There are a number of online tools that can make it relatively easy to organize your personal finances. These sites and applications can also help you if you are dealing with debt and trying to get your finances back on track.
Here are the most useful online tools to help people manage their credit cards, bank accounts and overall budget.
One of the most famous and widely used online financial tools in all of North America is Mint. Mint can connect to your bank and credit card accounts and help you track your spending. It has many of the same management tools as programs like Quicken. Unlike Quicken, however, Mint is free. You can access it via a laptop, a desktop or a smartphone app.
The best aspect of Mint is that it offers suggestions to help you cut costs and save more money each month.
Mint’s competitors include BudgetPulse and MoneyStrands. These all offer a similar range of features, so it basically comes down to which one feels the best to you.
A do-it-yourself option is to use the free Google Docs spreadsheet. If you are comfortable working with spreadsheets and have used Quicken or Excel in the past, this could be a good option, especially if you want the ability to customize your programs. You can access Google Docs on your smartphone, but this option will lack the convenience of programs like Mint, which do all the setup work for you.
If you are not comfortable with these third party apps and sites, then you could go directly to the source. Almost every major bank and credit card company has a secured, well-designed account management site. You can set up reminder alerts and automatic payments, transfer money between savings and checking, and, sometimes, even create a budget plan with graphs so that you can visualize your finances. Not every bank or card will offer the same type of online tools, but it could be worthwhile to check on what your current financial institutions offer. You may not need to look any further than this for online financial tools.
Another financial task that you can do online is apply for a personal loan. Online loans, for up to $700, can be obtained over the internet with bank statements and past pay stubs. These loans can help you cover extra expenses between pay days.