I recently started using Simple - it's an online bank that is getting plenty of tech press buzz lately.  I honestly don't have a lot to say about it yet but here are my first impressions:

1. I'm trigger shy about switching full time to a new bank.  I'm pretty happy with Huntington Bank.
2. Simple is truly all online.  It looks like it would be best to use it with direct deposit.
3. The web interface is pretty nice but nothing spectacular.  However, becuase I've used it so little I may be missing some sweet features.
4. I really like the concept of goals which simple will automatically allocate money to from your balance.  This reduces the total left in the "Safe to Spend" balance the account shows.
5. I really like the "Safe to Spend" concept.  Basically it pseudo-hides money that you've either allocated to a goal or have in a pending status so you know your true balance at any given time without having to guess.
6. I like that I can tag transactions with multiple tags which lets me simulate a transaction being in multiple categories.
7. I like the free cardboard+rubber band wallet that came with the card.  I don't know if I'll use it all the time but it's a neat bit of marketing.
8. Getting money into the account is a pain in the ass for me.  I don't have direct deposit and I can't use the photo deposit feature of the mobile app until I've had the account for 30 days.
9. The customer support so far has been pretty responsive to my questions.
10. The tour videos are not all enabled by default. You have to do things (like get money into the account) before certain tour videos are available.  I think that is annoying as I really wanted to learn as much as possible when I first logged in and I was prohibited from doing so.
11. I have heard the limit on photo check deposit is less than I make per pay period.  If that is true then I can't see a way that I will possibly switch to using Simple for everything.
12. It's hard to give up using my rewards credit card for purchases and switching to the Simple card simply because Simple doesn't have the rewards.  Since I pay off the credit card entirely each month I see little benefit to using the Simple card.  
13. Simple balance in Mint doesn't not reflect the "Safe to Spend" balance but your actual balance.  Thus, Simple's cool goal feature is kind of broken by using Mint.  That's not a Simple problem but it is something to be aware of.
14. There is no interest earned in the account.  You could use a Chase online account and get some interest plus there seems to be no limit to the number of ATM machines you can use fee free.  The Simple card is only fee free at 50,000 machines around the country.
15. The find an ATM feature in the Simple mobile app didn't seem to work if I entered an address.  Either that or there is only one ATM in my town that I can use in a fee free manner.

#online-banking #banking #simple