Self-Service Banking – Not Your Usual Experience

I just moved my money to a new bank — a non-traditional, internet bank where all business is done via web self service or email, and I have yet to speak to an agent. Even without the traditional personal touch, I feel good about this bank. They seem to know who I am, what I want and so far have delivered exactly what I need.

I have had a long and troubled relationship with my old bank which I originally chose out of convenience as it was located within blocks from my home. I started with them as a student with only a basic checking account. Over the years, as my needs changed, the number of accounts that I had multiplied, to the point that all my banking and accounts - checking, savings, IRAs, CD’s and my mortgage was held with them.

I thought that over the years, the tellers would slowly get to know me, my young daughter and my financial habits and needs. In fact, I thought that they would look out for my best interests, like recommending savings accounts with lower interest rates that matched my banking habits.

I never really thought about my relationship with my bank until I started a home remodel which involved securing a large amount of cash to pay for it. Initially, after a face-to-face consultation, the bank offered me an equity line of credit which turned out being much more expensive than a refinance of my current mortgage. The way I figured this out was by taking all their rate information home, doing the calculations myself and determining what the least expensive option was for me.

The mortgage refinance went through without a hitch. Unfortunately, immediately after completing the refinance, my grandmother passed away, and I flew back to Canada for several days forgetting to transfer funds to my checking account to cover some large construction costs. Upon my return, I saw that I had been penalized $250 in overdraft fees for multiple checks that had failed to clear. I was understandably upset. First I thought that an agent would have flagged this event and notified me somehow of this situation considering that I had more than enough funds to cover these costs sitting only an account away. And secondly, I thought that someone would have told me that I could purchase overdraft protection for $5 amonth which I would have gladly signed up for if I had known to ask that question.

After ten years of working with my bank and being consistently disappointed, I considered what I valued in my interactions with my bank. Having a personal relationship was important, but what was more important was that the bank help answer questions that I had, and to recommend basic financial plans tailored to my situation.

I am a savvy computer user who spends large parts of the day online. I wanted the bank to let me find answers on my own. And, if a solution did not exist, I wanted to be able to connect to a live agent, either through a chat session, email or a phone call, who would have a record of my searches so I did not have to repeat myself again. And, I wanted to be able to ask a question either over the phone or over email, and get the same answer every time, irrespective of the medium that I used to ask my question.

After a thorough search of bank, I found an internet bank that, at first blush, seemed to satisfy my requirements. The web site was visually pleasing, easily navigable, with a consistent user interface propagated throughout the site. Breadcrumbs and recently viewed pages were displayed which helped orient me within the site.

The site offered a variety of self-service methods to appeal to different categories of users. There were decision trees that a novice user could navigate down a particular discovery path to the correct solution. I also found a browsable folder structure and a natural language search capability.

I searched for information on basic checking accounts, answered several clarifying questions to target searches for my situation, and was returned search results from the bank’s knowledgebase which included the exact information I was looking for. As well, I saw that included in the search results were several links to comments from a discussion board linked to the bank’s website that commented on the ease of opening accounts.

After more investigation, I decided to see whether I could join this bank, and sent an email to the bank. The conversation, lasting over several emails, was threaded — that is, each email I sent back to the bank was appended to my initial email so that the agent had a full history of my interaction with the bank. “That’s great”, I thought, “I didn’t have to repeat myself for once!”

This experience made me want to explore the services of this bank, and I was not disappointed when I did join. From the start, all my visits to the web site were personalized, and seemed target to me.I was greeted by name. Offers were presented to me that I was actually interested in. My last searches remembered. I realized that once the bank knows who I am, it does a good job at knowing what I will ask.

The bank also had a memory of every transaction, every action that I had performed — my balance, transfers, past and pending service requests, transcripts of their chat and email interactions with agents, as well as history of any self-service interaction that was escalated to an agent. Even though I never spoke to an agent, I had the feeling that I mattered, that my interactions were understood, and that my history with the bank was important.

I felt that the bank went beyond simple service. For example, I have many automatic payments set up, and the bank notifies me by email every time a payment is debited from my account. Yet, I am also notified each time my checking account drops below a threshold which helps me better manage my overall financial picture. And, at times when I seem to have larger amounts than usual in my checking account, I have also had agents proactively start a chat session with me to inform me that I would earn a higher rate of interest with a short-term CD, and that they were standing by to help me just in case I wanted to take them up on this offer.

In fact, I actually believe that my bank looks out for me. Last month, I tired to pull out some cash from a foreign ATM during an out of the country business trip. Instantly, I received a SMS message on my phone, alerting me of this unusual transaction and asking me to confirm its validity. It seemed that the bank’s fraud detection algorithms had kicked in, helping protect its customer base.

We have a great relationship - my new internet bank and I. I now bank via ATMs, email and their web site. I never go to a branch or talk to a teller, but I know that the bank gives me exactly the service that I want. I know it is not a traditional relationship and it is definitely not for everyone. I used to think that a long interaction for each service issue led to a better relationship. But now, I am not so convinced. A short, fulfilling interaction where you get what you want by looking for it yourself can be as fulfilling as one in which you are hand-held.