Mango Financial, also known as Mango Money, is a relatively new financial services company dedicated to serving the underbanked and unbanked population. Mango Financial put together a whole bunch of services like prepaid debit cards and other things not typically offered to underbanked or unbanked individuals. Mango Financial wants new locations but is only located in Austin, Texas right now.
Things just for the unbanked and underbanked
The Austin store for Mango Financial has special things available in it, although other customers can nevertheless get a prepaid debit card. My Bank Tracker talked to founder of Mango, Bertrand Sosa, who said the gateway to financial services to help those who are unbanked or underbanked manage money better is to use a company’s prepaid debit card. A 5.1 percent interest with a linked savings account is also available for Mango customers. Any customer of Mango that lives in Austin can pay bills, send international money, get paychecks onto prepaid debit cards, withdraw cash from an ATM, use a self service kiosk to work on accounts or use debit cards with mobile options to send money or balances through text.
New territory with Mango Money
Hardly any person has tried serving the unbanked and underbanked as Mango Financial is trying to do. A fact sheet provided by the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) said that 20 percent of U.S. households, about 22.2 million families, are unbanked, meaning they have no transaction account at a mainstream financial institution. 22 million on top of that use things like check cashiers and payday lenders to help with their financial services. There is an additional $ 13 billion spent on 340 of these financial services spent every year.
Mango makes customers essential
Mango Financial is raising the bar for unbanked and underbanked services. The Mango Store in Austin is where the company will do best, reports Triplepundit. Mango hopes its Austin store is the first of a national chain. CFSA founder Jennifer Tescher explained that Mango does well because it is interested in customer experience for individuals who normally wouldn’t get the special treatment. Tescher pointed out that Mango is thinking not only about what it offers, but how it is offered. She said numerous young people are growing disenchanted with traditional banking, whether because of high fees or Wall Street greed. The Mango Store will do really with with customers like this.
Additional reading
My Bank Tracker
mybanktracker.com/bank-news/2010/08/04/mango-financial-offers-banking-unbanked-interview-cofounder/
Center for Financial Services
cfsinnovation.com/
Triplepundit
triplepundit.com/2010/07/mango-moneys-mango-store-brings-retail-to-the-unbanked/
