Alexandra BrooksChief Product Officer · Essays & perspective

Alexandra Brooks / Chief Product Officer

Three arguments about what members should see before they pay

Perspectives from a life in leadership.

The latest essay

Data access and consent5 min read

Every app that reads a member's account belongs on one screen

Credit unions have let members hand their passwords to budgeting and payment apps for years without showing them who holds access. A member should see every connection in her own credit union's app and end it there, and credit unions should stop accepting stored-password access whatever the federal rule's timetable.

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Data access and consent

  1. Data access and consent5 min read

    Every app that reads a member's account belongs on one screen

    Credit unions have let members hand their passwords to budgeting and payment apps for years without showing them who holds access. A member should see every connection in her own credit union's app and end it there, and credit unions should stop accepting stored-password access whatever the federal rule's timetable.

    Open essay

Accessibility

  1. Accessibility5 min read

    Accessibility on a shared banking app is decided by what clients may customise

    Most accessibility failures in the shared app we run for credit unions came from features each credit union was allowed to change, not from the core code. A platform serving many institutions should restrict that customisation and measure accessibility by what disabled members can actually complete.

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Overdraft and fee design

  1. Overdraft and fee design5 min read

    An overdraft fee customers cannot see coming is a design defect

    The argument about overdraft usually concerns the size of the fee. The larger problem is that customers are charged against a balance the bank showed them differently, so the first repairs are a projected balance, a day to put things right and no fee where the bank's own presentation misled.

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