Dish Network Owned Boost Mobile Gets Into Financial Services With Launch Of OmniMoney, a basic banking service aimed at people who do not have access to traditional bank accounts. It’s a service that Boost CEO Stephen Stokols hopes will make the brand “stickier to existing customers” and attract new customers. This comes at a time when the company needs to attract a lot of new customers, such as the Boost brand keeps losing subscribers and Dish struggles to get a viable 5G network off the ground. At least part of that plan includes offering “basic banking services at no cost” — except, well, there are fees.
Just to be clear: Boost Mobile is not going to be a bank. It licenses the service from a company called Alviere, which handles the banking part and is a member of the FDIC. OmniMoney by Boost, as it is formally branded, does not require a credit check to open an account. There is no minimum balance requirement and no monthly fees as long as the account is active in a 12 month period.
Fees creep in when you deposit money into your account
That all sounds quite generous, but the fees creep in when you deposit money into your account. One of Boost’s selling points for the new service is the ability to deposit cash into your account at a Boost store, but each time you do, you’ll have to pay $4. There is also a $1 fee each time you attempt a remote deposit. If you want to withdraw money from your account, you will be charged $1.30 for using an ATM ‘on the network’. Direct deposit – which many of the customers Boost targets probably don’t have access to – is free.
You don’t necessarily have to be a Boost customer to open an OmniMoney account, but the company plans to offer “special discounts and benefits” to those who are. One of those perks is the ability to send free money transfers to Mexico if you have a premium unlimited Boost plan. Otherwise, you will be charged $3.50 to send money to Mexico from an OmniMoney account (in addition to the $4 cash deposit fee). That’s about the same rate that the Western Union website quotes me for sending $100 to Mexico if I deposit cash at the store.
Stokols Says OmniMoney Can “Play In Other Parts Of The Business”
It’s clear how Boost hopes OmniMoney will appeal to its current customer base, but it’s less clear what all this has to do with Dish’s bigger plans for Project Genesis, the cutting-edge 5G service complete with NFTs. Stokols alludes to future offers that are more attractive to more affluent people. While the brand is Boost, he says it could “play in other parts of the business” and confirmed that cryptocurrency could play in that future – Alviere offers crypto productsas it is now.
Before that happens, Boost needs to get OmniMoney up and running. It launches today, but in-store cash deposit services are only available in Texas, California, Maryland, Virginia, Arizona, Colorado and Washington, DC. Boost plans to roll out the service nationwide in early 2023.