Welcome Backstage

General
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Let’s rethink banking! :wave: Welcome backstage, fam. Share your thoughts on how we can build the best bank ever. Tell us what you’d love to see and what you think. We’re all ears!

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For Creative Kiwis and Free Thinkers :woman_singer:
Debut was born to reimagine what a bank can do. Jump into a topic to share your thoughts or create something new.

Question everything :thinking:
Even a seemingly simple question can lead to big changes. Whether there’s something your current bank does you’d like to see change or you’d like to talk about larger social issues, let’s talk about it. :speech_balloon:

What is this group for?
We’re building Debut Bank for all New Zealanders, so we want to hear from you.

What can I expect to find in this group
We want Debut to be simple and transparent, so anything is up for discussion. We’ll talk about why we do what we do, our approach and of course features and cool stuff that’s part of the experience!

Where can I find more information?
You can check out In the Spotlight, the Debut blog
https://www.makingdebutbank.co.nz/in-the-spotlight

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What I’d like to see in Debut is:

Set up Buckets: As soon as my pay hits my account, the amounts set in each bucket E.G. Groceries will automatically go into the Groceries bucket.
Similily, my Internet/phone bill is $330 a month and I get paid weekly, so even amounts go into my Telecommunications bucket each week to ensure it’s paid by the due date.
I have subscriptions in USD, so funds get converted to USD out of my pay, then when it’s due, the money is taken from that bucket, not my main account.

This will illiminate the need for multiple bank accounts and having to transfer funds into each, since funds will automatically have gone into each bucket.

Change Roundup (Save The Change): My bank is the only one in NZ who does this. As you spend through the day, you designate how much you want to round up to, such as $1, through to $10. With Debut, you set up a Savings Bucket, then define an amount you want to drop into it. Unlike my bank, money will be earning compounde interest.

24/7 Customer Service: The world is moving 24/7, and Debut should be no different. Need to change your PIN, Do it in the app!
Need to talk to a human? Calling customer service is a button away, and is encripted via a secure, end-to-end, clear audio connection over the Internet, instead of dialing a number and press 1 for this, 2 for that, entering a long account number and phone banking password and having to give my birthday and Mum’s Maiden name puts my security at rissk.
Speaking of Customer Servicee, we are a multicultural diverse country, and have people from various Pacific Islands, as well as native English and Te Reo Maori speakers. So a Tongan who identifies as such will get Tongan-speaking support, so would a Te Reo speaking would get support in Te Reo.

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Sort Money in an Account into Buckets 🪣
Change Roundup 🪙 ⬆️
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This is a great concept, and I would love to hear more about how your bank can help our company Pay It Now (PIN)

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Awesome ideas @DHarvey!

I’m going to upgrade some of these into their own topics.

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Roundup feature - where you can choose to roundup every purchase made to the dollar (or even more) and the rounded up amount is sent your savings.
Instant payments - like osko in australian banking.
International payments and creating joint accounts in a all in one app.
Basically like the new zealand version of ‘Up bank’ in australia, where they have no physical branches (overheads) the app is so easy and useful.

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Change Roundup 🪙 ⬆️
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I came across Up Bank in 2020, which is very strange because the app is in the App Store in New Zealand, yet I must have an Australian phone number. They have the features what I am looking for, and Debut can replicate with differences to set them apart. An article written bye Akahu said, if merchants implemented open banking, they would save because they won’t need to use debit and credit card merchants, payments are taken direct from bank account. Akahu would be used to get people started with Debut for the first one to 2 years, however, I would like to see Debut develop our own APIs.

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+1 on the roundup feature. ASB have have had this for years (Called ‘Save the change’).
It’s a great way to save without trying to save. You barely notice the rounded amounts being transferred out, and while YMMV, I net about $1000 a year this way.

One improvement would be to transfer the roundup portion instantly rather than every few days like ASB days.

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As a thirteen year old entrepreneur what I’d love to see in Debut is:

  • The ability for someone 13+ to apply for a business loan (of course with thorough vetting and interviewing to ensure the idea is strong). I’m sick of banks not even considering my application because they just don’t allow me to apply. I believe it shouldn’t matter what age you are, as long as you have a good idea it should be given the fuel it needs.

  • The ability to connect with investors, this feature would allow business users to thrive. It wouldn’t just be a bank but a community to find, back and show pitches for solid business ideas (If this feature is brought to Debut, please make sure every idea is reviewed by a team member and actually viable so that there are only solid ideas on there and not hundreds of spam pitches).

  • Easy loan applications for up to $1000, people shouldn’t have to go through a long process. The bank should already know your reliability and credit score and create an interest rate from that information.

  • Filtering payments for pre set needs like the bucket idea but with the ability to lock that account to ONLY paying for that expense and not being able to move the funds out without like a 3 week notice.

  • Cards that either easily lock when heaps of payWave payments are made within a period of time (theft protection) or in your app have a pop up on every in person and online payment saying “Confirm this payment” with a bit of information about the payment so that people can’t just steal your card.

  • Friendly, quick customer service. I am sick of banks not investing enough into their customer service and making the client wait 20 minutes+ when it should be no longer than 2 minutes. And actually friendly customer service agents. Also, really engaged on boarding employees that are right there from the moment you send your application to help you with every stage of setting up your account and checking in to make sure that you know all the features and how to use it.

  • More education about money for people who have a bad credit score and for people to prevent that. I see too many people using afterpay and credit cards thinking it’s free money, they need education on how to spend with safety and intelligence.

  • Being a greedy corporation, please do not have high interest rates, have competitive ones that stand out in the industry, this is how you will onboard new clients and keep them. Don’t feed in to being a hungry corporation.

More to come as I think of them but this is the start.

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If the bank lends a 13 year old money and the 13 year old don’t pay, the bank can’t force them to pay it back using the law. How do you propose to mitigate the risks the bank may face?

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Thanks @Gussy1102. This is a safe space to discuss ideas. There may well be some legal reasons why people under 18 or 16 are considered “higher risk,” but there’s no reason we can’t look at it.

The investor pitch is an exciting idea. In fact, many of these fit quite well with growing businesses and entrepreneurship.

Excellent customer service is a no-brainer. I like the onboarding assistants that help get you started and being able to speak to a human when you need one. Also, love the education about money - we should be learning about money in school (some schools do now teach this.)

We don’t like greedy corporations either, that’s why we’re building Debut differently.

I’ll aim to unpack these a bit more, as I haven’t addressed everything. Great ideas!

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Thinking of security, no sensitive information on cards. So, no card number, CVC, expiry date etc. Customers can access that information via mobile app, which is always handy to have.

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How about having guides for VoiceOver and talkback users, and employing disabled people
The issue I have with Customer Service, is it they don’t know what VoiceOver is, and how I use my iPhone with it. If VoiceOver users employed Customer Service, they have the experience with it, and can use that speak with the customer

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Kia ora,

I have just come across this startup today, so I may be a bit behind the curve. While I would like to use the app, I have not found anything verifying the protection of customer funds, either here or on the website, should this startup fail. The closest indication to this that I saw was a line about holding customer funds in a trust, but this was all I saw. Will there be greater transparency as to what happens to customer funds, should this startup be liquidated or otherwise fail?

This is my greatest reservation in using this service. In the United States, bank deposits are insured up to $250,000. While I understand that Debut is not a bank under the provision listed, I wonder if there are any similar protections either in place or pending for this service.

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The government is making a Depositor Compensation Scheme next year, this should protect companies like Debut. And you’re right, before this Scheme is in place, I would not be putting a lot of money into Debut.