Banking Up?
Banking Up? Doesn’t that sound like wishful thinking, or worse, an oxymoron in the wake of the financial meltdown of 2008-2009 and the 2011 banking crisis in Europe?
Not quite. Since the bailouts, the enactment of the CARD Act of 2009, and the enactment of the Dodd-Frank Act in 2011, the banking industry has been busy
- preparing to line its own pockets again with huge bonuses
- rushing to increase fees and reduce perks on credit cards before the Act took effect
- adding fees to checking account and debit cards to offset the cap on debit card fees imposed by the Durbin amendment
- laying out new traps such as “overdraft protection” for its customers to fall into and pay more fees
… all the while without innovating in any way for the benefits of consumers.
We take issue with this. Rather than advocating more regulation, we argue in favor of more creativity and less complacency, just like physical fitness comes from more exercise and less intake of calories. So “Banking Up” is tipping its hat to innovators and wagging its finger at incumbents when they are lazy and trying to preserve the status quo.
“We” are the founders, investors and friends of Plastyc Inc., a company started at the end of 2006 to deliver better banking at everyone’s fingertips.
We operate
- the Emerald Online portal for H&R Block’s prepaid cards
- iBankUP, a portal giving access to prepaid card accounts and a virtual checkbook
- the UPside Visa Prepaid Cards, a range of prepaid (no-credit) cards with the industry’s highest features-to-price ratio including a version for teenagers (13-17) under parental control
Contact us at: info@plastyc.com
