For more than a year and a half I’ve been in love with Simple, my online bank. From the very beginning it was as if Simple were designed specifically for me. Safe-to-spend and Goals changed how I managed and saved money, and it worked. It worked really well. So well in fact that I have more cash on hand today than I’ve had in years, and it’s all thanks to Simple. But something went wrong.
A month ago Simple did a major update to their backend system/platform, and since that dreadful day my financial world has been turned upside down. Payments were not sent while other scheduled payments simply disappear. My account balance has been all over the place. My account activity shows payments with the wrong payee name. And there have been times where the same debit appears in the account activity multiple times. It’s been a total nightmare.
For the last month I’ve been patient with Simple in hopes that they would resolve the problems caused by the platform upgrade, but instead of seeing improvements I continue to find and have more problems. I loved the Simple before the upgrade, but today I have zero confidence in Simple. And I don’t know how long it will be before I can trust Simple for my banking needs. Who knows, I may never trust them with my money again.
Following the advice of Simple’s own customer support representative, who said I should seek “alternative means of payment for the time being,” I decided to open a new account at Ally. It will take about a week before I have all my money moved over, but at least then I will know payments are going out as scheduled, and I do not have to worry about being late paying my rent.
I have to say I’m not thrilled about my breakup with Simple. Ally’s online experience is the same experience found with most other banks. Simple spoiled me with a better way (before the upgrade) to bank, and going back to a more traditional experience really sucks. But I would rather have a sucky online experience with a reliable bank than to have to worry about whether or not my bills are being paid on time.
Sorry Simple, but I must break up with you now. And it’s you, not me, that has caused this to happen. There might be a day in the future when we can get back together, but for the moment I need a bank I can trust.
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