Hap's dashboard

Any idea how many months we will have to wait for this (partial) improvement?

Sounds like progress. Any idea how many months away this is? – Hap, on March 13, 2010 00:16

But this question was being asked over a year ago. http://getsatisfaction.com/smartypig/...

Still, I hope that you're right and they are going to make an announcement soon of a change of policy. Fingers crossed.

"West Bank of Iowa has this for their CDs*, and they're the same company"

Good point Nick, but I don't think smartypig.com is listening or cares.

And look at this thread http://getsatisfaction.com/smartypig/...

"How do I set a beneficiary on my SmartyPig account for when I die?"

You can interpret the answer to your question as "call a lawyer" and your heir should be prepared to spend lots of money.

There is no such thing as a true Joint Account or "Pay On Death" beneficiary on smartypig accounts. Any other reputable online bank has this option! What's up with smartypig.com & West Bank?

See this thread http://getsatisfaction.com/smartypig/...

Good luck

So far we aren't getting any satisfaction from "get satisfaction"--feels like smartypig is not listening and does not care.

I think it's a lost cause. We had a campaign a couple of years ago that brought it back for a year. Now it's gone--no doubt for good. It's true that it was never truly accurate but it worked well enough for me.

This isn't a trivial question. At smartypig.com there's no right of survivorship or POD (pay on death) provision, so in the middle of a tragedy, we would have to deal with lawyers, and access to any funds a spouse or loved one had on deposit with smartypig.com could be greatly delayed, perhaps for a lengthy period of time. What other reputable banks function like this?

Smartypig.com has a lot of great features, but it also has a lot of risk for couples because of this joint account/POD issue. (Being a co-owner does NOT solve the problem. The co-owner has no rights.) If they solve this, my spouse and I would be a real fans and deposit more money. Until then, I only have a trivial amount with Smartypig.com and the rest with Discover Bank online (at a slightly lower interest rate, but less risk) where we can have true joint accounts online and a POD beneficiary. There's nothing special about Discover Bank, I would have gone with any other online bank that has a good rating, FDIC, joint accounts, POD beneficiaries, and no fees.

Come on Smartypig.com help out your loyal clients by giving us true joint accounts & POD beneficiary provisions.

I understand your words, John, but I do not accept the reasoning--"case by case" and "state by state" and "proper legal manner on a timely basis" all add up to delays in distribution of funds and the probable involvement of lawyers in the midst of a tragedy.

No brick and mortar bank and very few reputable online banks take this slow & costly approach to dealing with the death or incapacity of a client, why should smartypig.com? After discovering that smartypig.com (a subsidiary of West Bank) did not allow for POD beneficiaries or true right of survivorship, I started researching online banks. I found that Discover Bank online (the banking side of Discover Card) has true joint accounts and POD beneficiaries. (Disclosure: I do NOT work for or benefit in any way by saying anything good about Discover Bank. I'm just looking for professional online banking that pays more interest than my local credit union but offers the same protections--true joint accounts, FDIC insured with a POD beneficiary provision.)

Discover Bank's interest rate is nearly as good as smartypig.com's for online savings, and it feels more like I am dealing with a real bank, rather than a cartoon bank. If smartypig.com wants to be taken seriously as a bank, they need to take their clients' needs and concerns seriously. Solve this problem and your deposits will increase. Refuse to solve it and your clients will "vote with their feet" and look elsewhere. I did! – Hap, on February 03, 2010 18:19