The Banktastics

Thanks for following Brad & Mark’s reviews of Finovate Startup! We’ve still got our special guest Jeff Stehpens from Creative Brand Communications on board! We hope you’ve enjoyed reading the reviews live all day long. Let’s wrap up with the final set of companies!

BlingNation
Brad’s Review:
Promixity based payment. Cell to Cell Payments in realtime. My thought - So I see this as like exchanging business cards, people thought it would go digital (it didn’t) so why would I exchange cash between my family/friends? Although, if I could send cash from my phone to the taxi driver, would LOVE that. When will North America adopt?

Mark’s Review:
Software based mobile payments. Allows phone to phone transfers and then links those transfers to pre paid credit cards. Seems like a lot of steps.

Jeff’s Review:
The BlingNation presenter brought along a little bling of his own in the form of a pretty assistant with nice hands (which is important when your whole demo is two giant hands on a big screen playing with two cell phones). It provides real time mobile bank transfers. The interface is nothing flashy…but maybe I’m just spoiled by my iPhone.

Zopa
Brad’s Review:
Giving users the ability to have a negative effect rate. Essentially you can charitably provide funds for a borrower to make their goals. I love the concept…that is different than the rest of the field.

Mark’s Review:
I’ll call this social borrowing and investing. Investors buy FDIC insured CDs at a good rate. Borrowers are helped out by those CDs. Everybody is happy.

Jeff’s Review:
“The world’s first social finance community” started out of the UK. The presenter said “we are NOT a peer to peer lender under the traditional definition”–he made a big point of this and was very focused on the technical differences between Zopa and peer to peer lending. Zopa has the cool ability to divert some of your earned interest on a Zopa CD to a borrower….accept lower interest to offset some of the borrower’s interest.

TrustedID
Brad’s Review:
Theft Identity Protection. Has a family plan rate (good thinking!). Can protect standard stuff like bank accounts but also health insurance accounts. Promo code for $25 bucks off use coupon code: finovate.

Mark’s Review:
A proactive ID theft protection. I’m signing up for the new family package when I get home. I’ll keep you posted!

Jeff’s Review:
Proactive identity protection, which is all about stopping identity theft before it happens. The product is able to be co-branded and private labeled…just ask Suze Orman who apparently made some bucks from it. Use the promo code “finovate” on their site for a $25 discount.

MoneyPools
Brad’s Review:
Help investors organize their investments. Another busy space to be in…this is a tough area to have an app that is not built for experts. Could work on getting a little ‘love’ in the app.

Mark’s Review:
Asset management tool that is super chart intensive. (The charts are rockin, so that helps.) Great depth of data, but seems like it would have a high learning curve.

Jeff’s Review:
Portfolio analysis tool that, much like MInt, shows very visual graphs to present the information. Impressive ability to drill way down into the data. You’d need to be quite a data head to take full advantage of all that info, though.

Aradiom
Brad’s Review: Based out of Austin, TX. This is a framework for building mobile banking platform. Really easy to build a mobile app BUT will community bankers have the expertise and knowledge to have it work with their online banking/core system apps? I’m doubtful.

Mark’s Review:
Mobile banking platform that showed you can create (in perfect conditions) a JAVA based mobile banking solution in under 5 minutes. Worth looking into if you are in the mobile space.

Jeff’s Review:
Missed the demo.

First ROI - CheckingFinder
Brad’s Review:
A patent pending free checking account w/ no minimum balance. Dave Ramsey support these guys. Find best rate based off of proximity and highest interest rate. Easy straightforward, good interface. They are partnered w/ Andera for account openings. Releasing on June 2nd.

Mark’s Review:
CheckingFinder.com is the consuming facing portion of this rewards checking program geared at community banks and credit unions opening June 2. These guys are gunning for the big banks.

Jeff’s Review:
This is not the first time the presenter has done this before…wow that was well delivered and polished. He pitched the soon-to-be-live CheckingFinder.com that will help consumers find BancVue’s Rewards Checking programs around the country. Not that earth shatteringly interesting, but valuable nonetheless.

sparkroom
Brad’s Review:
Business to Business product. Allows marketers full transparency to track what the gross margin would be. Tracking ROI on the leads. Don’t know if I followed it all. Left confused.

Mark’s Review:
Lead performance optimization for marketing in the business to business space. I know nothing about this space, but marketing people around me say it’s good stuff.

Jeff’s Review:
Is this the first BtoB technology we’ve really seen today? It seems that everything else, as I recall, has been primarily BtoC, at least indirectly if not directly (PFM’s, mobile apps for customers, etc). This is an app developed directly for marketers, “lead performance optimization for the mortgage industry.”

