86 400 launches smart shared accounts
86 400 has this week announced the launch of Australia’s first smart shared accounts, featuring a 30-second sign-up process, ability to use instantly, plus all the features customers have come to expect from Australia’s first smartbank.
“Shared finances are one of the trickiest parts of taking control of your money, but we’re making it quicker, easier and a lot less painful,” said Travis Tyler, Chief Product & Marketing Officer, 86 400. “Typically to open a shared account, you either need to travel to your branch multiple times or to the post office, provide duplicates of the already-provided identification and spend more time than you want to speaking to your bank. We’ve completely changed the process and enabled customers to do it from wherever they are, within 30 seconds.”
Rather than wait weeks for your cards and PINs to arrive in the post, with 86 400, you’ll be able to use your shared accounts immediately, either to pay through your digital wallet or start your saving. Opening a shared account is as simple as sending a friend request to a fellow 86 400 account holder: all you need to do is invite the person you want to share finances with, they accept in-app, and that’s it.
Shared account customers can access all of the same smart features that individual Pay and Save accounts offer, including:
- All payment options: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, BPAY, OSKO, and more
- Budgeting insights: Tracking money in and out of your shared accounts in line with your pay day cycles
- Set up direct debits and recurring payments straight from your shared Save account
- Predicted bills and subscriptions through the Coming Up feature
Co-created to solve customer issues
As with many of 86 400’s smart products and features, shared accounts have been co-created with feedback from 86 400 customers – in this case, input from 500 users.
“Shared finances are an essential part of many of our lives, making shared accounts an important feature for any bank,” Tyler said. “However, rather than rush a product out, we’ve spent much of this year fine-tuning our shared accounts with a pilot group of customers. Their feedback along the pilot journey has enabled us to create a product that doesn’t just tick a box, but genuinely solves customer problems. That’s the most important thing for us: our products and features must provide value.”
One of the simple and important pieces of customer feedback was that shared account cards with other banks often too closely resemble individual accounts and cause avoidable payment issues. To tackle this, 86 400 has created a beautiful purple card that’s just for shared accounts, so when customers are paying, they can easily see which account they’re using, whether with their Visa Debit card or digital wallet.
“Our customers also told us it’s important to keep some money separate – whether it’s for your daily coffee, or making sure you don’t spoil your Christmas surprise,” Tyler said. “We’ve built a product that makes it easy to sign up and get accounts for yourself first, and then add a shared account, without repeating your information, and in just a few seconds.”
Momentum through 2020
Despite challenges throughout the year, 86 400 has continued to deliver valuable products and features to its customers.
“Our momentum hasn’t slowed this year. We have an ambitious product pipeline that we’re delivering on, despite external challenges,” Tyler said. “Launching shared accounts is the perfect curtain-closer for us in 2020 and will help our customers hit the ground running in 2021 and take control of their money.”
