So after Jason from Mint posted a comment on my Mint.com review, I decided to give Mint.com another shot. After several months of usage, I can definitely say that I’m impressed with its features. However, I’m still a little uneasy about all of my information being stored on their vendor’s servers (even after watching the CEO’s video about Mint.com security).
Why? Well, I understand that their using a number to only identify me after the data is stored, but at the time of me transmitting my information to you, there’s a chance that your servers/code are compromised and thus the information is compromised. What if they have a rogue employee who’s decided to capture the user’s information? I don’t see any PCI-type compliance that the organization follows.
With all that said and I still used the application for several months. I really do like the fact that I can see snapshots of my financial health on a weekly basis. I also really enjoy that they try to find me deals for credit cards and savings/checking accounts. What I would really love is if they took it a step further and helped me do some financial planning. They’re probably still a bit far out on that, but I think that would be the most useful information for me. I really haven’t had a hard time budgeting the last couple of years, but would definitely rather see more/new ways of me to accumulate better interest, better investment strategies, etc.
Overall I can definitely see the usefulness for an application like this and do recommend this for people who are trying to figure out how to save money or for people who are trying to get their finances straightened out. In regards to the security vs. help argument, I figure if you need some help to get your finances straight, you should probably take the risk. It’s probably safer to use Mint.com’s budgeting feature than using some sketchy “debt consultant”.
I haven’t tried their competitors out yet, but they do exist: Wesabe, Quicken Online, PageOnce, Geezeo, Buxfer, and Thrive. (Note: I really hated Quicken for the Mac. It’s the reason I tried Mint.com in the first place).
