Each week I read the Indianapolis Business Journal and I have been following the start-up ventures of personal financial management offerings like Mint. The two intersected last week as I read the August 4-10 edition of the IBJ and specifically Jim Cota’s review of Mint. It is a solid review and like many Mint users Jim was impressed. The only thing that I wish Jim would have pointed out is Mint’s revenue model. The fact Mint earns revenue from financial service providers that make offers via recommendations in Mint should be fully disclosed. Users should understand this as they sort through the offers. Yes, they might getting a better deal than what they have which is a good thing. You just have to wonder if they are getting the best deal they could or if all of the offers are in the consumer’s best interest?
Todd Lindemann on August 26th, 2008 at 04:04 PM
Great point! I signed up for Mint to check it out and was disappointed in the mapping from my accounts. Mint didn’t map the rates from my CU account – on purpose or not – so all of their recommendations were to their supporting banks. I emailed Mint to see if I could assist with the mapping of our accounts from the CU. I pointed out that we used Digital Insight for our home banking so the mapping of our accounts would most likely help with the mapping of 1,500 other FI accounts. No reply…yeah that minor detail should be disclosed. All of my actual rates were better than the Mint offers.
Doug on August 26th, 2008 at 09:46 PM
Todd… thanks for commenting on this post. Your experience adds depth to the conversation. I don’t have a problem with the Mint business model as long as they disclose that offers come from supporting banks and supporting banks only. It is not like Santa Claus in the movie Miracle on 34th Street.
Paul Chrisman on August 27th, 2008 at 10:32 AM
Todd – FYI – DI is now going to directly compete with Mint in this arena with the Finanace Works offering they have. It will use the Intuit OFX network to connnect them to the DI Internet Banking solution.