Since T-Mobile announced it’s “break up” with your carrier uncarrier promotion, new customers have been flocking to T-Mobile. They’ve been leaving their old carrier behind and doing so on social media. Customers leaving other carriers for T-Mobile don’t just get to port their number over, big magenta even pays their early termination fees (up to $350 per line).
Now, T-Mobile wants you to break up with your bank as well. While that may not be the exact intention, T-Mobile has announced a new service called Mobile Money which helps customers with another pain point, banking.
“We’ve already transformed how Americans use and pay for phones, tablets and wireless service; why stop there?” said John Legere, president and chief executive officer of T-Mobile. “Millions of Americans pay outrageous fees to check cashers, payday lenders and other predatory businesses – just for the right to use their own money. Mobile Money shifts the balance of power for T-Mobile customers and keeps more money in their pockets.”
ATM, overdraft and monthly maintenance fees all hit record highs last year, according to Bankrate’s 2013 Checking Survey. Mobile Money helps counter that trend with the combination of a simple, smartphone money management application designed for use with a re-loadable T-Mobile Visa® Prepaid Card that offers many reduced fee or $0 cost services for registered T-Mobile wireless customers.
With Mobile Money, registered T-Mobile wireless customers pay $0 for things they do every day. No charge for activation, monthly maintenance, in-network ATM withdrawals, or for replacing lost or stolen cards. No minimum balances required. No more worrying about overdraft fees. And no unnecessary trips to the bank or a check casher[i].
At the same time, Mobile Money lets customers do most everything they would otherwise do with traditional checking accounts, including direct depositing paychecks, depositing checks from capable smartphone cameras, making retail purchases, paying bills and withdrawing cash from more than 42,000 in-network ATMs nationwide with no ATM fees[ii]. Mobile Money can also be a powerful tool for families seeking a better way to budget or to provide money to kids away at college. Consumers get all of this plus the ease of managing money any time and from virtually anywhere.
Mobile Money builds on T-Mobile’s financing experience to provide a sensible and affordable alternative to checking fees for the roughly 68 million U.S. adults who do not have traditional accounts and have to rely on alternative financial services[iii].
“It’s ridiculous that families, especially those who can least afford it, have to pay so much for basic check cashing services that many of us take for granted,” said Mike Sievert, chief marketing officer for T-Mobile. “Mobile Money levels the playing field to put money back in consumers’ pockets for important things – like bills, groceries or vacations. The typical household using a check casher to cash their paychecks could save about $1,500 per year, and customers tired of getting hit with overdraft fees can switch and save an average of $225 a year[iv].”
T-Mobile could be preparing to ramp up to offer their MyWallet service in the United States. In Poland, T-Mobile offers an NFC based mobile wallet service similar to ISIS or Google Wallet which allows customers with NFC equipped phones to use electronically stored cards compatible with the system to pay for things. In Poland the MCard is the MyWallet partner.
In fact, MyWallet makes financial transactions so easy for T-Mobile’s Polish customers that they can do it naked, check out the commercial below
In the United States you can find out more about Mobile Money, here.