TradeKing
Brad’s Review:
Options/Stockbroker trading community. Another place to have a ‘blog’ (ugh). If you are a hard core investing player, this community is for you but again, if you’re like the majority of us and are a ‘few trades here or there type’, this is a bit too much for you.

Mark’s Review:
Another stock and trading community site.

Jeff’s Review:
I’m liking the cool presentation graphics, but not the “read my presentation to you” style. Nicely graphically designed trading community site. Call me naiive, but I have to wonder about “learning” from the insights of other novice investors…do I really want to know why some middle manager in corporate america thought buying Google at $700 was a good idea?

ClairMail
Brad’s Review:
Mobile Banking App. Transfer, Payments, Account Balances oh my! Nothing new here, still an unusable mobile browser experience. Banking this way is a %2 usage case for the consumer today. They say their an open platform but didn’t expand, could be good depending on the API ability.

Mark’s Review:
Mobile banking platform that provides one bank-side implementation to handle all banking aspects. Even though the back end is a single implementation, a bank may still have to deploy multiple mobile clients. Does tout an “open platform” that may be worth looking into.

Jeff’s Review:
SMS-based mobile banking. He just said “two way triple play.” What?! These guys are moving super fast. Sure they only have five minutes, but to Ron’s point in his recent tweet, you can’t just “talk fast and try to cram 10 minutes of content into 5 minutes.” I don’t know, maybe I’m just slow.

Vestopia
Brad’s Review:
Last demo, we made it! Look over the shoulders of investment pro’s to see how they invest, their performance and if you want to track them. I like it. Myspace lurker concept that can pay. I think I’d be most comfortable with this site versus the other competitors in the space

Mark’s Review:
Kind of a gawker site, but instead of following celebs, it follows big shot investors and their portfolios. Could be interesting if you’re big in that space.

Jeff’s Review:
Platform that connects self-directed investors with Wall Street pros…allowing the average guy to see what the pros do with their own money. Nice idea, I think. The presenter (CEO) was careful to make sure everyone knows he’s grown membership by 10x since he came aboard in January. At least this is a different idea than we’ve seen in the other companies today.

We hope you’ve enjoyed watching our live coverage today of Finovate Startup 2008. Feel free to share your comments on our reviews by commenting on these blog posts! We’d also like to give a huge thanks to Jeff Stephens with Creative Brand Communications for partnering up and sharing his demo reviews with us.

Keep an eye on the Banktastic Blog in the next few days to watch some awesome video interviews from Finovate. Thanks to Finovate and all of the presenters!

To check out the rest of the reviews from Finovate:
click here for the first set of 10 demo reviews,
click here for the second set of 10 demo reviews,
and click here for the third set of 10 demo reviews.

Thanks for following Brad & Mark’s reviews of Finovate Startup! We’ve got a special guest getting in on the reviews this time! Jeff Stehpens from Creative Brand Communications gave us his two cents on the presenters! Read all of the reviews of the 40 demoing companies live all day long here at the Banktastic Blog! Let’s continue on with the third set of companies!

Expensr
Brad’s Review:
Was out conducting interviews and missed the demo.

Mark’s Review:
Late back from lunch and missed the demo. Wished I could have seen it, though!

Jeff’s Review:
The two young and now probably rich guys announced that they have just been acquired by Strands, and are in the process of developing MoneyStrands a new PFM. Very casual guys, and with a sense of humor. I like it…though I’m not sure Ron agrees.

SmartyPig
Brad’s Review:
Was out conducting interviews and missed the demo.

Mark’s Review:
A great app to get yourself in gear to actively save. Accounts require a recurring contribution from your personal accounts, so the commitment to save is really there. Also allows to cash out in gift card currency, giving you a boost!

Jeff’s Review:
It’s all about reversing the trend of the “buy now, pay later” mentality…which I like. It helps people save for very specific goals, and makes those goals public. The site pays interest and is FDIC insured. For me it comes own to what the interest rate is. I would sacrifice the cool goal-oriented functions in trade for the highest interest rate possible through an online savings account like ING etc.

Invesra
Brad’s Review:
Was out conducting interviews and missed the demo.

Mark’s Review:
A mound of retirement goals and data geared towards the boomer generation. To me the look and feel is super old school, but maybe that’s what boomers want.

Jeff’s Review:
This is an aggregator that can be co branded by bank or credit union. It makes personalized recommendations based on info entered, risk profile the user submits, etc. The app then recommends a portfolio based on goals set in the system. The main purpose? To bring highly sophisticated capabilities to the average person, not just high-end market To Ron’s point, not a social network….amazing!

