Our CEO, Ken Rees was recently asked by Fast Company what quote most inspired him. After some deliberation he landed on a famous Sun Tzu quote, “Retreat like a moving mountain… Advance like a rainstorm.” Check out why he picked it here!
As part of our continuing mission to provide people with innovative and flexible ways to manage life’s everyday expenses, we recently launched Presta, a new way for consumers to get today’s most popular electronics.
With Presta, consumers can get laptops, digital cameras, televisions, game consoles, tablets, and other popular products with easy, affordable payments and no long term commitment. Presta is currently available in 20 states with more states coming soon. Check it out at www.presta.com.
Alternative financial services have always been a hot topic but blogs like PandoDaily are starting to shed some light on the tech side of the story. What they didn’t tell you is that Think Finance has been at the forefront of this industry for 10 years and are the original “big data” company. At Think Finance we understand the needs of the underbanked consumer and have served more customers than Zestcash, Wonga, and Klarna combined — building one of the largest underwriting datasets in the industry along the way.
As consumers become increasingly disenchanted with big banks the emergence of new, non-traditional companies like Think Finance are more important than ever. We offer consumers better alternatives to payday loans (a $7 billion market) and bank overdraft protection (a $35 billion market). Big data is clearly the key to disrupting these markets. At Think Finance we’ve conducted 10 years’ worth of underwriting tests representing millions of loan transactions and over 100 million individual data points to steadily reduce consumer prices and loss rates. Basically what this means for you as a consumer is, if our costs are lower then so is yours.
At Think Finance we’re still in the early stages of innovation, but as you can see, we work exclusively to bring you quality financial products and services at the lowest cost possible. Venture capital firms like Lightspeed and Sequoia stand ready to invest in the space but Washington has to do its part to provide an environment that supports innovation and competition.
For the past two years, Think Finance has sponsored a local competitive cycling team. It’s part of our Think Fitness program, which promotes exercise and healthy lifestyles in the company and our community.
The Think Finance Cycling Team is a group of 40 dedicated men and women that participate in bike races across our home state of Texas and beyond. The team has been training hard through the winter months, hoping to produce wins in the 2012 racing season. It didn’t take long for that to happen!
Last weekend our men’s Category 2 and Category 4 teams turned in impressive performances in the Mineral Wells Stage Race, a two-day, three-event competition that draws hundreds of cyclists. The team walked away with several wins in both team and individual events.
Men’s Category 2:
Men’s Category 4:
Think Finance is proud to sponsor these athletes. But we’re even more proud of the impact that our involvement in cycling is having on the health of our employees. Our employee bike program, which covers half the cost of a bike and equipment for any employee, has been a big hit. Cycling has become one of the most popular hobbies at Think Finance. In fact, our CEO, Ken Rees, likes cycling so much that that he’s joined the racing team.
Congratulations to the Think Finance Cycling Team on your early success in 2012. We’re proud sponsors. Keep up the great work!
Pew recently published a study of checking accounts offered by the 10 largest banks in the United States, with some eye-opening findings. For most adult Americans, a checking account is the cornerstone of their financial lives. Yet Pew identified five major practices that put consumers at risk, exposing them to high cost for little benefit:
Many people are unaware that checking accounts lack basic consumer protections provided by other financial products such as credit cards and loans. As a result, a basic checking account with overdraft protection can become a financial disaster. In fact, 20 million Americans pay $1,500 or more each year in overdraft fees. With overdraft fees averaging $35 and the average overdraft amount averaging $36, overdrafts are the most expensive form of credit available, with an APR over 3,000% according to the FDIC. Despite new regulation, banks continue to collect over $30 billion a year in overdraft fees.
With practices like these it’s no surprise that consumers are outraged and have begun to take action. Bank Transfer Day was initiated by a Bank of America customer, Kristen Christian, who was unhappy with Bank of America’s customer services and their fees. On Bank Transfer Day an estimated 5.6 million people switched banks and in the 90 days that followed another 26% switched banks. Many of these consumers are seeking out alternatives to bank products such as prepaid debit cards and emergency credit products that provide more transparency, convenience, and control.
That’s where we come in. For millions of consumers, the products offered by Think Finance and our partners are a better option than overdraft protection. And we’re just getting starting. This year we’ll roll out a new alternative to a traditional checking account that will more convenient and less costly than products offered by big banks. It’s all part of our mission to provide Banking for the Rest of Us.