Jason Unger

Are Biometrics the Future of Mobile Payments?

We’ve seen it in every sci-fi movie or spy thriller — using your fingerprint, or eyeball, or some other part of your body to access a restricted area, or login to a computer. It’s always seemed pretty futuristic, and pretty cool. The technology to do all of this, however, absolutely exists today. It just hasn’t […]

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A Look at ING, the Global Force That Built ING Direct

Most Americans have heard of global banking behemoth ING, but likely through their innovative and incredibly successful division ING Direct. ING Direct revolutionized the high-yield online savings account, bringing along with it an online banking system that didn’t rely on physical branches and provided low- and no-fee accounts. It’s a model many financial institutions have […]

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I’m Interviewed on Mint.com About Automating Your Finances

The fine folks over at Mint.com, probably the most popular account aggregator online, reached out to me a few weeks back about sharing the process and thoughts behind automating your finances. Obviously, I was happy to share. They had a handful of questions to ask, including: What’s the advantage in automating your finances? Just how […]

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Here Come the Incentives for Using Lots of Bank Products

It’s not a new — or especially surprising — that banks would like you to sign up for multiple products with them, and are willing to incentivize you for doing so. But as we talked about last week, as they start to lose tried-and-true fees that they’ve relied on for profits, they’re going to be […]

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Use a Tablet For Banking? You’re Probably Engaged With Your Money.

Early adopters of technology always tend to be a bit more enthusiastic and interested in the products and services relating to that technology. Just think about all of the folks who stayed up late waiting to order the iPhone 6 the day it came out – they’re going to be heavier users of the phones, […]

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Are Online Savings Accounts Rates On Their Way Up?

I tell this story all the time, and I’m sure I’ve written about it here, too, but I can’t seem to find a post about it. When I opened up my first online savings account way back in 2006 with ING Direct, it was a good time to be saving. Interest rates were well above […]

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Would You Like a Home Mortgage with that Online Banking?

As online banking continues to be the most popular way that people interact with their banks, and that banks continue to find ways to generate new revenue sources beyond fees, it’s no surprise that simply logging into your account has turned into a sales pitch for every other service your bank offers. I hadn’t thought too much […]

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What Will You Do to Avoid Banking Fees?

We’ve had a bit of fun over the past few days talking about banking fees — how technology is cutting down on overdraft fees, and made-up (but plausible) “underdraft” fees. There’s plenty of bank fees you should never have to pay, but as banks continue to find new ways to charge fees — you may […]

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No One Would Be Surprised if Something This Absurd Happens

Just the other day we talked about how banks are getting hit hard financially by the drop in overdraft and other fees, which made up a big portion of their profits in the post-housing collapse economy. So would it be surprising if banks introduced some new “creative” fees to make up the difference? Of course […]

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Can Coin Revolutionize Your Wallet?

I’ve got a lot of bank accounts. They all have different purposes, so I’m not consolidating them anytime soon, but I have a lot of them. Between my credit union, my regular bank, my online savings bank, my business bank, my HSA account, and more, that means a lot of cards in my wallet. It […]

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The Newest Way to Access Your Online Banking: Biometric Readers

So this is new. Barclays, the British banking and financial services company, has come out with a new way for their corporate clients to access their online banking accounts: biometric finger vein readers. Yup, you read that right – biometric readers. Put your finger into the device, it’ll “read” your veins, and you’ll be able […]

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Technology’s Saving Us All From Overdraft Fees

I’ve always been incredibly morally opposed to overdraft fees. Not morally, like fire and brimstone, but more philosophically. Like, it’s pretty simple: if you don’t have money in your account, you shouldn’t be able to take money out. Isn’t that the whole point of banking? You put in money, you take money out. You can’t take out […]

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This is How Banking Should Be

This is a great video from the folks at TD Canada. Watch it, and then let’s discuss. It was good, right? Now, obviously not every bank is in a position to do this. Nor could TD do this for more than a subset of their customers. But we live in an age where banks have […]

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Jason Unger

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