced by BBVA USA, which already housed the accounts.
"BBVA USA has made the strategic decision to close Simple," the note reads. "There is no immediate impact to your accounts at Simple and nothing you need to do at this time. Since your deposits are already housed at BBVA USA, they will remain in FDIC-insured accounts there, up to the applicable limits. In the future, your Simple account will become exclusively serviced by BBVA USA, but until then you can continue to access your account and your money through the Simple app or online at Simple.com. Users will receive more details in the future about the transition to BBVA, the note continued. It is unclear how many users Simple has currently. It had around 100,000 users when it was acquired back in 2014, and some might say that the startup was ahead of its time.
"BBVA USA has made the strategic decision to close Simple," the note reads. "There is no immediate impact to your accounts at Simple and nothing you need to do at this time. Since your deposits are already housed at BBVA USA, they will remain in FDIC-insured accounts there, up to the applicable limits. In the future, your Simple account will become exclusively serviced by BBVA USA, but until then you can continue to access your account and your money through the Simple app or online at Simple.com. Users will receive more details in the future about the transition to BBVA, the note continued. It is unclear how many users Simple has currently. It had around 100,000 users when it was acquired back in 2014, and some might say that the startup was ahead of its time.
Azlo (Score:3)
BBVA is also shutting down Azlo [azlo.com], their online-only, small business focused bank.
Re: (Score:3)
One of the largest banks in Spain.
KeyBank did the same with HelloWallet (Score:2)
I don't even know why they bothered to buy it, HelloWallet was crap.
Re: (Score:2)
Yeah I'd totally trust my money with a phone app called HelloWallet.
Simple started as a great concept... (Score:4, Informative)
Simple started as a great concept, but they kept gutting vital features.
The whole idea for Simple was that it was a bank account that made things simple.
It displayed a "safe to spend" amount that accounted for the checks you wrote via billpay, so you wouldn't have to balance your "checkbook" like in the bad old days.
It allowed for savings plans that would slowly and invisibly skim a certain amount of savings for, say, a vacation. You tell it the amount you want to save, and the date you want it, and it calculates the amount it needs to skim from your paychecks every payday. If you tap into that amount, or it's unable to skim the needed amount one payday, it recalculates the needed amounts so that you'll still have what you need on the date you need it.
It allowed you to have a joint account with any other Simple user, for any reason.
Simple had rates that were better than the big brick and mortar banks (but not as low as credit unions or other online banks).
It was pretty slick. Then they started gutting the features that made it Simple. It started with eliminating BillPay. The entire concept that originally set Simple apart from every other bank was destroyed overnight. No BillPay means that you either have to start using paper checks (and balancing your checkbook), or you have to transfer the money to another bank account or PayPal-type service (why bother to have a Simple account to begin with, then?). Now, there's nothing that sets it apart from even the crappiest of banks.