Tyfone, Inc.
Brad’s Review:
Missed the demo.

Mark’s Review:
You stick a special memory card in your smart phone and presto, you’ve got contactless payment through your phone. That means your phone can pay for stuff and transfer money to others. Kind of cool.

Jeff’s Review:
Giving a big shout out to Portland, Tyfone offers mobile applications for financial services. This guy said he had a slightly different presentation approach, with no demos…but then he did a demo. I’m a marketing and brand experience guy–this is a little techy and over my head, but is probably good for those who understand what he’s talking about.

Wesabe
Brad’s Review:
Basic overview of Wesabe. Another personal finance tool but with a community attached. It beats Mint in that regard. As much as I believe about community I think you only use community for a small amount when it comes to your financial decisions.

Mark’s Review:
Personal Finance Manager built with community and sharing at the forefront. Much more community feel than other PFMs.

Jeff’s Review:
Ahhh, the main competitor for Mint. The Wesabe community brings together collective data, including lots about the merchants themselves. It connects users to help make better financial decisions using “the Wesabe value engine.”

Wonga
Brad’s Review:
UK based startup. Payday lending for short term loans. Simple, looks like Euro only for now. Simple interface, what to learn more afterwards.

Mark’s Review:
UK based online payday lender. Great layout and easy process, but payday lending is payday lending, even if it’s online.

Jeff’s Review:
From the UK, this guy came a long ways and brought his cool accent with him. Wonga provides small short term same day loans….solves immediate cash flow shortages. I like the very simple “sliding scale” interface on web; they also have a mobile service. good presenter, good story teller. i like it…even though it’s basically a pay day loan. at least i don’t feel dirty when i do it! honestly i can’t imagine doing it, but interesting idea.

Loanio
Brad’s Review:
Another Prosper competitor. This space is getting crowded fast. Didn’t see any sort of major differentiation between them.

Mark’s Review:
Another peer to peer lending application. It does allow co-borrowers, but other than that, it’s very similar to the others in the space

Jeff’s Review:
Lending site, auction style….will launch in a couple weeks. i think my blogging buddies here have different tastes than I…I’m bored by this. It’s an overly scripted presentation–he read to us, ad I don’t get how this is any different than Prosper.

Confident Technologies
Brad’s Review:
Multi-factor login but more secure. Passes FFIEC multi-factor requirement (my auditor hat is happy) How can a community bank use it when dealing with a vendor? Nothing outside the other vendors doing the same thing.

Mark’s Review:
Looks like a super user friendly multifactor authentication method. It uses dynamically displayed images and letters, allowing the user to identify the familiar ones.

Jeff’s Review:
Another dude from Portland, woohoo! His question is, “what happens after passwords when you log into a site?” His system uses visual images/photos so that a real human (and the intended human, specifically) have to answer or it won’t work. Very simple but makes good sense.

IP Commerce
Brad’s Review:
Tyler brings the thunder, great presentation skills. Looked like a really simple remote deposit capture implementation for the SMB. Left wanting to hear more.

Mark’s Review:
Allows businesses to quickly and securely ad payment capabilities to any application. Activation looks really easy. If you’re a small business or developer, might want to check it out.

Jeff’s Review:
Compared to the other speakers, Tyler was practically yelling, but was really showing his enthusiasm. I like his crazy hair, not very bankerly approach. “dynamic service provisioning”. Reviewed Rapid Receipts. was pretty clear and well presented…although a little techy for me (again…I know).

SimpleTuition
Brad’s Review:
They run through college/universities to make the process easy for students. Looks pretty straightforward, not really focused on selling to the consumer but a nice, simple interface.

Mark’s Review:
Comparison tools helping students find loan from traditional lending institutions. Simple and straight forward.

Jeff’s Review:
Not sure why are these guys dressed EXACTLY the same. Aside from that, it’s pretty simple and, I think, adds value. It seems kind of like a Bankrate type concept for choosing student loans. Only took 3 minutes to describe…always a sign of a good idea!

Also, we’d like to encourage you to check out another blog that’s covering Finovate! Go visit the Creative Brand Communication Blog for another perspective of Finovate’s presenters!

To check out the rest of the reviews from Finovate:
click here for the first set of 10 demo reviews,
click here for the second set of 10 demo reviews,
and click here for the last set of 10 demo reviews.

Thanks for following Brad & Mark’s reviews of Finovate Startup! Read their reviews of the 40 demoing companies live all day long here at the Banktastic Blog! Let’s continue on with the second set of companies!

