Comments on: Why You Won’t Read a SmartyPig Review Today

By: McNugget

McNugget — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 14:05:39 +0000

ABOFA (American Banco of Asia) interest rates are 1.27% monthly! That is over 15,30% per year. And this is if you only have a balance of $1000. Some higher deposit amounts have higher interest rates and additional options.

For me, the BEST is American Banco of Asia. I started using ABOFA savings accounts last year. They pay interest rates on time(I selected the quarterly payment option). They have quick online support to answer my questions. I fully recommend ABOFA.

By: Jessica Sethman

Jessica Sethman — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 17:29:32 +0000

I started using SmartyPig last year and the interest rate was just over 3%. Savings accounts have never shown a really rate of interest. Maybe 5% in days gone by (someone correct me if I’m too low there).

By: April

April — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 03:53:44 +0000

Pretty upset that it is easy to transfer money to the account but getting it back is insaine. Had an emergency come up only needed a mere $40.00 transfered back to my main account due to a vehicle needed repaired and couldn’t cover all of it out of my normal account. Instead of being able to get to my account I had to wait for my last tranfer to happen a week later then wait another 5 days now I am waiting to see where my money is. Not showing on my bank side yet. This is intollerable. Two and a half weeks later to get to my emergency fund. You bet your donkey I am not putting anything back into smartypig EVER.

By: Ron

Ron — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 19:47:15 +0000

I see both co-founders of SmartyPig have commented on this post. I am a CPA with no debt and also have added credit Freezes to all three credit reporting agencies. My application was rejected because they said that I would need to remove the credit freeze so that they could verifiy my financial information. Well I am not going to spend $10 to have the freeze removed so that I can go through their verification process. I spoke to their customer service representative and she said that this comes up quite often. I recommend that all my tax clients place credit freezes on their credit files to prevent credit fraud. So I guess I will not be getting a SmartyPig account. I do however have and ING account, an Emigrant Direct account, an account with Ally bank, Fidelity and Charles Schwab.

By: Ralph

Ralph — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 21:12:01 +0000

Interest rate is WAAAY down now (0.5%) and they squeeze you by making you wait 5-10 business days to close your goal. Not a place to keep your money if you ever really need it even in a little hurry.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 01:43:47 +0000

Smarty Pig is a real organization. They’ve partnered with banks.

By: Bob E

Bob E — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 14:52:00 +0000

I am researching to see if SmartyPig is a “real” organization but i don’t find info certifying SPig.

I need some external verification that can give me the confidence this is a legit business. For instance, are you a Better Business Bureau organization. What other sources can you provide me regarding the validity of SPG?

Secondly, As a savings bank, and I am only depositing and withdrawing the money I deposit plus a little interest, why then is my mortgage information required? This is not necessary. Neither is my SSN.

Bob E.

By: Gayle Gordon

Gayle Gordon — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 22:25:05 +0000

I FAILED!
I wonder why this happened?

You have either failed the online identity verification questionnaire or we were unable to provide you with an online identity verification questionnaire based on the information you provided. Your account is being reviewed. If you are eligible for a SmartyPig account, within the next few business days, SmartyPig will mail you a letter to the address you provided during registration. When you receive the letter, please sign and mail back to SmartyPig in the pre-paid envelope. Once we receive your signed affidavit, we will review your application and you will be notified via email with next steps. This application will expire in 60 days.

By: Tina

Tina — Tue, 04 May 2010 00:01:01 +0000

I was looking to see if smartypig might be a scam or fraudulent company. Instead I came across your article complaining about how secure they are. THANKS! This article gave me the confidence I needed to allow them help me save my money!

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:47:41 +0000

Thanks for stopping by… I realize that it might not be the best first impression, but the idea of the blog is that I write my real experiences. If you gave David Pogue a cell phone and he had the difficulties I did, and had no support other than snail mail, you can bet he’d give it a pretty poor review as well.

For a little personal background, I do have have a degree in computer science from a top 25 school and I built the search engine for ZDNet, a top 20 Internet company in 1999. I didn’t see anything

The article you commented on is was 15 months old. Back then many banks still didn’t require multiple security questions… at least my Bank of America didn’t. As you say the trend is growing… and has already grown over the last 15 months. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good trend. Even today, I stand by what I said in comment #5:

“I understand the need for security â€“ it is just too much â€“ especially for someone just wanting to try something out to see if it’s right for them. Or provide some phone number support to get people up and runningâ€¦ I’ll be happy to answer any questions about me that I actually have a way of knowing. Just don’t make me wait for snail mail.

Plus, if someone ever wants to create a bank account in my name and add funds to it, be my guestâ€¦”

In the end, their cofounder – Mike Ferrari in comment #16 seemed to agree with me in all points, except said that it’s what the bank they partnered with requires. I understand it, but if customers can’t sign up (as they admitted can happen for numerous reasons), it’s a fundamentally flawed business.

How would you feel if your friend gave you a $25 SmartyPig gift card for your birthday and it took you multiple hours (or days) of your time to redeem it? I know I’d be thinking, “Why couldn’t they have just given me a Visa Check Card, any restaurant card, Target Card… anything else?” I’m hesitant to link you to another complaining post (I really don’t have that many), but the idea of a SmartyPig gift card is a candidate for the worst gifts to get.

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:43:54 +0000

Lazy…

Yeah.

Many banks now require the multiple security questions, and the trend is growing. Get used to it.

Perhaps you are simply one of those people who are (and I know many of them) technologically helpless? If things are not dead easy you give up and spend more time crying about how hard it was than you would have spent simply trying harder?

