Why You Shouldn’t Sell Checking Accounts

Horseless carriages are now CARS.

Wireless phones are now CELLS.

With all that you can do with a “Checking” account … writing checks is the LEAST used. Why the heck are we still calling it that?

Checks are, in fact, dying. Check transactions in America have fallen from about 42 billion in 2000 to only about 17 billion in 2015, while in the same timeframe:

• Debit card transactions have increase more than 600%

• ACH has increased roughly 400%

Think about all the access you have with a “Checking” account:

• Paper checks

• Debit card

• ACH

• Online banking

• Mobile banking

• Mobile deposit

• Mobile pay (Apply Pay)

• Bill Pay

• ATM

• Branches

• P2P

Tell me again, why the hell we call this “checking?”

I’m not saying that the paper check will ever go away. But I’m questioning why we’re sticking with a product name based on the least advanced, least used aspect of the product.

Paper is even dying when it comes to person-2-peson. Fewer and fewer people are whipping out the checkbook to pay the babysitter. They’re taking out their (formerly wireless) phones and tapping a button … Presto, Britney the Babysitter is paid and happy.

The Federal Reserve predicts that mobile P2P will account for 45.5% of all person-to-person payments by 2021.  I’ll bet that’s a gross underestimation!

So, here’s the deal. You want younger members. You’re making investments in all the right access products. But you’re marketing and selling these high-tech, high-investment products under an antiquated name.

Unless you’re still doing “Horseless Carriage Loans,” let’s rethink “Checking.”

I suggest the All-Access Account. After all, that’s why people want it.  You can even give an “All Access Pass” when you open each account that details all the ways you can get to your money.

By changing how you think about “Checking,” you can differentiate from the competition, speak to how the younger demo is already using the account and demonstrate that you’re leading edge.

#Checking #Access