Comparing Credit Cards Just Got Easier!

We’re all living in a fast-paced world where time is in high demand and short supply. So when you need to switch credit cards, you don’t want to spend hours sifting through the various offers and crunching the numbers. We’ve developed the Beat My Card tool with this in mind.

Now all you have to do is enter the name of your credit card and we crunch the data for you. Inside one minute, you can compare all the deals currently available on our site and be offered the 3 best cards that will save you money. It will even tell you how much money you stand to save per year!

How to Use the Tool

It’s really, really easy. All you need to do is enter the name of your credit card and click ‘beat my card’.

On the next screen you’ll be able to customise your results by entering details about your monthly spend and how much you want to transfer when you’re switching cards. You’ll also be able to email the results to yourself so you can compare them later when it suits you.

The results page is where all the interesting stuff happens, because this is where you can beat your card! Here you’ll see the three cards that will save you the most money over the course of the year.

Give it a Try!

Want to see if you could be getting a better deal? Click here and try to see how much you can save.

This is another post from Credit Card Compare Blog - The Credit Letter, a creative personal finance blog where we love to share money saving tips and credit card reviews to optimise your wallet!

Everyone has dreams that require financial discipline in order to have the means necessary to fulfil the dream. One thing that’s found in people who reach their dreams is the foresight to implement a detailed plan with monthly and annual savings goals. Paying off a mortgage or credit card, educating the children, and retiring with a comfortable lifestyle all require many years of saving while maintaining a home and supporting the family. Writing the plan is the easiest step, but adhering to the plan over the years can be challenging unless one of the following websites is employed to monitor actual progress against the original plan. Here are ten websites to help you on your journey!

1. Mint

Focus: fully-capable software for financial planning

Cost: free

Powerful software that includes every aspect of making and implementing the financial plan to reach short- and long-term goals. Savings, monthly income, and expenses are tracked to reveal areas that need attention. Customisable reports are available to monitor actual expenses against the projections.

2. inDinero

Focus: visual planning software

Cost: free for 50 transactions, $29.95/month for 500 transactions, $99.95 for unlimited transactions

Manage all accounts in one place for easy review at the time interval you choose. Visual reports reveal the progress against the plan. Set up is easy and maintenance allows changes without extensive effort.

3. Pocket Smith

Focus: budgeting on a calendar

Cost: free, $5/month, $12/month

For the time-driven individual, seeing every expense attached to a day on the calendar makes saving and paying bills a daily, weekly, and monthly activity. Sticking to the financial plan becomes a part of life.

4. Buxfer

Focus: shared expense tracking

Cost: free

Trying to plan for financial goals is very difficult when expenses are split within a household. Buxfer offers enough flexibility to manipulate actual expenses each month to see the discretionary funds to apply to saving goals.

5. Wesabe

Focus: social network of groups interested in financial planning

Cost: free

Find information from other people interested in planning for their financial future. Join the groups that have similar interests and goals. Share ideas and celebrate goal achievements.

6. Money Strands

Focus: close monitoring of cash flow

Cost: free

After the plan is implemented in the software, every expense is monitored to prevent low account balances from causing overdrafts. Reminders are sent prior to bill due dates. Every month reports provide a visual picture of the actual expenses against the plan.

7. Budget Pulse

Focus: active budget monitoring

Cost: free

Evaluate purchases against the household budget in terms of current and future expenses associated with the asset. Watch every penny spent within the budget and find areas where money is slipping away. Easily set up without direct links to bank accounts, which removes identity theft concerns.

8. Mvelopes

Focus: virtual envelope planning

Cost: $130/year ($10.50/month)

Many people build a budget with physical envelopes of cash. Another way to plan is to use the envelopes for where future money will be budgeted. The most noticeable advantage to this system is absolute control over the financial plan. Being able to see progress will encourage plan adherence.

9. Pear Budget

Focus: plan becomes the budget

Cost: $4.95/month (after a free 30-day trial)

As one of the most customisable budgeting programs available, pear budget is said to be easier than Quicken. Set up is very simple and maintenance of the budget across fiscal years is easy. All information can be exported into a .CSV file.

10. Billster

Focus: active money planning and management

Cost: free

Provides the ability to track expenses split between multiple people. Reminders are provided to prevent late payments. Automated reports are emailed with summary expense information to reveal the categories for expenditures. Adjustments can be made to adhere to the financial plan.

Image: fsse8info

This is another post from Credit Card Compare Blog - The Credit Letter, a creative personal finance blog where we love to share money saving tips and credit card reviews to optimise your wallet!

Everybody has a dream to go somewhere, do something or buy something memorable – but they just don’t have the money on tap to do it. The difference between this aspirational group and the people who do fulfil their dreams have the foresight to implement a detailed budget. Paying off a mortgage, educating your children, and retiring in comfort all require many years of saving whilst you maintain a home and supporting the family. Writing this plan is the easiest step, but adhering to it over the years can be challenging. The key to it is to make it as easy for yourself as possible, which is exactly where these ten financial planning tools come into play – they’re all web apps, so keeping on top of your money any time and anywhere is easy.

