Today, Simple, the tech company that's changing the way people bank and think about their money, is launching Shared accounts.
This reinvented take on the joint banking account is designed to give partners confidence in spending and saving together.
Simple Shared is easy to open (average account creation time is 48 seconds) and designed for every type of relationship from romantic to roommate.
"Shared has been the most requested product since we launched in 2012," said Derek Zumsteg, Simple Senior Product Manager. "We wanted Shared to go beyond traditional joint accounts. It's designed to help partners communicate transparently about money and manage it in healthy, productive ways that build trust."
Simple Shared accounts include features to help partners communicate better and save more:
Goals: Built in savings and budgeting feature that help customers balance regular monthly expenses, lifelong dreams, and everything in between. In fact, Simple customers keep more than 30% of their account balance in Goals, with a personal saving rate of 10%. That's nearly double the national average which hovers around 5%.
Safe-to-Spend: Simple's improvement on the traditional account balance does all the math by taking the customer's balance and subtracting upcoming bill payments, pending transactions, and any Goals the customer is saving for. With Safe-to-Spend, the customer gets a more accurate picture of what can really be spent today without hurting tomorrow's goals.
Notifications: A push notification will nudge partners whenever one of them spends from Simple Shared. Beta customers say that seeing account activity as it happens encourages open communication and helps both partners feel more consistently connected to their finances.
Know who spent what: Simple Shared is one of the first accounts that allows partners to see who made which transaction by clearly labeling each debit or credit with a cheery image of the corresponding person.
"It's much easier to save money now that we're using Shared accounts with Simple. Being able to set aside money for specific Goals—for rent, for bills—is really helpful. Even something aspirational, just saving for the future, is that much easier when we can put a name and an amount to it," said Vincent K., Simple customer and Shared beta tester.
Vincent and his partner, Caroline, moved in together at the same time beta launched. They were also excited to have set a Goal for toothbrushes; perhaps collaborating on household planning can make even the mundane delightful.
Money is still seen as a taboo topic, which means partners can feel at a disadvantage when it's time to collaborate on or communicate about sharing finances. In fact, 88 percent of young couples say financial decisions are a source of tension in their partnerships, seven in ten people say it's "rude" or "inappropriate" to talk about money in social settings. Simple hopes that Shared can help make those conversations more approachable, and spending, saving, and doing together more delightful.
Simple Shared accounts are available to Simple customers backed by BBVA Compass.