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New E-Finance Options For All

Every 6 months, people from the online finance world gather at the Finovate conference to display, discuss, and dissect different financial technology startup companies and their products. These products run the gamut from “white-labeled” online banking and fraud prevention for banks and businesses (for example, Springboard by Wesabe and Silver Tail) to at-home PIN-style security (HomeATM) and security software for mobile apps (Aradiom). Out of the products presented by 56 startups, we want to highlight some of the tools that can help you save money, bank better, and contribute to the world as you figure your finances.

 

Tempo’s Decoupled Debit Cards

Tempo will soon be offering a “decoupled debit card.” What does decoupled debit mean? Your debit card doesn’t need to be issued by the bank you work with. In fact, a totally different bank can offer the card, even when the money comes in and out of your account at your first bank. Not only can you upload your own picture for your card (kewl!)–but if a company you like issues a debit card that gives you rewards for making purchases with them, you can also sign up for that card, no matter who you bank with. From Tempo’s CEO (via American Banker (video)]:

With decoupled debit, all of a sudden major merchants, or even smaller merchants, can work with a bank, offer a co-branded program, offer a debit solution to their customer base, (and) in the process, approve a much larger percentage of the people that might apply, and make their customers happier.”

It looks like the debit card could soon fit our lifestyles a bit better, and we may benefit from rewards programs a bit more.

Status: Tempo’s front page says they will release their “revolutionary new product” before July.

 

A Cooler World, One Banking Profile At A Time

Cooler Inc. will soon be releasing a tool that “lets you calculate your climate impact directly from your financial data, and how to save or make money, and save the planet!” (Mike Linskey) Sounds like a good idea at a good time. When they unveil this product (and if there is a price) is unclear, but with the ability to look at your combined financial stats on sites like Wesabe, I imagine this tool will be part of everyone’s online finance management soon!

Status: I can’t tell what the release date is, but as further news is written about Finovate, I’m sure we’ll have an idea of when the tool goes public.

 

Invest in Students–Literally

People Capital hopes that earnings projections of students based on their grades, standardized test score, major, and school will encourage people to invest in the students by offering them loans that earn them good interest, but still keep students paying less than if they took out the loan somewhere else like a bank with their under-developed credit scores. I really like the overall message that People Capital is trying to convey–specifially, that this service could really help out promising students by looking at their success in a domain suited to them. I hope they’ll have a few years of positive results because even if a student doesn’t need to have a great financial history in order to be loan-worthy, People Capital will need a great financial history to convince lenders and students alike that this is the right way to go. As Jim Bruene, the founder of Finovate and editor of netbanker.com tweets, “Can People Capital’s Human Capital Score disrupt student lending? Will be interesting to follow.” I’m interested, and so are my younger brothers.

Status: Their site is up and running, as is People Capital’s Human Capital Score test, which projects students’ future earnings (if you are a student, you can be told what you will probably make in 10 years! Crazy!). I’m not clear whether or not they are connecting lenders to borrowers quite yet, but I would guess they’ll be doing it soon if they’re not already. I’ll add an update to this post when I find out.

 

S1m0ne’s Here to Help You Balance That Checkbook

Er…sorry–that’s not S1m0ne it’s Sophie! While Mint introduced its Financial Fitness tool at Finovate (see our previous post for details), Simplifi is a entire tool dedicated to assessing your current financial situation and helping you save for future plans. Linskey says the site offers “Asset allocation, goal-based planning, debt management, protection, and a very simple UI,” which suggests this is a powerful tool that’s designed to be useful to everyone. The site has plenty of demo videos to help you through the process (which unfortunately lack sound) and Sophie–a virtual financial advisor to guide you through the process. My financial situation isn’t too complex, so I don’t think I’ve been able to take full advantage of the site, but if I had more complicated loans, and monthly payments, I could see this site as another tool to help me visualize my finances and plan better for the future. Unfortunately, you have to input more of the information manually which is a pain (and, after signing up for almost a dozen online money management tools, seems unnecessary to me), but after that, suggested asset allocation, projected total assets, and a debt management tool have helped me think of my finances in a more long-term way

Status: Up and running! Sign up at Simplifi.com!

 

Save On Gas and Save Gas Finding It

The folks over at Billshrink have been doing a great job with helping you find better credit cards and cellphone plans, and they’ve just added a tool the help you find the cheapest places for you to find gas. This tool tracks places between your home and work, calculating the “true cost” of going to gas stations that are both near you and those a bit out of the way. Just like with their credit card and cell phone search tools, you can filter your searches carefully (by brand of station, age of price, and station features) as well as pick which stations you like an only have those prices displayed. This tool is great, and if I drove a car (ah, the good ol’ days), I’d definitely take advantage of this useful tool.

Status: Up and running! GO to Billshrink.com to learn more.

 

Related Links/Sources:

• Lazy Man live blogged the whole event at his site. (Much gratitude, sir!) Check out his brief descriptions and thoughtful commentary on all of the presenters here.
• Mike Linskey is a Director at Fincision, an e-commerce consultancy firm. His live blogging, which includes pictures, is here.(Thanks to you too, Mike!)
• For a full listing of the attending companies at Finovate Startup 2009, see the conference’s site here.

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