We've written about brain gyms for baby boomers and insurance discounts for drivers of cars with GPS devices. Combining a bit of both ideas, insurance provider Allstate recently announced a pilot program that could ultimately lead to reduced insurance rates for senior drivers who play brain-building video games.

Beginning in Pennsylvania--home to the fifth largest population of Allstate customers aged 50 to 75, the company says--Allstate is offering the program free to more than 100,000 drivers in that age group to test the impact of cognitive training on driving safety. The program uses InSight, a video software package from Posit Science that's designed to reverse age-related cognitive decline and improve the visual-processing skills needed for safe driving. Five games make up InSight, including Jewel Diver, which tests the ability to keep track of multiple moving objects at one time. Among the results of using the software, Posit says, are a reduction of dangerous driving manoeuvres by up to 40 percent, an improvement in stopping distance by an average of 22 feet when travelling at 55 miles per hour and a reduction in crash risk of up to 50 percent. In the Pennsylvania tests, which will run through March, Allstate will encourage participating older drivers to devote at least 10 hours to the training exercises. It will then track accident rates for the groups that did and didn't use the software. If the results validate Posit Science's claims, Allstate says it hopes to offer discounts to older drivers nationwide who use the software.

As the aging of the baby boom generation leads to increased numbers of older drivers on the road, using brain exercises to improve safety makes good sense. Of course, the program could also help Allstate identify and reward its safest--and therefore most profitable--customers. Sounds like a win-win proposition for other insurers to watch--and emulate!

Website: media.allstate.com/releases/4461-allstate-examines-brain-fitness
Contact: kpose@allstate.com

Spotted by: PSFK via Matthew Cua

While most affordable air tickets are non-refundable, consumers are entitled to reclaim the tax and (fuel) charges on an air ticket that they didn't use. Authorities charge airlines based on the number of passengers who fly, not the numbers that book tickets. Unfortunately, airlines don't make it easy for consumers to claim the refunds they're lawfully entitled to.

The beauty of free enterprise? If something is difficult, a smart entrepreneur will surely jump in to ease the pain. For a fee, of course. And that's exactly what newly-launched Miss Refund does: claim taxes and charges on flights passengers didn't take, in return for a flat rate of EUR 25. Customers fill in their personal and flight details on the company's website, and Miss Refund contacts the airline to claim airport taxes and other refundable surcharges. Since refunds are paid directly to the customer (usually refunded to the credit card that was used when booking), Miss Refund requires an advance deposit of its EUR 25 fee. If the claim is unsuccessful, the deposit is returned.

Miss Refund, which is based in the Netherlands, was created by Iwan van Geelen, the founder of an equally useful life hack for travellers: Check Me In, a service that takes care of online check-ins on behalf of airline passengers. Miss Refund received nearly 300 reclaim requests in the few weeks since it launched, and the amounts claimed vary from EUR 80 to EUR 600. The speediest refund was processed by the airline in question in just two days, and others are still in transit.

The service reminds us of EUclaim, which claims compensation for flight delays on behalf of stranded travellers. It's all about convenience! One to bring to other countries or industries? (Related: Property tax advocates.)

Website: www.missrefund.com
Contact: www.missrefund.com/contact_miss_refund_en.html

Spotted by: RK

Nearly one in nine employees in London's banking, finance and insurance sector is gay, according to an article in the Telegraph, and such consumers typically enjoy significantly higher salaries than their heterosexual counterparts. Little wonder, then, that one of London's major banks has implemented a new banking service targeted specifically at the city's homosexuals.

Just launched this summer, Credit Suisse's new service is provided by advisors at the bank who are themselves openly gay, the Telegraph reported, and includes not just traditional banking offerings but also components tailored to such events as adoption and civil partnership. Stephen Connolly, head of the Credit Suisse service, explains: "Clients with us have no need to explain their lifestyles or--as we know happens in some cases--almost feel the need to justify the way they choose to live their lives."