Guardian Analytics - Fraud Map
Brad’s Review:
Looks crazy difficult to use. Fraud Prevention is important, but people in banks want/need easy to use apps, too. My one word review: meh.

Mark’s Review:
Amazingly streamlined and robust backend tool to monitor online account activity. On the first look, looks like a must have for any security analyst.

Jwaala - MoneyTracker
Brad’s Review: Built for bankers and credit unions. Bringing the iGoogle, Netvibes metaphor into online banking. The widgets translate onto anywhere it’s embeddable. How is security involved? I’ll ask them for a video interview.

Mark’s Review:
Software sold to banks and credit union to bring online banking for netvibes-type flair. Embeddable widgets and super easy search are just some of the highlights

Zecco
Brad’s Review:
Free stock trading. You can share your portfolios with each other. Can see why people are purchasing stocks and can ‘follow’ their trends be friending them. Love it, and was the first speaker to get cut off.

Mark’s Review:
Free online stock trading (min account balance $2500 and up to 10 transactions) with super charged community aspects. Sharing of full portfolios, motives behind trades, and member-to-member communication.

Guard ID - ID Vault
Brad’s Review:
Token-based security for many sites (shopping, online accounts, etc.) Internet problems along the way. Gives you a secured browser to work through. For the security inclined, pretty straightforward device and good price point $49.95 (get it at BestBuy).

Mark’s Review:
Cool usb device to help secure online transactions of any kind. However, going through their custom browser is definitely more trouble than it’s worth.

Cake Financial
Brad’s Review:
Must note, first Mac presenter! Social networking for investing. Can use the last 10 years of transactional history. Love the fact that you don’t have to move everything to their service. It works as a dashboard with a community behind it. You can track what others are doing. Got cut off! Oopsy.

Mark’s Review:
Stock tracking community application. Much improved over something like a Yahoo and is on par with Zecco in most features, though it doesn’t do any of the actual transactions.

VaultStreet
Brad’s Review:
Document warehouse to manage documents instead of paper-based. Interface is tough, but the process of document management isn’t an easier one to implement properly.

Mark’s Review:
Web-based paperless document vault that includes some secure sharing capabilities. I still see the need for localized paperless copies.

Mint
Brad’s Review:
Online personal finance software. Winner of Finovate last year and the Techcrunch40. Users gravitate towards easy to setup products (understatement of the year?) I’ve seen his demo a few times now. I think it’s funny that despite the ‘ways to save’, he doesn’t go to his partners to ’save’. Now doing investment tracking (a la Cake Financial). Almost got cut off, but wrapped up just in time.

Mark’s Review:
Personal Finance Manager with some of the coolest graphs out there. Also easy budgeting and spending analysis. Came off arrogant.

GreenNote
Brad’s Review:
New alternative to traditional student loans. Nice, 1 character password to login, secure! Social networking for funding student loans…Model is school centric and they don’t look at students’ credit scores. So loaning from people that they know. Still in private beta, has potential in my opinion.

Mark’s Review:
Application built to help students tap into their social network to get loan money for college. In reality looks like an cowardly but formal way to ask your immediate and extended family for money for school.

SmartHippo
Brad’s Review:
Ensuring to find the best mortgage rates out there. Not using ‘preferred’ vendors, trying to be completely unbiased. Customers can also rate the bank and the deals they got, like it. You can blog for free from their interface, but can you import RSS? Good place for the beginner.

Mark’s Review:
Website to help people find rates. Great aggregate of information, and could really help during the research part of looking for loans, if you actually do that.

Motley Fool CAPS
Brad’s Review:
Community generated stock trades. (Lots of these today.) He shows the good returns his system got. It’s not about the technology, it’s about the community that created that, focus on them! Obviously a lot of interest in this space but this service is for the investment saavy, not the novice.

Mark’s Review:
Community driven stocks rating whose average 3 star stock outperforms the S&P 500. If you are really into investing analysis and love community, this is a must check out!

Also, we’d like to encourage you to check out another blog that’s covering Finovate! Go visit the Creative Brand Communication Blog for another perspective of Finovate’s presenters!

To check out the rest of the reviews from Finovate:
click here for the first set of 10 demo reviews,
click here for the third set of 10 demo reviews,
and click here for the last set of 10 demo reviews.

Brad & Mark are at Finovate Startup in San Francisco, CA! Read their reviews of the 40 demoing companies live all day long here at the Banktastic Blog! Without further ado, let’s get started!

Authentium - Safe Central
Brad’s Review:
About online identity theft. Showed example of keylogger. Opens app (Safecentral) to protect against that. Customized Firefox browser to get on. All private labeled, there is a network version.

