Simple Is Now Available To The Public, Cofounder Alex Payne Moves On

Title of post, "Simple Is Now Available To The Public," is misleading; per the Simple website: "Now available by invitation only." Maybe the fact that Simple has begun letting people in from their invite list was not flashy enough for the title.<p>A quick look around after receiving my invite (but before signing up) left me less enthused that I'd been when BankSimple was first getting started...<p>Simple appears to have bailed on building an actual bank and instead teamed up with The Bancorp Bank for customer deposits.<p>BankSimple's cool API plans? The Google group linked from their site has been inactive for over 18 months:<p><a href="https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/simple-api" rel="nofollow">https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/simple-ap...</a><p>Now their CTO leaves in the middle of launch? I'm not feeling as excited about Simple as I was originally.

I was very eagerly anticipating BankSimple, err, Simple, since it was announced. Problem was, the world caught up. I recently got my Simple account set up, and as a result decided that ING Direct + Mint offers me everything I need, and more (Joint Accounts, savings account, real checkbook, no overdraft penalties). Unfortunately, Simple feels like too little too late, and it doesn't seem that they delivered (yet) on some of the cooler things I was anticipating (API, Savings Goals, Mobile Support on more than just iPhone).<p>I hope they do well, as I think online banking needs something to shake it up, but first impressions are incredibly underwhelming.

Co-founder stepping down soon after a public launch is bad news.

The simple website still says it's invite only. I've been on the waiting list since December and haven't heard anything.

(on the waiting list for over a year) I wish I hadn't found out that it's now public from TC

It's probably worth the way. It takes time to work out the intricate details of transactions and UX. I, for one, am excited about this. and I look forward to finally ditching my bank of 10 years!

What a terrible article, terribly written. "We all hate our banks", said in a casual tone, makes for some great reporting.

Is Simple available outside of the United States?

Now if they could just launch in the UK too...