And, the drivers license thing is and was very clearly explained as needed for the war on terrorism and money laundering. If you walk into a bank to open an account, you are required to have such identification, why should opening an online account be any different?

Now, I can understand that when you signed on and tried the service you wrote about how hard it was to sing on. I could understand if you signed on and found it aggravating to not be able to delete a linked bank account from the interface and had to call customer service to get it done.

However, you did none of that. You simple gave up and whined. Not the best introduction to your blog I must say, but I admit I am curious to see if you offer anything worth my time on this blog, or if it is more of the same.

And trust me, if I find something useful, my comments will reflect it… after all, you may have simply been having a bad day.

By: Laurel

Laurel — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 15:38:22 +0000

Hey Lazy Man,
I had just recently learned about smartypig myself and yesterday I attempted to sign up for an account. I must say that the information required of me/the security process was more difficult/involved than when I signed up for either a checking account,IngDirect savings account, a “Saveyourself” account through TDAmeritrade or signing up for my 401K through work! I too, was told that I had failed the security quiz! Its rather surreal/daunting to think that I’m having trouble proving that I am myself! This may have to do with some information regarding my student loan and the quiz asking me what lender it was through in 2004. I had reconsolidated it and then it was bought back by Sallie Mae. So, maybe one of the questions was like a trick question? At any rate, now I’m supposed to see if I get sent an affidavit letter through the mail or not, so I could possibly open a smartypig account. Since smartypig requires so much info. my mom wonders if smartypig is even legitimate or some sort of scam. Oh well, at least I am not alone in this frustration.

By: Amber

Amber — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 19:46:26 +0000

I understand the need for that kind of security from a place such as Prosper where you take out loans, but this place is just a “community” savings right? I’ve opened up several online savings accounts online and have never had to go through that much hassle.

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 03:11:56 +0000

Well if my mortgage has been sold, I still write the check to the same place (and have it cashed by the same company) and have the same online website to manage it.

Equifax should be reporting one of these two numbers or they should use something a little more stable as a verification question, perhaps having me confirm a credit card that I actively use or a national bank that I’ve been a member of for 15 years.

By: deepali

deepali — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:50:03 +0000

@ Lazy Man, it sounds like you might need to check with Equifax to see what they’ve got reported. Everytime my mortgage got sold, it took a while for the credit bureaus to catch on. One of them still has an address that I haven’t lived at in 4 years.

@ the SmartyPig folks, the other downside to online banking is the terrible customer service (I’ve been on both sides of that). Hopefully, you won’t have that problem…

By: Mike Ferrari

Mike Ferrari — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:11:52 +0000

Thanks for your input as it relates to our online registration process. I’ve been watching the thread and thought I would drop my own thoughts. As Deepali suggests, our application process is similar to those found at many online banking and financial sites due to the inherent fraud risk and banking regulations. Am sure there are others out there with less stringent setup procedures but I know of others that go to even greater lengths. With that said, there is one thing at SmartyPig I can assure you of. And that is we listen. To the good and bad. We take every blog post seriously and if there are lessons to learn and changes to be made, we are big enough to admit it. Lazy Man, your Drivers License # comment is spot on. And that field on our registration should say â€œDriver’s License # or State Issued ID #â€. Could not agree with you more and talked with our development group over the weekend to discuss getting that updated to the site in our next build. As for Equifax, we have realized that it is not always perfect. And to Jon’s point, we don’t know immediately why you failed but we can begin the investigatory process on your behalf. When issues like these arise, we react quickly to remedy the situation. Keep in mind, a failure on an identification quiz can also occur for other reasons. Such as if a customer has issued a fraud alert on their own credit file (as a precautionary measure), a credit freeze or they have recently moved and are using a new address not recognized. In these instances, regardless of how you answer the questions, a failure is returned. Again, mandated by our banking partner with the customer’s security as an absolute priority. Our fall back is the dreaded snail mail, as you alluded to above. Not a preferred method by any means. We recognize fully the inconvenience and are working hard to implement a more rapid approval process. Truly do appreciate the feedback. Feel free to email me direct anytime at mferrariATsmartypig.com. Mike Ferrari, Co-Founder, SmartyPig

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:46:39 +0000

I know who has my mortgage and who I make payments to. However that company is not listed by Equifax during the registration process of SmartyPig. If my mortgage company was listed for me to select, I would have an account now.

By: deepali

deepali — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 18:34:13 +0000

I think it’s a reasonable (though frustrating) application process. I’ve worked in fraud and compliance at an online bank, and it’s amazing how many fake applications we get (and a number of them are successfully open). Not to mention, with ACH transfers, we then had to deal with fake accounts at other banks. It’s a mess.

You don’t want someone opening a false account and funding it in your name…. when it gets caught and reported to the credit agencies, that’s your credit history that’s wrecked.

You really should know where your mortgage is sitting (mine has been sold twice, and the last company was then bought)… particularly in an environment of failing financial institutions. Who do you make payments to?

By: Lazy Man

Lazy Man — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:50:14 +0000

I know you can get an ID card, but the site doesn’t ask for that – it asks for a “drivers license.” That, to me, means you have to pass a drivers test. If SmartyPig only requires an ID card, I highly recommend they update their site to specify that.

By: Anca

Anca — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 04:55:13 +0000

You can get a “drivers license” even if you don’t drive. It’s called an ID card and you get it at the same place. Otherwise people without passports who don’t drive wouldn’t be able to pass airport security for domestic flights.

That mortgage question will prevent you from accessing your credit report from Equifax. It’s a pain.