It’s all about data isn’t it — big data, omnichannel data, and on it goes. But the truth of the matter is that there are some more pragmatic data solutions that would help us all.
I just finished my 2013 taxes. As always, it was a real hassle. One of the things that made it even more cumbersome was the fact that my bank had me move two of my small business merchant accounts to a “lower cost” service provider product.
I didn’t realize at the time that this would mean that in so doing I would lose online access to the seven years of transactions they promised to keep electronically for me when I chose to save trees by going “paperless.”
I now have to depend on my own external Quicken records, or worse, request to have printed copies mailed to me from my bank, since they won’t let me download old statements, nor will they simply email me the data. They had to print it and send it by snail mail, which took about a week.
To add insult to injury, one of my credit cards was caught in the “Great Data Breaches of 2013,” and when the bank provided a new card, they again removed old card records from my online history.
All of these issues created problems trusting that I had everything in Quicken properly, as I never did get things to balance out, and have yet to find the time to figure out why.
It‘s time to completely reinvent how banks care for my data and yours, too.
I know what I want. I want my bank to provide all of my bookkeeping and all the views I need to manage all of my payment methods.
I use both Quicken and Mint today. Quicken is ancient in its interface and features. Mint is too ethereal. It is kind of neat in constantly reaching out to me with information about my accounts and spending, but Mint tries too hard to sell me products based on what it sees happening in my account. Spare me endless rounds of marketing and give me the services I need.
Since 90 percent of my spending flows through my bank already as debit, credit or transfer transactions, why do I have to download this information to Quicken simply to classify payments and get different views or reports on my money — or even simply to find a particular transaction?
I want my online bank records to handle all those classification tasks and data. My bank’s mobile app should reach out to me each day or so to verify all my recent financial transactions and ensure they have been classified correctly.
I don’t want to sound like the Rodney Dangerfield (now, I’m really dating myself) of banking. I like these new email receipt options being propagated at most large merchants, today. Doesn’t it seem logical to want to be able to set up an email account just for receipts that my bank receives and so that it can automatically link each receipt to the proper transaction record?
I want to be able to photograph my paper receipts, then have them automatically load to my bank and link to the appropriate transaction so that I can throw away any paper records.
I want all my regular utility, mortgage, and service billing statements to be electronically filed against each payment, too.
My wish list also includes the ability to have an application scan all my receipts and bills and tie them to my online monthly bill payments, while at the same time dissecting the details of each bill to give me some views to my data that are impossible to get today without massive effort in Quicken.
For example, I want every tax I pay to be visible. Not only the ‘sales tax’ associated with purchases, but also the taxes built into utilities such as my mobile phone bill and the other taxes that come with it — the federal universal service charge, regulatory charge, administrative charge, 911 fee, city transaction privilege surcharge, county telecommunications surcharge, and state transaction privilege surcharges. It’s not just about the final bill, but what is inside the bill that becomes a goldmine of information.
Also, let me mark my transactions in ways that are meaningful to me. This sounds simple, but today to break down a single transaction in Quicken into several meaningful components is painful at best.
Lastly, let me route my transactions from tertiary accounts such as my rewards Visa card from another bank into this same data system, so that I only have to go to my primary bank to manage everything I do — even if I choose to do some things outside of my bank.
I don’t want to spend my evenings or weekends sitting in my home office trying to download, categorize and report on my money. We all have too little personal time, and what time we do have is precious. Bookkeeping is not what my free time is supposed to be about.
Am I asking for too much from my bank — or any bank for that matter? I don’t think so, and I’m confident that the first bank to do this will be a big winner.
By: Todd Nuttall, CEO of Better ATM Services
Source: http://www.atmmarketplace.com/blog/12395/It-s-time-for-my-bank-to-reinvent-how-it-helps-me-manage-my-money?utm_source=NetWorld%20Alliance&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=EMNAAMC03052014