Mint.com

[laz98]

i'm not a big fan.  it keeps telling me every other time that i log in that it can't access some of my accounts, & it doesn't show my spending categories correctly.  i thought it was going to be great but it's a lot more work than i think it's worth.  & like someone else said, the balances tend to lag, so there's no point in using outdated information.

[iltph]

I started using Mint nine months ago and only used it about a week or so. They came out with an iPhone app about 2-3 weeks ago and ever since I've been hooked! I've gone through and assigned all of my transactions the past year and listed them in certain categories. Now I can easily see where my money has gone and I've set up a monthly budget for things like shopping, gas, food, etc.

I've entered all of my checking and savings accounts, credit cards, store cards, student and auto loans, and mine and my wife's thrift savings/401k. I just really hate seeing how much I lose every day in my 401k. When I started using the iPhone app about two weeks ago I had lost about 11% and now it's at 28%!!!

My only complaint about it is that it doesn't show "pending" charges, so the balances are not really up-to-date.

[Mark_in_Pasadena]

You guys do realize that any of the mint internal software developers & database administrators have access to your username and password information!

Sure, it MIGHT be safe from outsiders trying to hack the site, but it isn't safe from rogue internal employees.  There's been many cases of such rogue internal financial services employees documented in the past 5 years.

Most of these companies have outsourced their IT (overseas.)  Good luck trying to track down the software developer who downloaded all the username and passwords of all mint users and sold them to some mobster who then resells them around the world.

Just because it hasn't happened so far with mint or other such sites/providers yet (Yodlee based, etc), doesn't mean it's not possible.

Get Desktop Quicken & do the same functions & much more on your local desktop without having any security issues like this.

edited --I hear ya about the security risks, but as you pointed out, they can come from anywhere, including in the US.

reply to edit: While they can come from anywhere, it's easier to find the culprit and prosecute them within the U.S. border.  The FBI has no jurisdiction in India or Russia, and good luck getting them extradicted to the U.S.  So in this case, it was important to point out that most of these startup outsource their IT to India because they can't afford American software engineers.  I wasn't saying anything racist against Indians.  It appears like there's an automatic filter on here for anything with the word India in it.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 02-01-2009 11:28 AM

Message Edited by Mark_in_Pasadena on 02-01-2009 01:24 PM

[Anonymous]

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@laz98 wrote:
I'm not a big fan.  it keeps telling me every other time that I log in that it can't access some of my accounts,

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 Yeah I'm having the same issues today seems like I'm not gonna be a big fan of MINT. O well back to checking all my accounts one by one.

Message Edited by mjbfan79 on 02-01-2009 01:35 PM

[Anonymous]

You would love Bank of Americas My Portfolio.  Its amazing what all it can do, I love looking at cash flow to make sure the green line stays above the red line.  That didnt happen in december!! lol..  Cash flow looks at bank deposits and withdrawls, and credit card usage and payments.  It also tracks budget by category and you can set goals for categorys.  I cant believe how good it is.  I can have it log in and check all my credit cards without any problems.

[Anonymous]

I like mint.com's interface, but I prefer Yodlee and BofA's My Portfolio (which actually is Yodlee with a slightly different interface) for the ease of use and depth of information.  I use both to reconcile slight differences in various categorizations.

I don't use the bill pay, however.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I used mint before I started banking with BofA.  The BofA online stuff is simply AMAZING, you can track your budget by items, you can get e-bills for credit cards, its just fantastic and ill never go back!!!!

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I have been tempted to use this at BofA because it is really great. However there is something that just creeps me out about BofA having a snap shot of every dime I spend and knowing what I spend it on. It's bad enough they can keep tabs of what you spend with their credit cards. I don't need them watching what I do everywhere. Otherwise I would love to take advantage of it. Just can't bring myself to do it, it really irks me.

[Anonymous]

  I never thought about it like that, Im gonna be lookin behind my back everytime I check my budget with BofA now!

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
I used mint before I started banking with BofA.  The BofA online stuff is simply AMAZING, you can track your budget by items, you can get e-bills for credit cards, its just fantastic and ill never go back!!!!

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I have been tempted to use this at BofA because it is really great. However there is something that just creeps me out about BofA having a snap shot of every dime I spend and knowing what I spend it on. It's bad enough they can keep tabs of what you spend with their credit cards. I don't need them watching what I do everywhere. Otherwise I would love to take advantage of it. Just can't bring myself to do it, it really irks me.

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[Anonymous]

If you don't want BofA to know your spending, use Yodlee. As I mentioned, BofA uses Yodlee.

I thought the post about a "rogue internal employee" was insightful but it's too late: they already have all my info... If my info gets stolen, I'll just dispute all the fraudulent activity.

However, I work in IT and my guess is that only very few, high up individuals have access to the most sensitive areas (logins, passwords, and unencrypted account numbers). Hopefully they get compensated enough that they don't need to steal account info. It's doubtful that the techs who have contacted me through the customer service area have access to that.

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 02-01-2009 04:48 PM

[Anonymous]

Mark_in_Pasadena:

I believe that Desktop Quicken is neither free, nor being developed any longer. It's now online like the others.