Simple, the banking startup, appears to be planning to launch lending products.

Josh Reich, CEO of Simple, and Shamir Karkal, the company’s CFO, took to Twitter yesterday to discuss the difficulties in getting a bank charter, a struggle they know well. During the course of the discussion, Reich dropped a tantalizing hint about Simple’s growing suite of services.

Braintree product developer Michael Boeke called Simple “an inspiring example” of a company disrupting retail banking, but said there was “room for some different points of view, [especially] on credit/lending.” This is because Simple, like its neobank compatriots Moven and GoBank, does not offer credit products. Simple CEO Josh Reich replied to Boeke:

You haven’t seen our view on lending, yet 🙂

He later tweeted, “A charter is essential, eventually.”

Simple instituted realtime person-to-person payments in December 2013. It may be working on PayPal’s rails, since Simple’s banking partner, The Bancorp, made a deal in 2012 to use PayPal for P2P payments. (PayPal also owns Braintree.)

A credit product, along with offering joint accounts, would widen Simple’s appeal considerably. A search by Bank Innovation for lending licenses for Simple in Oregon, Simple’s home state, and California, likely home to many Simple customers, came up empty. Perhaps the company is waiting for interest rates to rise, so it can offer its loan products at a lower rate — that would be Simple’s style.

But another hint is in the email that started Simple in 2009 (PDF):

If I want to get a home loan, I go to the bank operated market for home loans, and the bank uses all the data it has available about me to help me best evaluate competing loan offerings. By not implementing the loans, the bank is no longer conflicted, and takes the role of financial assistant rather than duplicitor.

Learn more about what’s next in banking at Bank Innovation 2014 on March 3-4 in Seattle.