Tired Of Lousy Bank Service? You Can Start Your Own Bank, Or Be Glad These Folks Did

Tired Of Lousy Bank Service? You Can Start Your Own Bank, Or Be Glad These Folks Did
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Jay and Luvleen Sidhu are a father and daughter who have spent their careers running banks.
So they know better than anyone the frustration people have with their banks.
"Going to the bank is like waiting for a cab," says Luvleen. "You stand there forever, hoping someone will take care of you, the fees are way too high for what you get, and there's no convenience factor.
"Uber has basically upended the taxi business. Lower cost, ease of use, technology-based - you hit a button on your phone and a clean car appears. So my father and I started asking, 'Why can't banks be as easy as Uber?'"
Those words just happen to be the title of the Sidhus' new book; the subtitle is "BankMobile And The Real Future Of Banking."
Dad is CEO of Citizens Bank, daughter is a Harvard-trained banker.
Together, they are Uber-ising the banking industry with BankMobile, which already has 2 million accounts.
According to their book, if you want a bank account, you shouldn't have to stand in line for an hour at a bank branch. Instead, snap a photo of your driver's license. Everything you need to open an account is right there--photo, SSN, name and address, DOB, signature, and (duh!) driver's license number.
Want fee-less banking? Use any of the fee-free 50,000-plus ATMs on BankMobile's network.
"We don't have branches," Jay says, "so we don't have to charge high fees to pay for the rent and salaries that go along with having branches. We don't see the customer as a piñata the way the big banks do."
The Sidhus' book tells the story of Jay's rise in the banking industry from his first night in the United States as an Indian immigrant, a night he spent in a homeless shelter because he arrived in Wilkes-Barre, PA to start his education on Labor Day, when the whole city was closed.
It explains how Jay took one failing bank and turned it into a Fortune 1000 company, how he started a second bank, and how he and Luvleen came to recognize the many flaws in the banking system from the customer's perspective.
"Banks have always grown by adding more customers," Jay says. "With BankMobile, our strategy has been, how do we harness technology to make banking simple and easy?
"Millennials--and older people--want a bank that can work like any other app on their phone. With BankMobile, they've got it."
The book goes on to describe BankMobile's commitment to financial education for its mostly young client base and tells of the banking revolution the new bank seeks to foment.
"Young people simply don't want to be taken advantage of," Luvleen says. "The old system of banking simply is a mismatch for Millennials, who want fairness and speed, not long lines and poor service. They won't tolerate it, and now they don't have to."
Jay adds, "AirBnB is a hotel service that owns no rooms. Uber is a transportation service that owns no cars. BankMobile fits that model - we don't have expensive real estate and expensive employees. We just give people what they want."
In their book, the Sidhus also address the plight of two groups, the "unbanked and the underbanked," in Luvleen's words.
"Poor people pay more for banking services than the 1%," she says. "It's not just unsustainable--it's unconscionable. There's got to be a better way. And we're it!"

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