

Ask HN: How can we hack the credit card industry? - cdgreen1

The credit card industry has a CLEAR problem. It sucks in every way possible (high interest, hidden fees, poor customer service, fraud). But it is clear that people NEED credit cards to help with cash flow management.<p>My question to HN is: How can we hack the credit/finance industry to make it better for consumers?
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DevX101
Quite a few people are tackling DEBIT payments in innovative ways. Off the top
of my head there's BankSimple (still in beta), ThinkComp (doing payment thru
mobile along w/ their proprietary device), and another that I can't remember
that does payment authorization using the audiojack from your iphone.

But if you're talking of supplanting the actual CREDIT industry itself(i.e.,
replaceing VISA/Mastercard), that's a pretty tough call. The industry is
heavily regulated. In fact the credit card industry was borne out of
regulation. It's also no small feat to deal with issues such as fraud,
defaults, etc...

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cdgreen1
Great reply. Square, BankSimple, and Verisign is def. doing great things from
the perspective of mobile payments. I'm thinking more from the finance
perspective of credit. Silicon Valley has never let regulations get in the way
of creating a disruptive model that is better for people.

