Amazon's voice assistant Alexa will now be able to help users with their banking. That is, if they are a Capital One customer.
Amazon announced on Friday a partnership with Capital One, making it the first company to provide financial services through its Alexa-enabled devices.
Starting today, Capital One customers who have an Alexa-enabled device such as the Amazon Echo wireless speaker and voice command device will be able to check their account balances, review their recent transactions, get real-time account information and pay bills hands-free.
"The Alexa Skills store is quickly growing, and today we're excited to add the Capital One skill - which is the first skill that will enable Alexa users to interact with their financial accounts," Rob Pulciani, director of Amazon Alexa said in a statement. "Now Alexa can quickly provide your Capital One banking balance, latest transactions and more on Amazon Tap, Echo Dot, Amazon Echo or Fire TV devices - all conveniently with just your voice. More and more voice experiences are coming, and it's only going to get better for our customers."
This means that Amazon customers now just have to speak to Alexa to be able to check their checking account balance or to pay their bills from the couch.
To enable this feature, customers must open the Alexa app on their smartphone or tablet and turn on the Capital One "skill." The Capital One customer will then have to enter in their bank credentials and authenticate their device.
Capital One customers can then ask questions like "Alexa, ask Capital One for my Quicksilver Card balance," "Alexa, ask Capital One for recent transactions on my checking account," "Alexa, ask Capital One when is my credit card payment due," and "Alexa, ask Capital One to pay my credit card bill."
This is just one of the many "skills" that Amazon's personal assistant device has added as of late. These include being able to order an Uber, or a Dominos pizza, as well as stream music from Spotify.
Earlier this month, Amazon announced two new Alexa-enabled devices, the Echo Dot and Amazon Tap. The Echo Dot is similar to the Echo, only it can connect to speakers via Bluetooth or an audio cable to transform any home stereo system into a personal assistant. It retails for $89.99. The Amazon Tap is a portable Bluetooth and Wi-Fi speaker that allows sets to request information from just a tap on its microphone. It retails for $129.99.
