Mint is a free budgeting app that syncs your financial accounts to provide a snapshot of your finances. It also offers a free credit score and investment tracking.
The app features reminders for bill due dates and recurring payments, as well as alerts when a subscription is increasing in price. It’s owned by Intuit, the company behind TurboTax, QuickBooks and Credit Karma.
What is Intuit Mint?
Whether you are trying to budget or track your spending habits, Mint offers many valuable tools in one app. The free personal finance program curates your finances into an intuitive graphic depiction of your working budget, making it easy to pay bills, save for big-ticket items and monitor your credit score all in one place.
Mint connects to your financial accounts, automatically downloading several months of transactions and data for a clear picture of your current finances. The program will then categorize your purchases into specific expense categories. It also lets you set new goals, such as paying off debt or saving for a home.
The program’s budgeting features are its most valuable assets, offering a visual breakdown of your spending and a way to identify problem areas in which to cut back. It also allows you to create rules that automatically sort your upcoming and recurring bills into their category so that you can view your complete financial picture from the app’s dashboard.
For those who want to take a more hands-on approach to their budgeting, Mint Premium offers additional features that will help you do just that. These include bill negotiation and cancellation; spending projections based on past trends and data, so you can see how certain decisions might affect your monetary future; and money spotlights that show you visualizations of your expenditures compared with those of other users like yourself.
You can access all of these services from the accessible version of the program, but there are some limitations on which accounts you can connect to and restrictions on how you use those accounts. If you aren’t comfortable with the limits of the free version, you can upgrade to Mint Premium for an extra $0.99 a month or $4.99 per month for ad-free service.
Developed by Intuit, the company that owns QuickBooks accounting software and TurboTax tax preparation software, the app is trusted by millions of people to keep their financial information safe and accessible. Its security measures include multiple layers of protection, including security scanning with VeriSign, multifactor authentication, and Touch ID.
How do I set up my account?
A free and secure personal finance app, Mint allows users to aggregate their bank accounts, credit card, loan, investment, and spending accounts in one place. The app tracks account inflows and outflows and lets you set spending budgets. It is easy to set up and provides a clear picture of your spending and savings.
The first time you open the Mint app, it will ask for your financial login information to link your accounts. Having these handy before you begin the process is helpful to save time by entering the information directly. After linking all your accounts, you can see a complete picture of your finances in the Overview tab. This includes your net worth (assets minus debts) and a category breakdown of all your accounts.
You can also view your transactions by category in the Transactions section. Mint automatically categorizes most of your purchases, but you can change them if you’d like. For example, if you purchase something on your credit card and it’s automatically categorized as “Clothing,” you can change the category to something more relevant to your lifestyle. This gives you a more accurate picture of how much you’re spending and helps you stay on track with your budget.
Among other features, Mint offers the ability to set financial goals and track your progress toward them online or by email. You can choose from a list of preset goals, such as saving for a vacation, purchasing a home, or creating your own.
Mint is a trusted, reliable service that has been around since 2007. It is available on the web and as an app for iOS and Android devices. It is owned by Intuit, which also owns the TurboTax and QuickBooks tax preparation software and credit monitoring company, Credit Karma.
How do I connect my accounts?
Getting a handle on your finances can be difficult. Staying on top of things can be challenging with bills, accounts, and credit cards spread across dozens of sources. Intuit’s personal finance service Mint (desktop, iOS, and Android) helps users make sense of their cents by bringing everything in one place.
Using an account-aggregation technology, Mint syncs with your bank accounts and other financial information to track your spending, credit card balances, and more. You can connect your savings, checking, money management accounts, and retirement or investment funds to get a clear picture of your finances. Mint also makes tracking and paying your bills through the platform easy, with reminders sent when your next payment is due.
Mint’s free services include budgeting tools, a free credit score through TransUnion, and other helpful features that help you stay in control of your money. For example, the service will let you know if the unauthorized activity has affected your credit and suggest how to fix the problem. Mint’s credit monitoring tool also uses your VantageScore — which is not the same as the FICO score lenders use — to give you an idea of how well you are managing your debt.
For a more detailed look at your finances, you can see a breakdown of your expenses and debt by clicking on the “Overview” tab on the Mint website or mobile app. The overview is broken down into two sections — spending and saving — where you can see exactly how much you are spending and where your money goes each month. You can then set goals to help you save more and pay down your debt.
In addition to helping you manage your current finances, Mint can help you plan for the future. The platform allows you to create savings and investment goals based on your specific needs, and it will automatically adjust the amounts you need to save to meet those goals. It will even suggest how much to save each month to reach those targets.
How do I delete my account?
Mint is a popular budgeting tool from Intuit, the makers of TurboTax and QuickBooks. It has been around since 2006 and offers users free online account management. Users can track their finances, create a budget, and connect their bank accounts. Mint’s security features include 128-bit SSL encryption and direct carrier bank-level security. It also allows users to add a four-digit security code to their mobile devices to control app access and ensure data is not compromised.
Intuit requires a waiting period of 4-6 days before deleting an account, and users can cancel the deletion request within 72 hours by visiting the One Intuit Account Manager site and selecting “Data & Privacy” from the left menu. The company does reserve the right to retain some information for business reporting purposes, but it maintains complete non-disclosure and protection of user data in all situations.
To delete your Mint account, sign in through the website using a desktop or laptop browser (it is impossible to delete an account from the mobile app). Then select “Your Accounts” and click on the gear icon next to any credit or bank account you want to unlink. You can then delete the account, which will be permanently removed from your online profile.
If you have any questions or concerns about deleting your Mint account, contact the company’s customer support team through their online help center, phone, or email. On their website, you can also find a community support forum that allows you to ask questions and receive answers from other Mint users.
If you plan to close your Mint account for a loved one, writing a will that includes specifics about how the financial assets should be used upon death is a good idea. This will provide a helpful guide for family members and friends needing to manage the estate. In addition, it is a great way to keep track of any remaining assets and account balances after the death of a loved one.
