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Email this11:30 pm
May 15, 2007
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It must have been about a year ago that I noticed Envision Financial come out with what they call Big Change. Essentially, what happens is that they round up your debit purchases to the whole dollar and they deposit that rounded up difference into a savings account. For example, if you spend $11.29, your chequing account is debited $12 and $0.61 is transferred to your savings account.
In the end, this is supposed to encourage you to save.
Now Scotiabank has come out with pretty much the same thing, with even a similar logo. They call it Bank the Rest.
This is interesting from a few perspectives:
- Did Scotiabank get their idea from the credit unions?
- A relatively simple idea will encourage customers to use their debit card more, instead of cash or credit. This is good for the banks.
- How many marketing dollars are spent pushing things that are essentially non-differentiators? What are the real differences between banks?
1:31 pm
Dunno where they got the idea from, but it probably ties in with their "you're richer than you think" campaign tied with David Bach and his books like "Start Late, Finish Rich"
It still won't entice me to use debit. I use Scotia, I have their Scene Debit Card and I signed up for Bank The Rest. However, I still use my Amex 2% Cash Back card cause I get 2% for all my purchases. I use my debit card once in a blue moon.
5:20 pm
Bank of America started this concept about four years agao, which has been coppied by Wakovia and then several US credit unions.
Envision, nor Scotia can take the credit for this marketing scheme.
10:14 pm
Garry is absolutely correct! Keep the Change is the concept introduced by Bank of America, coincidentally Scotia and Bank of America are cousin companies and offer fee free ATM's in either country for clients of either institution. Coincidence? Don't think so! With the government looking at allowing more foreign ownership, won't be long before Scotia becomes MBNA Bank (MBNA is owned by Bank of America). Bank of America used to have a Visa product here in Canada thru Alaska Airlines, when BOA and MBNA merged, BOA had to either drop Visa or take MasterCard thru MBNA. BOA elected to keep MasterCard and the MBNA name in Canada as MBNA is already successful in Canada, (No. 2 MasterCard issuer) and may actually lose marketshare with the BOA name. Coincidently MBNA stood for Maryland Bank, National Association, however changed to just MBNA to reflect their exposure outside the state of Maryland. How long will it be before BMO becomes Capital One Bank? Probably quicker than you think! (New foreign ownership allows purchase of a Canadian institution valued at $1B or less without government permission). The moritorium on Canadian Bank mergers has ended. TD Bank in the states is now known as TD Commerce Bank, could a merger between TD and CIBC in Canada create a TD Commerce Bank here? I'll bet it's already in the works!
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