Most people with bank accounts have online access to their accounts. The same is true if they have a mortgage, credit cards, or investment accounts. The new app, My LendingTree, connects with consumers' checking and savings accounts, in addition to credit cards and loans, providing a comprehensive financial overview in a single program.
The app connects to bank accounts at over 11,000 institutions. By integrating checking and savings account information, the app can show budgets, spending habits, transaction history, and cash flow analysis while also letting users check credit scores, savings recommendations, and identity monitoring updates.
By consolidating all of this information in one place, a user doesn’t need to log into multiple accounts and can go to one place to keep up with how they’re doing financially. The app is available with a free download.
"Fintech is helping to make money easier, which often begins with understanding your financial situation and the options available to you," said Eric Sager, COO of Plaid, the platform that powers the app. "MyLendingTree now makes it easy to securely link your financial accounts through Plaid, including loans and other debts, and get a comprehensive view of your finances to help you improve your money management."
Monitoring finances and making smarter decisions
In addition to showing information from bank accounts, the app provides a cash flow analysis, using data from past transactions to predict future spending needs.
It has a budget tracker feature, informing users how their monthly spending lines up with their recommended budget. It allows users to set their own budgets and alter them when conditions call for it. The budgeting feature also shows users a snapshot of the categories where they are spending the most money and where they may be off-track. It provides the ability to drill-down to see transaction-level information.
The monthly spending feature looks at the current month and compares those expenses to previous months. The transaction history feature provides expense and income records across all connected accounts instead of being limited to a single account or bank. The accounts summary gives users the ability to see all of their financial accounts -- checking, savings, loans, and credit cards -- all in one place.
Sushil Sharma, chief product officer at LendingTree, says the app will empower consumers with a better understanding of their financial lives so that they can make smarter financial decisions in the future.