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SmartyPig®: March 2008 Archive

The following posts were made in March 2008. You may subscribe to the RSS feed for this archive if you would like to take your time reading through our posts.

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March 26, 2008 • Posted by Jon Gaskell

Fees Gone For SmartyPig Customers!

We have completely revamped our public contribution and gift card fees. SmartyPig customers will now be able to make contributions to other users' goals at NO cost if they use their existing SmartyPig funding source, i.e. your checking or savings account. The fee to make a contribution or buy a SmartyPig gift card using a credit card is a flat 2.9%. We are also planning on implementing other payment and redemption options in the very near future, so that using SmartyPig will be economical for everyone.

Why the sudden shift? During Beta testing a few of our users pointed out that the social side of SmartyPig (making a public contribution, or "Giving the Gift of Savings") should be free - especially if a SmartyPig account holder was the one making the contribution. When our new customers echoed this sentiment, we acted fast.

See, not being a big financial institution has its advantages. We understand the user experience and customer service has to be exceptional and make it happen. Opening, funding and redeeming a goal with SmartyPig will always be absolutely FREE and our interest rate will always be competitive. But our trying to monetize the feature that makes us most unique was, in hindsight, an error in judgment. We're big enough to admit it. And we're nimble enough to make it right - fast. As for the 2.9% to use a credit card to make a public contribution, we have to cover these costs, and at the end of the day they are basically in line with the fee structures of other online payment methods. The good news is, anyone and everyone is only a few clicks away from having a goal (and we think everyone should have one) and thus being able to use all aspects of SmartyPig for FREE.

We hope this gives you confidence that we are listening and are able to react swiftly when changes need to be made. As I mentioned above, we are in the process of figuring out other payment and redemption options and implementing them in the near future. We welcome all comments and ideas.

Please e-mail us at anytime at support@smartypig.com or call 888-567-6278.

Thanks!
- The SmartyPig Team

Tags: smartypig   •  savings account   •  gift of savings   •  customer service   •  free savings account

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