Nothing ground breaking about identity theft. Built within Firefox browser so could be issues with complaint applications that are IE friendly.

Mark’s Review:
An id theft solution that seems a little too doom and gloom. While the software appears to be top notch as far as security, the extra step of additional authentication could be a huge barrier to use.

Credit Karma
Brad’s Review:
All things credit related. Wanted credit to be a defining metric for consumers. Free Credit Report (no hidden fees)

You can get details about your credit score at any given month. You can truly track at any given time and get insight into what those scores mean. Very cool. Can get offers from vendors based from ‘preferred vendors’

Mark’s Review:
Great user interface for obtaining, monitoring, and understanding your credit score. “Karma offers” seem cool as they are user centric and transparent, but it does clutter the UI a little and seems a little “gimmicky.”

WorkLight
Brad’s Review:
Dubbed ‘next-gen ebanking’. It’s widget based ebanking, he’s using iGoogle/Facebook.

Ehh, didn’t do it for me. Too limited to consumers and can’t do much more than read-only functionality. I would want to do more.

Mark’s Review:
Rockin. Allows creation of online banking information widgets that can be securely placed in insecure environments such as iGoogle and Facebook. Even allows secure communication between customers.

Prosper
Brad’s Review:
Nothing groundbreaking out of Prosper. Just a basic walkthrough that you all know. I will say that Prosper is fundamentally changing the game.

Mark’s Review:
Peer to Peer lending with emphasis on social capital.

Andera
Brad’s Review:
Simplfying the online accounting opening process. Pretty straight forward process, UI seem simple. Nothing unusually new for me.

Mark’s Review:
Very simple online account opening and initial funding. Includes opportunities for targeted offers based on sign up credentials.

Boulevard R
Brad’s Review:
Provides a service to offer unbiased financial advise. Give you an entire PDF plan to your retirement goals. PDF get generated based off of your input but a lot of it is basic, generic stuff. What if I want to ask more questions or change my plan later?

Mark’s Review:
An amazing tool for long term saving and retirement planning that includes concrete “next actions” to help you on your way.

Diversinet
Brad’s Review:
Mobile app that will do online banking function but also has a function for personal ‘documents’ information which is basically simple messages but really nice add-on and it’s end-to-end secure. Nice product!

Mark’s Review:
Secure mobile transactions at its roots, but with a twist. A “mobile vault” allows you to securely score any kind of information. Especially handy for health information. Also does multifactor authentication with phone delivered pin codes instead of tokens.

FindABetterBank
Brad’s Review:
Dead simple wizard that helps you find a better FI. All interactions are tracked on their site (a bankers goldmine). Love this service and in combination with their other product bankswitcher, it’s a force to be reckon with.

Mark’s Review:
Comparison tool is good, but this thing shines in its switching tool. Creates a switching checklist of third party accounts (phone, cable, etc) you need to change based on your previous transaction. Even includes any necessary forms for that switch!

Buxfer
Brad’s Review:
Buxfer had a total demo meltdown. Didn’t get a chance to see either their web or mobile offering.

Mark’s Review:
Personal finance for 20 somethings that we really didn’t get to see due to technical difficulties. Big FAIL!

Also, we’d like to encourage you to check out another blog that’s covering Finovate! Go visit the Creative Brand Communication Blog for another perspective of Finovate’s presenters!

To check out the rest of the reviews from Finovate:
click here for the second set of 10 demo reviews,
click here for the third set of 10 demo reviews,
and click here for the last set of 10 demo reviews.

Download this video

Thanks for checking out this episode of BanktasticTV’s “The CU Scoop” featuring Mark McSpadden. Here are some important notes about this episode:

Heading to Finovate!8
Brad & Mark are going to be in California for Finovate Startup on April 29th! They’re going to be reviewing as many of the 40 demoing companies as they can, and you can watch it unravel live all day April 29th on The Banktastic Blog. Be sure to visit the blog and leave us your comments! Also, if you want us to ask a question or interview a particular company, comment as soon as you can and we’ll try to work it in!

Vancity is up for a Webby!
Vancity, Canada’s largest credit union, established the ‘Change Everything’ community and is up for a Webby Award in the social media category! Change Everything is setup for people who want to make a change in their world, be it big or small. Members can create a blog to document their journey while trying to make these changes. It’s a great community dedicated to bettering not only ourselves, but our world. If you’d like to vote for Vancity in the Webby Awards, click here to register and vote now! Best of luck to you, Vancity! We really hope you win!

P.S. - To watch a hilarious video Vancity released for the Webby Awards, click here!

