Bank apps

[gayl]

I'm posting it here because I don't want to hijack the vent on Quicken thread.

I'm wondering how many of us make full use of our bank apps. I've been reading what quicken can do for people, and I used to use MSmoney before bank apps became so all inclusive so I'm familiar with paid apps. But I realize that everything they want to do through Quicken I can do on my USAA app.

If I want to keep track of all of the checks, online payments, investments in both Schwab (only investment firm I use), future transactions, budgeting, goals including paying off a debt - retirement - buying a home - travel, send or receive money from either a company or individual, all of that is available in my bank app without charging me any extra money. And I cannot imagine how USAA is the only place that does this.

So what is the advantage to having an outside program do what my bank does for free? Isn't that just double work?

 

[braumeister]

I agree that these can work really well. I make full use of my USAA bank app, also similar apps like Discover, Fidelity, and Schwab.

For me, the advantage is seeing everything in one place. I use Moneydance, but the idea is to have your entire financial picture on one page. While the individual apps are great, they don't let you do that. I think you're alluding to the fact that you can add outside accounts to your USAA app, but I resist giving passwords to any third party, despite my trust in USAA.

 

[gayl]

Don't you have to give these outside apps your password? And if so what's the difference between giving USAA your password and Quicken your password?

 

[braumeister]

That's my point. I don't give out my password to anything.

 

[Sunset]

I am pretty leery of using my phone for any financial stuff, simply because people lose their phones all the time and maybe I will.
Plus they are a target for thieves.

I also find typing on a phone for my long passwords too hard, I barely text anyone as it's a pain.
My home computer is easy to type on as I touch type and while it could be stolen, the hard drive is encrypted, I doubt my phone memory is encrypted.

I don't use any of those programs where I would give my access to them so they can get my account info.

 

[braumeister]

I am pretty leery of using my phone for any financial stuff, simply because people lose their phones all the time and maybe I will.
Plus they are a target for thieves.

I also find typing on a phone for my long passwords too hard, I barely text anyone as it's a pain.

You might rethink some of those objections.

My phone is useless without my fingerprint.

I don't type passwords on it; I select the site in my 1Password app, which inputs it automatically when it launches the site in a browser. Very simple.

 

[Dash man]

I am pretty leery of using my phone for any financial stuff, simply because people lose their phones all the time and maybe I will.
Plus they are a target for thieves.

I also find typing on a phone for my long passwords too hard, I barely text anyone as it's a pain.
My home computer is easy to type on as I touch type and while it could be stolen, the hard drive is encrypted, I doubt my phone memory is encrypted.

I don't use any of those programs where I would give my access to them so they can get my account info.

Ten password attempts on my iPhone wipes it clean. I use a VPN app when on a wifi signal outside my home. I also use my fingerprint for access so I don't have to type the password. Never had a problem.

 

[cathy63]

So what is the advantage to having an outside program do what my bank does for free? Isn't that just double work?

Well, it's only double work if you do the work in the banking app too. I initially used Quicken because we got it (and TTax) free while DH was employed at Intuit for many years. I use it now because it has all my historical data and I'm used to it. If I were starting out, or willing to start over, I'd investigate other tools.

Some features I rely on in Quicken, which I would want a new app to support:
- automatically categorize credit card and checking account transactions as they're downloaded/imported. E.g. a transaction for a restaurant I've never been to before should automatically show up as "Dining" without me having to do anything.

- let me change categories on individual transactions quickly. For example, if I put gas in the car while at home, that goes in the category of "Auto:Fuel", but if I do it while on a road trip, I switch the category to "Vacation:Fuel".

- download transactions from all the financial institutions I use. Now that we're retired, we've consolidated to a single brokerage, so things are easier; but when we were working, we had 401Ks, stock option plans, etc, at whatever institutions our employers chose. My Quicken file has 13 closed employer related accounts at 6 different institutions.

- let me schedule recurring transactions that are entered automatically so I can look ahead in my checking account register and see when the balance is projected to go below $0.

- show spending as a pie chart and amounts list by category for various time periods.

- show asset allocation and provide tax favorable suggestions for rebalancing to my target AA.

- let me save report definitions that I can run every year at tax time to get rental income/expense info.

 

[gayl]

My phone is useless without my fingerprint.

my phone is useless without my face

Some features I rely on in Quicken, which I would want a new app to support:
- automatically categorize credit card and checking account transactions as they're downloaded/imported. E.g. a transaction for a restaurant I've never been to before should automatically show up as "Dining" without me having to do anything.

- let me change categories on individual transactions quickly. For example, if I put gas in the car while at home, that goes in the category of "Auto:Fuel", but if I do it while on a road trip, I switch the category to "Vacation:Fuel".

- download transactions from all the financial institutions I use. Now that we're retired, we've consolidated to a single brokerage, so things are easier; but when we were working, we had 401Ks, stock option plans, etc, at whatever institutions our employers chose. My Quicken file has 13 closed employer related accounts at 6 different institutions.

- let me schedule recurring transactions that are entered automatically so I can look ahead in my checking account register and see when the balance is projected to go below $0.

- show spending as a pie chart and amounts list by category for various time periods.

- show asset allocation and provide tax favorable suggestions for rebalancing to my target AA.

- let me save report definitions that I can run every year at tax time to get rental income/expense info.

Try your bank app

 

[jebmke]

I am pretty leery of using my phone for any financial stuff, simply because people lose their phones all the time and maybe I will.
Plus they are a target for thieves.

I also find typing on a phone for my long passwords too hard, I barely text anyone as it's a pain.
My home computer is easy to type on as I touch type and while it could be stolen, the hard drive is encrypted, I doubt my phone memory is encrypted.

I don't use any of those programs where I would give my access to them so they can get my account info.

I don't use mobile devices for financial account access. I am not confident in the security of the phone OS and the isolation of the app from other apps etc. I don't travel for more than a couple of weeks max so there really is nothing that can't wait a couple of weeks to do at home.

 

[jebmke]

my phone is useless without my face

Hopefully they have advanced face-recognition. My wife has a Lenovo laptop with face recognition. I can log in with a picture of her on my cell phone.

 

[gayl]

Hopefully they have advanced face-recognition. My wife has a Lenovo laptop with face recognition. I can log in with a picture of her on my cell phone.

re: USAA App: I don't know if it's "advanced" but I have to blink. I guess someone could take a picture of me blinking and get in.

 

[cathy63]

Try your bank app

Nope, my bank (which is a credit union) doesn't do those things.
The brokerage does some, but not all.

 

[Sunset]

You might rethink some of those objections.

My phone is useless without my fingerprint.

I don't type passwords on it; I select the site in my 1Password app, which inputs it automatically when it launches the site in a browser. Very simple.

You are correct, I only recently started using my phone for some email and gps when traveling, and even then I fear the email may not be secure so usage is rare.

I'm slowly joining the phone crowd

 

[braumeister]

You are correct, I only recently started using my phone for some email and gps when traveling, and even then I fear the email may not be secure so usage is rare.

I'm slowly joining the phone crowd

You can build your confidence by using a VPN when you're traveling. There are several free providers of good VPN service, and even the paid ones are not expensive.

 

[gayl]

Nope, my bank (which is a credit union) doesn't do those things.
The brokerage does some, but not all.

Got it! I'm just lucky I picked the right bank to be with

 

[bobandsherry]

Got it! I'm just lucky I picked the right bank to be with

What bank is that? I'm with Chase, pretty decent app, and yet nothing even remotely similar offered.

 

[gayl]

Usaa