We've already covered banks for women, and now gay banking--part of what our sister site trendwatching.com would call the Pink Profits trend--is further proof that catering to frequently sidelined segments of the population can be undeniably lucrative. Of course, fine lines separate the notions of "catering to," "segregating" and "discriminating," but given the size of the demographic segment at issue here, navigating those distinctions could be well worth the effort!

Website: www.credit-suisse.co.uk
Contact: info.london@credit-suisse.com

Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen

The financial services industry isn't exactly known for giving things away for free, but a California-based firm is breaking the mould and offering free stock trading for investors.

Zecco is an online financial portal and community through which investors can make 10 free stock trades every month when they maintain an asset balance of just USD 2,500. The cost otherwise is only USD 4.50 per trade, and there is no minimum balance required to open or maintain an account. Further enriching the experience for users, meanwhile, is ZeccoShare, a social network for investors that Zecco launched last fall. Members of ZeccoShare can create profiles, contribute to blogs and forums and join investing groups. They can also share their portfolios (minus the dollar amounts), their trades and their performance for discussion with other members. Portfolio data, holdings and trade information are aggregated across all ZeccoShare member profiles, allowing members to scan listings of most-held and most-traded stocks, create specific groups of like-minded investors (such as "socially responsible investing" or "women on investing") and more.

Making Zecco's free love possible is the fact that the cost of executing a trade has become very small, it says; in addition, it does charge for options trading, and it earns revenue from such other means as premium tools and online ads. Since its launch in late 2006, Zecco has gained over 90,000 trading customers; notable backers include shareholders Morten Lund of LundKenner (an early investor in Skype) and Dutch telecom pioneer Marcel Boekhoorn.

Free love has already proven highly effective with students, festival attendees and mobile-phone users, among others. Now it's investors' turn--one to emulate around the globe?

Update from Springwise reader Trent Smith: "Wells Fargo has been offering free trading for close to 2 years. They offer 100 free trades for a minimum $1000 investment."

Website: www.zecco.com
Contact: editor@zecco.com

Spotted by: Roel van der Meer

For parents, teaching teens and young adults to spend responsibly involves walking a fine line between empowerment and control. A new prepaid MasterCard from edō Interactive, however, aims to make that process easier.

The facecard is a prepaid and reloadable card that can be used by young people 13 and over anywhere MasterCard is accepted. Parents can electronically add allowances or emergency funds to the card and have them available within 15 minutes; cardholders can access them in stores and ATMs worldwide. Because they are debit cards, facecards can only be used for transactions up to their current balance, which users can monitor from anywhere online. There are no activation or monthly maintenance charges for using facecard, but fees are applied for international purchases, using an ATM, inactive accounts and negative balance incidents, among others. A series of videos on YouTube illustrates how facecard can be used.

Perhaps even more interesting than its financial workings, however, is that facecard functions as a sort of social network, allowing users to create profiles, set their preferences and find each other online. Facecard holders can use the site to send funds to each other's facecards to repay loans or give gifts, for example. Through a "prewards" program with partner companies, meanwhile, the facecard also lets advertisers reward cardholders for their loyalty in a highly targeted fashion by periodically adding funds to their card for use at particular stores. Users can indicate in their profiles what types of prewards they'd be interested in. Earlier this summer facecard partnered with Tennessee's Bonnaroo music festival to donate USD 10,000 to Stop Global Warming. And as part of the card's nationwide launch, representatives from the Nashville-based company will reportedly be visiting 50 college campuses on Saturday, August 30th--the first Saturday of NCAA football action--with information on financial literacy.

Given that the United States alone is home to some 82 million teens and young adults--with annual spending of almost USD 350 billion, edō says--targeting this group (and helping advertisers do the same) makes good sense. One to bring to other parts of the world?

Website: www.facecard.com
Contact: info@facecard.com

Spotted by: Bjarke Svendsen