You can be on The CU Scoop!
We’re interested in your thoughts on topics and trends in the credit union industry. If you want to be a part of our show, record your own video (roughly 2-3 minutes long) and upload it to our Viddler.com account. Here’s the log-in information:
username: thecuscoop
password: markymark
Remember the rules: 1.) no bank bashing, and 2.) don’t self-promote too much. If you have any questions about sharing your video with The CU Scoop crew, send an email to mark@banktastic.com.

Email Us!
Feel free to email comments or suggestions about “The CU Scoop” to mark@banktastic.com, or post your thoughts on the Banktastic Community. We’re always looking for your input.

See you next week!

-The Banktastics

Download this video

Thanks for checking out this episode of BanktasticTV’s “The Burst.” Here are some important notes about this episode:

ICBA of New Mexico IT/Operations Conf.
A huge thanks to the Independent Community Bankers Association of New Mexico for holding such a great conference and having Brad as a Keynote presenter. Brad had a really great time and got to talk to a lot of interesting bankers in the process.

The main topic of this episode is the regulatory pressures banks face and how those pressures prevent banks from stepping outside the box and exploring social media. We’re all very adamant about utilizing social media, and it’s a shame that banks are afraid to try implementing any new technology due to regulations. As Brad said, you don’t necessarily have to jump off head first and create your own social community online. You can very easily connect with your customers online through something as simple as a blog.

Banks definitely need to get on board and try harder to get involved online. There are ways you can try out social media without compromising your security - others have done it just fine! It just takes a good try.

If you ever have a question about utilizing social media for your bank and need some good feedback, we’d encourage you to check out Banktastic.com to see what information is out there. And if you can’t find what you’re looking for, ask the community and start a conversation. Banktastic is a great starting point for learning about social media and FIs.

Subscribe to Banktastic on iTunes
All of BanktatsicTV’s shows are available on iTunes now! Click here to access our podcast page to subscribe, or open iTunes and search “BanktasticTV.”

Email Us!
Feel free to email comments or suggestions about “The Burst” to brad@banktastic.com, or post your thoughts on the Banktastic Community.

See you next week!

-The Banktastics

For those of you who may have missed our Twitter yesterday, Banktastic is now on Facebook!

We decided to create a page for Banktastic so that our members can become fans of us on Facebook. We know that several of you (including all of the Banktastics) have Facebook profiles, so we thought we’d connect with you on Facebook, too.

If you wanna become a fan of Banktastic, click here to visit our page. We’d also encourage you to not only invite people to become a fan of Banktastic on Facebook, but to also invite your friends to join Banktastic.com! The more people we bring to our community, the better the content & conversations will get.

So check us out on Facebook, and we’ll see you around online!

Download this video

Thanks for checking out this episode of BanktasticTV’s “The CU Scoop” featuring Mark McSpadden. Here are some important notes about this episode:

Finovate Startup 2008
Mark & Brad Garland (host of BanktasticTV’s The Burst) will be at Finovate Startup on April 29, 2008, in San Francisco, CA! Finovate Startup showcases some of the most innovative companies that are changing the financial industry. Mark & Brad are going to be blogging their reviews of company demos live on the Banktastic Blog on Tuesday, so be sure to check in and see what they think!

What Should We Ask?
The guys are going to be going around and checking out some of the companies during the 2-hour mingling time. If you can’t attend Finovate Startup, let us know what you want us to ask! If you have any questions you want answered from any of the Finovate presenters, comment on the Banktastic Blog, send an email to mark@banktastic.com, do whatever you have to do - just get it to us! We’ll ask them whatever you want - that is, if it’s within reason.

You can be on The CU Scoop!
We’re interested in your thoughts on topics and trends in the credit union industry. If you want to be a part of our show, record your own video (roughly 2-3 minutes long) and upload it to our Viddler.com account. Here’s the log-in information:
username: thecuscoop
password: markymark
Remember the rules: 1.) no bank bashing, and 2.) don’t self-promote too much. If you have any questions about sharing your video with The CU Scoop crew, send an email to mark@banktastic.com.

What’s on the whiteboard this week?
See what’s behind Mark’s head this week!

Email Us!
Feel free to email comments or suggestions about “The CU Scoop” to mark@banktastic.com, or post your thoughts on the Banktastic Community. We’re always looking for your input.

See you next week!

-The Banktastics

Download this video

Thanks for checking out this episode of BanktasticTV’s “The Burst.” Here are some important notes about this episode:

Watch the Filming of Episode 12 on Qik
Wanna see behind-the-scenes footage of the filming of this episode? Click here to view the footage on Qik!

