Imagine our lives today without the gift of flight. While many were involved in one of the greatest achievements in recorded history, we tend to view one particular morning on a beach in Kitty Hawk, N.C., when powered flight was first experienced, as a victory of discovery and innovation for the Wright brothers.
Could the Wright brothers have done that today? Could we see them testing a newfangled vehicle of flight on a public beach with curious observers standing on the nearby dunes? If you or I were to try something like that today, we would likely face numerous barriers of special approvals, insurance, public hearings, and a likely unwelcome visit by law enforcement officials. Then, we would need to engage in incessant efforts to convince the non-visionaries in civic power to allow us to take several creative steps … testing and learning from each trial and failure.
During my own career, I’ve witnessed this process get more and more difficult. But I was heartened and encouraged a few weeks ago when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a process with the potential to spawn new thinking that will benefit consumers and reduce resistance to innovation.
The new “Policy to Encourage Trial Disclosure Programs; Information Collection” gives us a way to get an “innovation permit” to conduct test flights of new airplanes (figuratively) on the beaches of consumer payment product disclosures. This is no small deal.
So, you argue, how can testing new consumer disclosure methods be such a big deal? To me, it boils down to the fact that disclosures of almost all types today have failed to achieve their goal to inform and protect the consumer.
On the contrary, most of the “disclosures” we come across on a routine basis are designed largely to protect the company offering the product. For example, how often do you get a software update that requires you to check the “I AGREE” box indicating your agreement to pages and pages of legal gibberish in the accompanying pop up window?
Have you ever actually read the entire contents of such a disclosure? We click through almost mechanically.
At Better ATM Services, we are testing numerous improvements designed to provide pragmatic alternatives to how we inform and educate consumers and process transactions for them.
We believe that the new guidelines established by the CFPB will give us a clear path for our iterative process of testing and learning as we develop new methods and products. The need for this process is great and it paves the way for products that can be adapted for ATM distribution.
It is difficult (and pointless) for an ATM to dispense a 15-page book of legal terms and conditions, but it is easy to conduct a clear and meaningful electronic interaction with the customer at the ATM about a specific transaction and product.
I believe our beachhead will revolutionize disclosure rules to serve the interests of the consumer — and not focus so much on those of the company.
Source: http://www.atmmarketplace.com/blog/11899/The-Wright-brothers-did-It-Could-we