Debit Card Verification

Nearly 34% of Solo users experience fraud activity — most commonly through a lost debit card, stolen phone, or compromised bank credentials from a third party hack. The feature was to target to cut down on fraudulent activity.

Ensure users can easily connect and enter their banking information in just a few short steps, clearly understand the terminology being asking of them, and provide tips of what users are being asked to do.

Decrease fraud from 34% to 15% or less. Partner with Plaid to have users enter in their banking credentials.

Partnering with Plaid to help streamline the process of verification will give users a sense of security of their Solo accounts. Users can still report issues and stolen cards to customer service.

Before diving into the design process, I sent out a Maze survey to new users asking them about fraud prevention questions.

Leveraging the research in hand via Maze surveys and customer complaints, I continued to work with my PM to understand user stories and metrics to piece together some wireframes. I collaborated with data scientists and one product manager to gather information for dashboard program, Looker.

This feature was technically complex due to integration with a third-party platform and extensive backend API calls. I designed separate flows for three user types: Power Lenders (trusted users who bypassed Plaid), new users, and current Borrowers. Most fraud concerns involved new users. Multiple entry points for users to enter their information were created across Settings, Wallet, and Marketplace.

New Users — Connect Account Version 1

With these screens I was able to explore the option of messaging to the user base, notifying the users where in the process they were, how drop-offs would work if a user chose that process, what does the UI look for the difference between the Power Lenders versus everyone else. I leveraged the SoLo Funds Design System to build out my screens for this feature.

New Users — Connect Account Version 2

Post-release, I partnered with a lead back-end engineer to design error states for when Plaid decided to be a little punk. We addressed issues where Plaid timed out or failed to recognize smaller credit unions users were apart since they weren’t in Plaid’s system.

I also streamlined the flow by cutting out the back-and-forth to the home screen, allowing users to jump straight from entering their debit card to selecting their bank account.

User testing was done using an unmoderated session on Maze. 11 participants were tested through a clickable prototype.

Users felt the original flow was a bit lengthy still, which given the amount of information to enter, I predicted drop-off would happen no matter what. Modern people have short attention spans, including me.

Users felt that this feature could help prevent fraud like activity on their accounts. It’s like having your own personal club bouncer outside ready to not let the whacky plebeians into your VIP club.

Solo Funds rolled out Debit Card Verification to 300K users in July 2022. Metrics were captured via Looker.

88% of users successfully were able to connect a bank and debit card successfully.

Only 12% of users dropped off entirely, mainly due to issues connecting to Plaid or banks that weren’t supported such as small mom and pop credit unions.

Post launch for a version 2 iteration, design updates were captured to handle Plaid-related error messages within the Solo app. I worked with a back-end engineering lead to ID all possible error states and communicate them clearly to users. Additionally, we removed a few redundant screens to streamline flow.