Press release

FinTech Heavyweights Introduce HMBradley, A Modern Digital Banking Platform Built to Reward Savers

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Sponsored by Businesswire

A team of banking, finance and technology veterans today announced a new digital banking platform, HMBradley, to reward people for positive financial behaviors. Backed by PayPal founder Max Levchin and other fintech heavyweights, HMBradley will offer an unparalleled banking experience and pay the industry’s highest interest rates to account holders who save a portion of their monthly deposits, regardless of how much money they earn. Consumers can join the waitlist for an HMBradley account now and begin growing their sign-up bonus at an industry leading 3% APY – even before the platform launches.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20191106005344/en/

Pictured left to right: Germain Cassiere - Co-Founder & CTO, Zach Bruhnke - Co-Founder & CEO, Dmitry Gritskevich - Co-Founder & COO (Photo: Business Wire)

Pictured left to right: Germain Cassiere – Co-Founder & CTO, Zach Bruhnke – Co-Founder & CEO, Dmitry Gritskevich – Co-Founder & COO (Photo: Business Wire)

“HMBradley presents an entirely new experience that will change how consumers think about banking,” said Max Levchin. “Aside from its digital-first design that makes sense for the way people handle money today, it was developed to help consumers be more responsible with their money.”

According to Moody Analytics, an average person under the age of 35 is spending more than he or she earns (-1.8%) while the overall average personal savings rate is ~7.7%. On top of that, most savers don’t know how much of their income they actually save. HMBradley hopes to change this by increasing awareness and rewarding people of all income brackets for saving a larger percentage of their income.

The Perks of Saving

HMBradley makes saving simple. It combines checking and saving features into a single, digital bank account. Its variable APY tiers are based on the percentage of the customer’s direct deposits that is saved each quarter. The more account holders save each quarter, the more they will earn the following quarter. Additionally, HMBradley will roll out an everyday rewards credit card that boosts customers’ APY tier when they save their cashback in their HMBradley digital bank account.

The industry average APY on savings accounts is 0.09%. By comparison, HMBradley’s current savings tiers are:

  • Tier 1 3.00% APY: Saving ≥20% of direct deposits
  • Tier 2 2.25% APY: Saving 15% to <20% of direct deposits
  • Tier 3 1.50% APY: Saving 10% to <15% of direct deposits
  • Tier 4 1.00% APY: Saving 5% to <10% of direct deposits

Saving less than 5% of quarterly deposits does not qualify for any savings tier.

Designed for Modern Life

In addition to recognizing the need to help consumers hold back more of their earnings, HMBradley’s founders knew that traditional banks were not set up for today’s financial practices and activities. Despite tremendous advances in fintech, the banking industry continues to rely on foundations devised over a century ago, which were based on physical currency that needed to be stored. HMBradley is different. It is designed from the ground up to deliver a modern banking experience made for today’s digital world. Every aspect has been meticulously planned around the user to make banking a pleasure.

“After I sold my first company, I realized how the banking experience changed once I had achieved financial success. Perks designed to make me feel good, like I had ‘made it,’ had the opposite effect. I wondered why anyone couldn’t have access to the same service and benefits,” said Zach Bruhnke, co-founder and CEO of HMBradley. “With HMBradley, it doesn’t matter how much money you make. We built this banking platform to put our customers in a strong financial position while prioritizing their needs and providing the features they want.”

HMBradley accounts feature:

  • Combined Checking and Savings: Customers shouldn’t need to push money from their checking to savings accounts just to earn interest. HMBradley combines them in a single insured deposit account in order to look at all of a customer’s money as interest-bearing savings until he or she chooses to spend it as they would with any other checking or debit account.
  • One-Click Credit: With a customer’s permission and without affecting credit scores, HMBradley will periodically deliver credit offers specifically tailored to each customer. HMBradley customers will know the terms of the offer and can apply and be approved with one simple click.
  • 55,000 no-fee ATMs: All HMBradley account holders have access to the STAR ATM network which has over 55,000 ATMs available to at no cost. Outside of this network, HMBradley does not charge fees, although the ATM provider may.
  • Completely Digital Experience: HMBradley caters to digital natives, providing features such as electronic bill pay and the ability to deposit money on the go with Remote Deposit Capture. Additionally, customers have 24/7 access to support as HMBradley puts the convenience of a branch right in account holders’ pockets.
  • Painless Sign-up: HMBradley eliminates what traditionally has been a painful sign-up process for anyone who wants to open a bank account. HMBradley designed its sign-up process to be fast, easy and hassle-free. Additionally, new customers can begin using online products immediately. A debit card can be issued to Apple Pay or their Mobile Wallet of choice instantly – no more waiting 7-10 days just to use the account.
  • FDIC Insured up to $250,000: All HMBradley accounts are opened at a sponsor bank and FDIC insured up to $250,000 per depositor.

Sign Up Today to Earn a Bigger Pre-Launch Bonus

Starting today, future customers can create a username and password with HMBradley to join the pre-launch waitlist. For the duration of the waitlist period, customers will build a sign-up bonus that reflects the top rate of 3% APY HMBradley is offering upon launch. Customers will be eligible to receive their bonus once HMBradley officially begins accepting deposits and customers open their new bank account.

There is no requirement to deposit money before HMBradley launches in full to earn the bonus. There is also no obligation to open an HMBradley account. HMBradley simply wants to welcome anyone to bank where customer service matters.

“We want to start account relationships on a positive note and build from there,” said Dmitry Gritskevich, co-founder and COO. “We believe that the best way to do that and to show how serious we are about working for our customers is to enable them to earn a bonus before their money is even with us. HMBradley will build their trust as their balance grows. The best part is that the earlier someone signs up, the larger their bonus becomes. Welcome to the new way to bank!”

Purpose-Built by Financial Leaders

HMBradley was developed by leaders in both the financial services and technology industries. The company was co-founded by Bruhnke, a serial entrepreneur who built his first software company while in college before embarking on a career in financial technology, most recently for investment banks; Dmitry Gritskevich, a former Goldman Sachs banker who worked on the break up of GE Capital (which birthed both Marcus and Synchrony Financial); and Germain Cassiere, an engineer who has spent the last 12 years building software and the last seven working with Bruhnke. The founders also have recruited top talent from JP Morgan Chase, Capital One, USAA and other leading financial institutions.

HMBradley recently completed its $3.5 million seed round of financing, led by Accomplice Ventures and Walkabout Ventures with participation from Mucker Capital, Index Ventures and several others including HVF Labs (Max Levchin’s startup studio that birthed Yelp, Affirm, Divvy Homes and more). HMBradley’s accounts are opened at and FDIC insured by a sponsoring bank led by a team of industry veterans with a history of innovating in the banking industry at banks like Axos Bank, American Express Bank and Celtic Bank, to launch the initial account offering. HMBradley operates throughout the United States.

HMBradley will launch in early 2020. To sign up and start growing your account opening bonus today, please go to HMBradley.com.

About HMBradley

HMBradley is a modern digital banking platform built for savers. It rewards anyone, regardless of income, for developing sound financial habits. Founded in 2019 with support from fintech heavyweights, HMBradley is aiming to deliver a new type of banking experience, all deposit accounts are FDIC insured by our sponsor bank. To learn more, please visit HMBradley.com.