Given all the benefits available when you bank online, neobanking is currently trending nationally. Of all the options, Money Avenue, founded and run by Donahue Baker, rises to the top. Offering digital banking services that include high interest savings and checking accounts, residential & business lending, and insurance products, Donahue operates always with the aim of creating more entrepreneurs and helping everyday people to build long term wealth.
“We don’t just offer banking services of a savings and checking account or lending services for residential and commercial loans. We give you access to capital when others don’t. We get each LLC you have at least $50k in credit. We joint venture and invest in businesses and real estate deals when other banks won’t. We provide a path that truly helps our clients,” Donahue explains.
Digital banks are known for being faster, cheaper, and more flexible than traditional banks hosted in brick and mortar locations. Money Avenue is no exception, offering a personal loan up to $10k in as little as three hours, without any unnecessary or hidden fees.
Especially in a world during the pandemic, the benefits of a digital bank are more important than ever. As the virus set in, many physical bank branches began closing their doors, starting with locations in already underserved areas and communities.
“Our biggest projects are offering banking services that create more businesses and real estate development in our communities. Along with our partners, we are investing $500 million in minority projects this year,” Donahue says.
Bringing banking to underserved communities is a huge challenge, but also a primary goal of Money Avenue.
“I was a CPA for over a decade. During that time, I realized that having access to capital is one of the key tools to creating generational wealth. Knowing this, I felt the need to help make a difference for my community,” Donahue says.
The shift towards online banking, while concentrated in underserved communities, is also seen elsewhere, as in other industries, such as retail businesses.
“Every year more and more people shop online to the point it has disrupted retail stores. We see that trend and while it is a challenge to get some to bank digitally we see that as changing year after year. Nowadays, we see that older people are the main demographic that wants to still go into a branch for banking, whereas more and more younger people are banking digitally,” Donahue says.
Despite all the community work and focus Money Avenue has, at the end of the day, Donahue is still running a business, meaning he needs to think and act like an entrepreneur to keep his services available to their customers. In order to differentiate their business from competitors, Donahue makes sure they are the only ones offering a full range of services in one spot, including high interest savings and checking, fast personal and business loans, residential and commercial real estate lending, Insurance products, and business credit and consulting services.
Donahue himself works on keeping his mindset ready for all the challenges that inevitably come with running a business. This allows him to foster a positive mindset in others.
“Mindset is very important when you run your own business. Changing the mindset of everyday people, getting them to think about entrepreneurship and real estate. In the process, we are watching people go from thousandaires to millionaires with the help of our education and services,” Donahue says.
This allows him to reach his definition of success. He recognizes that this is different for everyone, but for him, success to me means helping others achieve their goals. As an entrepreneur and professor he constantly analyzes people and works to spot the obstacles that stand in their way to success.
Stay up to date with Money Avenue leading to their official launch in February of 2021 by signing up at www.bankmoneyave.com.