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easyMoney.com is the latest online venture from Stelios, the easyGroup chairman
who also founded easyJet, easyInternetcafé, easyCar, easyValue and easy.com.
The first offering from easyMoney.com is a dynamic, personalised credit card that
is designed to suit the needs of its customer. All applications and credit scoring
will be done online at www.easyMoney.com and credit cards will be available from
early September.
The easyMoney.com credit card represents the first time that consumers will
have the opportunity to truly customise a credit card product. The revolutionary
"card builder" technology will allow approved applicants to select and
manipulate features of their credit card product, including payment method and
statement options. Furthermore, the applicant will be able to configure their
new card product in terms of interest rate, annual fee and cashback in order to
get the most attractive offer to meet their individual needs. For example, a high
spending individual who anticipates settling their account in full each month
might be less concerned with interest rate, preferring a higher rate of cashback.
Conversely, an individual looking for the lowest rate of interest possible might
elect to pay an annual fee and receive a much lower rate of cashback.
Two of the most important cornerstones of the easyGroup are reducing prices to
consumers and lack of cross subsidy between customers or products. Both these
business principles are at the forefront of the easyMoney.com credit card. By
offering customers online dynamic personalisation easyMoney.com intends that each
individual customer will get the fairest possible deal to be offered by a credit
card on a longer term basis. This is distinct from credit cards that have attractive
introductory offers but become relatively expensive thereafter. Additionally,
the profile of one customer will not be used to subsidise another customer and
neither will their requirements. For example, a customer who is prepared to receive
an online statement will not be asked to subsidise the customer that prefers to
receive a printed statement, for which there is a higher operational cost. Likewise,
customers can change their dynamic personal profile up to three times a year without
charge but beyond that amount are asked to pay for the administrative work that
is generated.
"easyMoney, I like the name," said Stelios. "I have reduced
the price of flights, the price of car hire and the price of Internet access and
now I've reduced the price of money."
The technology itself and all aspects of customer management for the easyMoney.com
credit card are supplied by Accucard, the first, independent UK credit card specialist
whose bank partner, Lloyds TSB Bank plc, will be the card issuer. easyMoney.com
credit cards will be accepted at over 18 million MasterCard outlets worldwide.
The easyMoney.com credit card will, in due course, offer a loyalty scheme to
its customers.
Credit cards will be available from www.easyMoney.com in early September, to be
followed shortly thereafter by personal loans. Once again, easyMoney.com is not
interested in cross subsidy so will continue concentrating on consumer lending.
Typically in the financial services industry, profitable lending is used to subsidise
loss making loans and deposits which are used for customer acquisition. easyMoney.com
will only offer profitable products online so that it will have a better cost
structure than its competitors and will therefore always be able to offer better
deals to consumers than its competitors.
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