By Chrisleen Herard,
Special to the AFRO
(Photo courtesy of Altro)
Technology in the finance industry has evolved over the years and made its way to managing money for both financial institutions and their customers. While many juggle going to work, paying their bills, building credit and maintaining a work-life balance, digital software applications have made it easier to track income and expenses as they assist their users in reaching their personalized financial goals.
Below are five apps that will improve your financial health and keep track of your finances.
Altro: culture and finance
Altro is a tool that values bringing financial freedom to underserved communities and all of its members. Not only does the Altro app help build credit by counting recurring and subscription payments, but it also contains financial literacy audio episodes that teaches users about personal finance and managing money through savings, emergency funds and taxes.
(Photo courtesy of Rocket Money)
Rocket Money – bills and budgets
Rocket Money is one of the highest rated software applications in the Apple App Store, ranked at #14 under the finance category. With over 3 million members, this personal finance app assists in managing their users net worth and achieving their financial goals by tracking their spending habits, monitoring their credit scores, creating unlimited personalized budgets and even negotiating to lower the prices of bills on their behalf. Rocket Money acts as a “primary financial control center,” due to its ability to follow multiple accounts at a time, including investment and retirement accounts.
Mint: budget and expense manager
(Photo courtesy of Mint)
Mint provides access to all financial and spending accounts in one place at no cost and assists users in achieving their personalized money goals with custom budgeting, expense and bill tracking and subscription monitoring. Mint notifies their users before they go over budget or overdraft their accounts, calculating their net worth and spending habits and sending alerts when subscription prices go up with the option of directly canceling them through the app.
Chime – mobile banking app
Photo courtesy of (Chime)
The Chime banking app has helped millions of users to save and spend their money while building their credit score. Chime, free of monthly maintenance and minimum balance fees, allows users to overdraft up to $200 without consequence in addition to accessing their paychecks up to two days early. Chime also sends daily balance alerts to help members keep track of their money and has a credit building feature that has increased user’s credit scores by an average of 30 points.
Greenwood – mobile banking
(Photo courtesy of Greenwood)
Greenwood is described to be “modern banking for the culture.” Specifically created for building generational wealth in Black and Latino communities, Greenwood helps their users save money with saving accounts that have a 4.15 annual percentage yield (APY) and gives cash back on certain debit transactions. As part of their mission, Greenwood gives back to communities by feeding five meals to a family in need when an account is created. Once signed up, Greenwood also provides members the option to donate to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) via spare change round-ups. Greenwood also lets users access their direct deposits early and charges no fee for overdrafts, ATM or transfer charges.
