A Mint For Your iPhone
by Eric Norwood
December 20, 2008
Like Mike Schramm at TUAW.com, I am tremendously grateful for the services of Mint.com, a free money management site. So you can imagine my excitement when I herd Mint.com was no longer just a website but also an application for my iPhone. Mint.com is one of those websites that makes you wonder why you hadn't heard of it before, once you start using it. I think anyone with two pennies to rub together should sign up.
I know, the prospect of sharing all of your personal financial information with a website seems insane. Let me explain why it isn't. Mint does not store your personal information. Mint won't know your name, address, social security number, account numbers, or PINs. It also is a "read-only" service and does not allow transactions, transfers, or other banking functions.
To start using Mint on your iPhone, go to their website, sign up for an email address, create a password, and enter your zip code. I signed up a long time ago, using the website version on Mobile Safari patiently waiting for the App to come. I knew it would, it had to.
With Mint.com you won't need Bank Of America's. Once you sync your accounts - checking, savings, loans, credit cards, investments - Mint takes care of you.
Mint on the iPhone - like the web service - automatically checks and updates your account information so it is always current. It's like logging into your online banking service every twenty minutes -- all day long.
Mint will take a look at your account histories and map trends in spending, help you create a budget, notify you of unusual spending patterns, and suggest ways to save money.
The service alone is great, but now that you can have it on your iPhone there's even more reason why you should really check out it out.
