EP 74 — Roger's Jill Castilla on Building Fee-Free Banking for Under-18 Military Recruits

Roger fills gaps other military banks ignore: free credit score monitoring that typically costs $20 monthly, 2% yield on checking with savings rates reaching 5.25% during peak periods, and zero overdraft fees while competitors generate significant revenue from service member overdrafts. Jill Castilla, President & CEO of Roger Bank/Citizens Bank of Edmond, walks through how the platform's fraud detection handles the reality that 75% of account opening attempts come from bots, while allowing legitimate zero-balance accounts to remain open for a year pre-enlistment. 

All Roger staff have military experience and provide 24/7 access for financial mentoring, addressing the recruiter-reported problem of family members committing fraud on young service members' accounts during training. Jill also compressed Citizens Bank's VA loan timeline to match conventional loan speeds after experiencing discrimination firsthand, eliminating the realtor objection that VA loans "take too long" and preventing service members from competing for homes.

Topics discussed:

• Creating pre-filled CEO-signed direct deposit forms that eliminate missed training days and delayed paychecks for new recruits.
• Allowing under-18 account opening with any enlistment-accepted ID, a capability unavailable at other military banks for online accounts.
• Detecting fraud at scale where 75% of account opening attempts come from bots rather than real people.
• Providing free credit score monitoring, 2% checking yields, and zero overdraft fees while competitors profit from service member overdrafts.
• Partnering with Mark Cuban to deliver COVID stimulus solutions in 72 hours and PPP forgiveness platform in 10 days.
• Compressing VA loan timelines to match conventional speeds, eliminating realtor discrimination against service members in competitive housing markets.
• Proposing CRA credit incentives for banks offering small-dollar loans to compete with 200%+ interest payday lenders around bases.  

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