my friend Dave and I  sometimes kick around dotcom ideas.

1) collect deposits online 2) put all money in a money market account (5% and safe) 3) give account holders 4% 4) 1% for us easy, right? most banks having savings accounts for less than 1% interest!

I found this Michigan state web page government FAQ about starting a bank: "If a federal charter is desired, individual(s) should contact the Central District Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), One Financial Place, Suite 2700, 440 South LaSalle Street, Chicago, Illinois 60605 or telephone (312) 360-8800, for a national bank charter, or the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS), 200 W. Madison Street, Chicago, Illinois 60606, (312) 917-5000, for a federal savings bank charter."

then again , why be a bank? one of paypal's great coups is that its not a bank and they work hard at not letting the government classify them as a bank and therefore regulate them as a bank.

so if we make a new paypal, why would someone use this 'bank' instead of paypal. simple, lower cost. paypal takes 2.9% for every transaction.

the problem is getting money into or out of the bank. we'd have to cooperate with the ATM networks and visa networks and i think right there the costs would be higher than 2.9%. electronic checks would be what we rely on.

it would fill a great need, as paypal does. i mean this is 2007 in the USA, if i want to give you $1000, what are my options? cash and a paper check. omg! banks have been completely computerized for decades yet i cant get online and transfer money to someone else.

so really we'd just orchestrate echeck transactions. a routing number and bank account are all thats needed to specify where to deposit the funds. we wouldn't hold money unless you want us to. that works out to be the 'bill pay' feature my bank already has, except we wouldnt be doing paper checks, which would greatly limit the service. fine with me.

once the 'echeck routing' was working well and people found it convenient,  we could push mobile phone transfers. paypal did that but doesnt advertise it anymore. send paypal an SMS of "$10 to bob@home.com" and paypal will call you back to confirm it. its a neat idea.

cell phones are becoming 'the computer'. this could be a killer app for phones. what that really means is PDAs are finally taking their rightful place as kings over cell phones.

what i want to see a phone/pda with no display. instead, a logic brick that is also a 'twiddler' keyboard. the brick speaks bluetooth to my eyewear mounted display. anyhow i digress.