Article: Wells Fargo Announces vSafe
Wells Fargo recently announced “vSafe”, which is an online safe for their retail customers. vSafe allows customers to store things like audio, video, pictures, and many other popular file types online without having to keep clutter at home or on their own computers. This is a really great service, so props to you, Wells Fargo!

Article: Frontier Airlines Files Chapter 11
Frontier Airlines recently had to file for Chapter 11 due to an unreasonable increase in withholdings in funds received from ticket sales by their credit card processor, First Data. First Data notified the airlines that they intended to begin withholding 50% of their credit card sales, which was a huge threat that inevitably ran Frontier out of business.

BarCampBankDallas
BarCampBankDallas is officially open for registration! It will be held June 21 & 22 at the American Bank of Texas in Frisco, TX. There are several hotels and great things to do near our BarCampBank location, so sign up now at the BarCampBankDallas page. We look forward to meeting a lot of our Banktastic members there, so mark your calendars!

BanktasticTV Podcast Now on iTunes!
You guys asked for it, so we did it! All of BanktatsicTV’s shows are available on iTunes now! Click here to access our podcast page to subscribe, or open iTunes and search “BanktasticTV.”

Email Us!
Feel free to email comments or suggestions about “The Burst” to brad@banktastic.com, or post your thoughts on the Banktastic Community.

See you next week!

-The Banktastics

Download this video

Thanks for checking out this episode of BanktasticTV’s “The CU Scoop” featuring Mark McSpadden. Here are some important notes about this episode:

BarCampBankNewEngland
BarCampBankNewEngland was held on April 5th, 2008 in New Hampshire. There was a ton of really great coverage was posted online for those who couldn’t attend to check out. BarCampBankNewEngland was held at the America’s Credit Union Museum. See? BarCampBanks aren’t JUST for banks at all!

BarCampBankDallas
Speaking of BarCampBanks, we’re going to hold a BarCampBankDallas on June 21-22 in the Dallas area. We encourage all credit union people who want to attend to come be a part of BarCampBankDallas! BanktasticTV’s very own Brad Garland & Mark McSpadden will be in attendance! It’s going to be great, and we hope to see you there!

Christian Mullins’ Blog
Mark stumbled across Christian Mullins’ blog, which will soon be the CU Potential website. Christian currently keeps his readers up-to-date with information that you’d be pressed to find anywhere else. He keeps daily tabs on news including information on crimes related to CUs. We highly suggest you keep an eye on his blog, and while you’re at it, check out his 4-part series on the anatomy of a merger.

You can be on The CU Scoop!
We’re interested in your thoughts on topics and trends in the credit union industry. If you want to be a part of our show, record your own video (roughly 2-3 minutes long) and upload it to our Viddler.com account. Here’s the log-in information:
username: thecuscoop
password: markymark
Remember the rules: 1.) no bank bashing, and 2.) don’t self-promote too much. If you have any questions about sharing your video with The CU Scoop crew, send an email to mark@banktastic.com.

What’s on the whiteboard this week?
See what’s behind Mark’s head this week!

Email Us!
Feel free to email comments or suggestions about “The CU Scoop” to mark@banktastic.com, or post your thoughts on the Banktastic Community. We’re always looking for your input.

See you next week!

-The Banktastics

Download this video

Thanks for checking out this episode of BanktasticTV’s “The Burst.” Here are some important notes about this episode:

Brad’s Thoughts on This Episode
Hey folks, sorry for the ’silence’ this week but whaddya gonna do, right?! I just again wanted to give MUCHO props to Seesmic for helping us with this episode. Those video responses were received within a minutes after my initial post and they came from all over the world. It’s a great way to see how conversations have truly gone global.

Anyway, I realize that a lot of these folks are on one end of the tech-savvy scale but I don’t necessarily think they are exceptions. People want their banking experience to be less obtrusive so by using a lot of online services they are able to do so but notice that these people still don’t feel comfortable handling ‘bigger chores’ like car loan or mortgages yet because the online experience hasn’t made them feel comfortable enough to do it. All great responses and hopefully it provides some insight into the minds of the banking consumer.

Thanks again for watching The Burst and yes, we are changing the industry!

Thanks to Everybody from Seesmic!
We’d like to send a huge thank you to everyone that participated in our Seesmic video survey. We got some fantastic feedback, all of which will help bankers learn more about the banking trends of everyday people. You all were a great help, so thank you!

BanktasticTV Podcast Now on iTunes!
You guys asked for it, so we did it! All of BanktatsicTV’s shows are available on iTunes now! Click here to access our podcast page to subscribe, or open iTunes and search “BanktasticTV.”

