Chase launches text balance queries

Good to see banking behemoth, Chase, launching text balance queries.

I was sat watching ultra annoying Ameri… [ TRY SOME NEW STUFF FOR YOUR JOINTS, SPEAK TO YOUR DOCTOR ] …can television when I ca.. [ YOU SHOULD BE DRIVING A NEW FORD] …me across an adver.. [PIZZA HUT WANT YOU TO EAT MORE PIZZA] .. tisement from Chase.

(That’s what watching American television is like. I thought I was watching a bit of American Idol — it was, actually, a 20 second advert about cleaning your house. I seriously sat there thinking ‘Where is Ryan Seacrest in all of this?’ until the cleaning fluid logo was presented on screen. I’m continually appalled by the lack of separation between television and advertising. Anyway…]

The Chase advertisement features a chap at home with his wife and a television set that’s on the blink. The wife does a despairing look and tells her husband, ‘Gahhhh ok go and buy a new television.’

Cut to the chap in in the local electronics store wondering what television to buy. But! There’s a problem! He doesn’t know how much credit he’s got free on his card. Ah hah! He just sends a text to Chase and gets his balance back right-away. He’s got loads of spare credit so he buys the biggest television. Right on….

You can usually get your balance by calling up your bank and jumping through about two minutes of hoops. It’s a total arse though (“please press pound”). Balance updates by text message are really, really smart use of the medium. There’s next to no issue in terms of security because the info being passed is generic. Theoretically if you spoof someone’s phone number in a text message, you’ll just obtain their balance.. not the kind of thing you want everyone to know, but hardly actionable in terms of fraud.

If you’re a Chase customer, you can check it out and activate text balance updates here.

(Incidentally, one of the most hilarious parts about watching the ads is when the medical ones play out. Serene vistas and healthy looking people describe how their heart is miles better because of [drug name] — then at the end, there’s about 10 seconds worth of disclaimers that proceed to scare the crap out of you and undo all the nice work done by the serene vistas and healthy people.)