Community bank network Kasasa gaining momentum

Friday, February 17th, 2012 By

Bank of America branch

The advantage of banks like Bank of America is they have branches nationwide. Photo Credit: MoneyBlogNewz/Flickr/CC-BY

The advantages of joining a large retail bank is that it has branches everywhere. However, a growing community bank network, called Kasasa, is out to chip away at the edge huge banks enjoy.

Go big or stay home

The reason large retail for-profit banks like Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase enjoy market share over small community banks and credit unions is that they are everywhere. Account holders from New York can walk into a branch in Los Angeles or Pewaukee, Wisc., and do the same banking.

Credit unions and community banks have some networking ability, but not nearly to the same degree. Interest rates may be lower on loans or credit cards and fees may be lower on overdrafts, but it hardly matters if one is halfway across the country and unable to do any banking. That said, there’s a growing community bank network out to marginally disrupt that advantage, according to CNN, called Kasasa.

[Some small banks even do payday loans with no credit check]

No minimum balance ever

Kasasa isn’t an actual bank but rather a brand of bank accounts that was launched in 2009 by a bank marketing and networking company called BancVue. Banks and credit unions in the Kasasa network still are stand-alone institutions; however, if a customer has a Kasasa account, that person can go to any participating location and do their banking there.

Kasasa offers four types of checking accounts: Cash, Cash Back, Giving, and Tunes. It also offers a savings account. No minimum balance is required for any of them, and all accounts have ATM fee refunds. The Cash and Giving accounts earn interest, according to the New York Times, of up to 4 percent.

The Cash Back account gives cash back on debit card purchases for qualified users. The Giving account forwards a bit of money with every debit card use to the charity of the account holder’s choice. The Tunes account gives the account holder a certain amount of credit toward digital media downloads every month.

The Saver account, which is geared to be paired with the Cash and Cash Back accounts, is a high-interest savings account. Cash Back rewards and ATM refunds go to the savings account. The bank also offers all the usual amenities like online bill pay and so forth.

Small but growing network

The first hitch is that each account has requirements the account holder has to meet, such as using direct deposit or a debit card. If a person fails to meet them, they simply stop getting rewards until they meet them again instead of getting bank fees.

The other hitch is that while it’s growing, the network of banks offering Kasasa accounts is still comparatively limited. There are currently 128 community banks and credit unions offering Kasasa products in 35 states, almost half of which joined between September and December of 2011.

Sources

CNN

New York Times

Kasasa

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  • Kasasa BancVue

    Thank you for writing about Kasasa! I just want to clarify how the Kasasa network of banks and credit unions works. Kasasa accounts are offered across the country (with more partners added to our list monthly!) but you conduct your daily banking with the one you choose, either in branch and/or through online banking. However, all Kasasa accounts across the nation give ATM fee refunds if you meet the easy account qualifications, so account holders can use ATMs anywhere in the US.

    If an account holder does need to be able to visit other branch locations across the country instead of just their local institution, a lot of credit unions are part of networks that allow you to bank with anyone in their network. Kasasa partner Aspire Federal Credit Union (based in New Jersey) is just one example. It’s a good idea to ask if shared branches exist if this is something important to you! -Peggy (Kasasa Social Media Coordinator)