Mint.com is helping over 20 million users manage their budget for free by automatically syncing to bank, credit card, and investment accounts. They make budgeting a lot easier!
(Click Here to learn more at Mint.com)
Mint Features
Mint is an easy to use budgeting tool that offers up-to-date financial information with graphs and charts. It is convenient to have all of your financial accounts in one place in order to budget and make goals.
Automatic Syncing & Tracking Expenses
In order to get set up, select your account provider (i.e. Wells Fargo) and sign in through Mint’s site or mobile app. The software will then automatically get all your information to quickly view all of your balances, transactions, and bill payment due dates.
When you download and sync your transactions, Mint will automatically sort them into categories. If you don’t like the auto-categorizations, you can adjust it. Once you make these adjustments, the software will remember and adjust accordingly in the future. There is also the option to create sub-categories, but will make the main ones unchangeable.
Creating Budgets
Mint will create a customized budget based on your spending patterns over the past few months. If you do not like the budget plan set up, you can always modify the suggested budget.
Creating Goals
If you are trying to save up for a new home or to pay off debt, you can set goals to budget accordingly and track your progress.
Alerts
Mint is always making sure you are budgeting and paying on time in case you forget. You can sign up to get alerts for:
- Late fees
- Going over budget in a spending category
- Bill reminders
- Unusual spending
Monitoring Credit Scores
You can view your credit score, payment history, age of credit accounts, and other useful information by logging into your account and clicking the “Show Details” button.
Find Savings
Mint has a partner portal that offers tips for saving. There are products like rewards cards, bank accounts, brokerage accounts, insurance policies, 401(k) rollovers, and loans.
Limitations
There are some restrictions when using Mint, so you may want to consider these things before signing up:
Technical Glitches
There are a few bugs in the system. Quite a few users have complained about the site logging them out as they were using it. Others have also complained about Mint disconnecting their synced bank and credit card accounts, thus having to add it again.
Limited Report Generation
If you would like to generate a report, the only way to do so is by exporting a CSV file to a spreadsheet.
No Reconciliation
Mint will always assume the downloaded data is correct, therefore you cannot argue that your bank statements are incorrect.
No Bill Pay
Previously, Mint offered a bill pay feature, but that is not an option anymore.
Limited Investing Features
Mint offers some investment tools, but it is not very sturdy. If you are looking for a better investment tool, consider Personal Capital.
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Bottom Line
Mint is an easy to use personal finance tool that is perfect for those who want to track and manage their spending, budgets, savings, savings, investments, and credit score. Since it is free to use, you can try it out and if you end up not liking it you can find a different one!
If you are looking for something more investment-oriented, try out Personal Capital.
(Click Here to learn more at Mint.com)
