Last year around this time I got a call from Kelly Dowell at CUISPA who asked if I wanted to take a look at an interesting tech service that was getting off the ground. I think he called it “Quicken meets Google.” A few days later I was looking at MoneyTracker, an online service at Amplify FCU. That was the day I vowed to leave my existing account behind to join Amplify.
I couldn’t of course, because Amplify is a community-based CU in Austin, Texas. But Jwaala, the startup behind MoneyTracker, has been busy in the intervening year. Jwaala CTO Andrew Taylor just told me that Great Wisconsin (where I can join) will be launching the service this year. I’m in.
It has nothing to do with a forthcoming merger that will make Great Wisconsin and Summit the largest credit union in Wisconsin. It has to do with the fact that by offering Money Tracker, they will make it easy, fast and convenient for me to track my finances. No updates-always-needed software, no manual data entry, no I-forgot-my-receipts-from-vacation debacles, just a tool that lives in online banking where I check in a few times a week.
I recently told a credit union group in Florida that I know how to balance my checkbook, but that I don’t. They told me half-teasingly that I should be more responsible. Thing is, I am responsible. Except for the occasional check to my church, I don’t write checks. So, without any float time to worry about, I can watch my transactions update every day on the Web. With Money Tracker, which aggregates all my online accounts, I just get the updates and Quicken-like tracking of budgets, transactions, and spending patterns.
So why is this more than a personal rant? Because young adults are used to the Internet making everything easier for them, and personal finance is finally catching up. Mint.com and Wesabe.com (I have an account) are doing great work already, but the reason I like Money Tracker for credit unions is that it makes managing finances part of your existing financial life, not one more Web site you have to visit (no matter how slick). It will serve those who just want to track their finances passively as well as the hard-core minority that wants to set up a new Web site relationship and share their savings goals with others.
Quicken Online also has a great product, but once again, you have to go out of your way to get it (and there’s that niggling $2.99 monthly fee). I’ll try it, but my checking account is going to the place where personal financial management is finally easy and finally free.
Editorial note: Don’t get mad at Filene. Ben the employee of the Filene Research Institute does not endorse vendors or products, but Ben the guy who hates to tussle with Quicken does.
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Sweet. I’m a Great Wisconsin CU member and love what I’ve seen of MoneyTracker.
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For anyone interested in learning more, we have a new mini-site dedicated to MoneyTracker…
http://www.betteronlinebanking.com
Thanks Ben for writing about MoneyTracker. Reading nice things like this comes second only to reading all the great feedback we get from real live members.
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[...] timely indeed. This latest article from Filene entitled Why I will join Great Wisconsin Credit Union just backs that great research up with some nice anecdotal tidbits. Ben makes some great points in [...]
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