Loved up couples get the Simple Shared account touch
I know what you did last summer
If you and your partner can never be apart or believe your love has more intensity than Romeo and Juliet, then keep holding hands and read on.
US-based Simple, “a tech company, not a bank”, has launched the “Simple Shared” account. It’s a bit like a joint account, but people get two cards and one account – for “shared saving” and spending – so “your financial life becomes a collaboration”.
The firm says: “We hear again and again that conflict over money is the number one contributor to stress in a relationship or partnership. It’s also consistently ranked somewhere between first and third each year as the leading cause for divorce. Painful as financial problems may be, if asked to make a proactive choice, most of us would rather lose money than each other.” (Well, depends who you’re stuck with.)
With Simple Shared, users with a shared and individual account can go back and forth “without duplicating work”. So the couple get one account to share and two to use solo. Some could argue that with the shared account you get a chance to spy on your partner in real time.
Right now, it’s doing “beta testing” until ready to “formally” launch the product. People can sign up by putting their name on a waiting list.
Simple Shared accounts will only be available to customers whose accounts are backed by its new partner bank, BBVA Compass. If you already have a Simple account, you can check the back of your card (or your account info in the app) to confirm which partner (not the one you love) – BBVA Compass or The Bancorp Bank – supports your account. Simple was founded in 2009, but since 2014 has been part of the BBVA Group.
The bank will also offer a Shared Simple Visa debit card – “clean, elegant, and minimal, representative of our original card”. It’s just a piece of plastic folks.
Simple says it supports all “non-business partnerships: roommates, siblings, roadtrippers, romantic couples, and more”.
News report fades… Barry White music starts.