Email Us!
Feel free to email comments or suggestions about “The Burst” to brad@banktastic.com, or post your thoughts on the Banktastic Community.

See you next week!

-The Banktastics

Download this video

Thanks for checking out this episode of BanktasticTV’s “The CU Scoop” featuring Mark McSpadden. Here are some important notes about this episode:

WhatAreYouSavingFor.com
One of Mark’s favorite site launches from April 1st was WhatAreYouSavingFor.com. Started by Members Credit Union based out of North Carolina, WAYSF.com is a great online tool for those with What Are You Saving For? accounts at MCU. They’ve developed a community to help encourage people to continue saving if they run into any speed bumps reaching their goal. It’s a great motivational tool for those trying to save some money.

Banktastic.com
A little bit of self-promotion, but totally necessary. Banktastic relaunched on April 1st with a brand new look as well as a new reviews feature. We’ve made it easier to post news articles and ask questions. The site is quite a bit more user-friendly, so go check it out if you haven’t yet!

You can be on The CU Scoop!
We’re interested in your thoughts on topics and trends in the credit union industry. If you want to be a part of our show, record your own video (roughly 2-3 minutes long) and upload it to our Viddler.com account. Here’s the log-in information:
username: thecuscoop
password: markymark
Remember the rules: 1.) no bank bashing, and 2.) don’t self-promote too much. If you have any questions about sharing your video with The CU Scoop crew, send an email to mark@banktastic.com.

What’s on the whiteboard this week?
See what’s behind Mark’s head this week!

Email Us!
Feel free to email comments or suggestions about “The CU Scoop” to mark@banktastic.com, or post your thoughts on the Banktastic Community. We’re always looking for your input.

See you next week!

-The Banktastics

Download this video

Thanks for checking out this episode of BanktasticTV’s “The Burst.” Here are some important notes about this episode:

Good People Day 2008
Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV declared April 3, 2008, the first ever Good People Day. The point was to give props to the good people in your life, so Brad wanted to take a minute and say thanks to each and every person that’s ever visited Banktastic, watched an episode of our show, and helped make us who we are today. We couldn’t do it without you all, so thank you, good people!

Website of the Week: Banktastic.com!
That’s right, we chose ourselves as the Website of the Week. If you somehow missed the big release of Banktastic’s new look this past Tuesday, April 1st, run over to our community and check it out! We added a new reviews section to Banktastic that allows users to rate and comment on vendors and their products & services. Also, we had a great April Fool’s video, and if you missed it, watch it now!

Questions from Banktastic
The first question that Brad talked about was posted by Roz G., and her question was how many of you have contingency plans for a Pandemic in your BCP? Watch Brad’s response in the video above, or click the link to follow the discussion on Banktastic.

The second question that we’re discussing was asked by JB Dearing, and he asked so with the makeover, does this mean Banktastic is out of beta? The short answer to that is we’re never really out of beta. Follow the conversation on Banktastic to see what others had to say by following the question link.

BanktasticTV Podcast Now on iTunes!
You guys asked for it, so we did it! All of BanktatsicTV’s shows are available on iTunes now! Click here to access our podcast page to subscribe, or open iTunes and search “BanktasticTV.”

Email Us!
Feel free to email comments or suggestions about “The Burst” to brad@banktastic.com, or post your thoughts on the Banktastic Community.

See you next week!

-The Banktastics

Hey everybody,

Banktastic’s first contest, The Race to 22, is over! Congratulations to Mike Templeton for winning the $122 Visa gift card! Mike, spend it wisely! We had a great time watching the contest unfold, and we’re very, very thankful for each new member that was brought to the Banktastic community. We also thank each person that participated for helping to grow our community.

That’s it for the first contest. I wonder what we’ll think of next…

-Lisa & The Banktastics

Today, April 1st, we released the brand-new version of Banktastic.com. The site got a complete facelift including a new feature - company & product reviews! This is a great way for companies & consumers alike to get involved and help members of our community learn more about specific companies & their products.

We’re really excited about the big changes we’ve made to Banktastic. We spent a lot of long hours working to make this site better, and, of course, ran into a few bugs in the process. By the way, a huge thanks to those watching the countdown and endured the delay of the new site with us. It was completely worth the wait!

So take a look around the site and see what we’ve made better. Feel free to give us your feedback by commenting on this blog. Oh, and if you happened to miss our April Fool’s video about the Banktastic Water Cooler, you can watch it here:

Thanks everybody!

-Lisa Randolph, Community Manager