1. Pocketsmith

What it’s for: Budget on a calendar

Price: Free

For the time-driven individual, seeing every expense attached to a day on the calendar makes saving and paying bills a daily, weekly, and monthly activity. The biggest attraction to Pocketsmith, however, is the way you can plot out your future financial situation and forecast when you’ll have enough cash in the bank to buy or invest in the things you want / need. Sticking to a financial plan becomes a part of life with Pocketsmith.

2. Mint

What it’s for: Full featured financial planning

Price: Free

Mint is a powerful web-based personal finance tool that includes every aspect of making and implementing a financial plan to reach your short and long-term goals. Savings, monthly income, and expenses (from disparate banks and accounts) can all be tracked in one central location to reveal the areas that need your attention most. Customisable reports are available to monitor actual expenses against projections.

3. Buxfer

What it’s for: Shared expense tracking

Price: Free

Trying to plan for financial goals is very difficult when expenses are split within a household. Buxfer is a tool that aims to help you get around this issue by offering users enough flexibility to manipulate actual expenses each month, thereby exposing discretionary funds that could be put towards saving goals.

4. inDinero

What it’s for: Visual planning

Price: Free <50 monthly transactions ($29.95/month <500 monthly transactions)

This tool is primarily for use in businesses to manage and project future cash flow based on income and expenses pulled from your back accounts and credit cards. Businesses will love the ease of use, and the amount of time that can be saved by having access to an overview of your accounts in one place at the time you choose. Visual reports reveal future projections, which are particularly useful. Expenses can be categorised, allowing you to see what you're spending most on. Set up is easy and their light interface allows for changes without extensive effort.

5. Wesabe

What it’s for: Social network of groups interested in financial planning

Price: Free

Find information from other people interested in planning for their financial future. To get the most out of Wesabe you should join a group that has the closest interests and goals to your own. Perhaps the best thing about Wesabe is the motivation gained from sharing ideas and celebrating goal achievements.

6. moneyStrands

What it’s for: Close monitoring of cash flow

Price: Free

This tool allows you to monitor every expense to prevent low account balances from causing overdrafts with helpful reminders sent prior to bill due dates. Every month reports provide a visual picture of the actual expenses against your plan.

7. Budget Pulse

What it’s for: Active budget monitoring

Price: Free

Evaluate purchases against your household budget in terms of current and future expenses. Budget Pulse lets you watch every penny spent within the budget and find areas where money is slipping through the cracks. Easily set up without direct links to bank accounts, which removes identity theft concerns.

8. Mvelopes

What it’s for: Virtual envelope planning

Price: $130/year ($10.50/month)

Many people build a budget around physical envelopes of cash, which is a system advocated by Dave Ramsey among others. Another way to plan is to use the envelopes for where future money will be budgeted. The most noticeable advantage to this system is having absolute control over your financial plan.

9. PearBudget

What it’s for: Plan becomes the budget

Price: $4.95/month (after a free 30-day trial)

As one of the most customisable budgeting programs available, PearBudget is said to be easier to use than Quicken. Set up is very simple and maintenance of the budget across fiscal years is easy. All information can be exported into a .CSV file for use in Excel (or another spreadsheet tool).

10. Billster

What it’s for: Active money planning and management

Price: Free

Provides the ability to track expenses split between multiple people where reminders are provided to prevent late payments. Automated reports are emailed with summary expense information to reveal the categories for expenditures and adjustments can be made to adhere to the financial plan.

Data security is of paramount importance to each of these companies. Most offer the ability to have an account that is not associated with any personal information. Even when bank account information is imported for tracking and reporting, the account information is removed to prevent identity theft.

Image: skistz

This is another post from Credit Card Compare Blog - The Credit Letter, a creative personal finance blog where we love to share money saving tips and credit card reviews to optimise your wallet!

The only downside to Quicken and all its features is that it costs money, and for many Australians and non-Australians alike, that is one commodity lacking in supply.

But what if we told you you could get most of the exciting financial features of Quicken for free? What if you were able to keep a detailed track of all your incoming money and outgoing funds just like you can with Quicken, except it costs nothing. In fact, being able to manage your entire personal finances in an efficient manner and not pay a penny for it just may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, and get you organised!

Here are five fab alternatives available online, and you won’t have to spend another cent of your precious budget to use them.

1. Quicken Online

Quicken is one of the leading personal finance software packages that aims to make money management easy. In fact it’s so popular that they’ve finally released a free online version, aptly named Quicken Online. The main premise is the same, to help you keep control of your finances. All you need to do is register online and get started. With lots of cool graphs and an easy-to-use interface, you’re able to record debit and credit card transactions, outline budgets and set goals, helping you keep your finances in check and on track.

2. Gnu Cash

Originally designed for Linux, Gnu Cash is now available for Windows and Mac on open-source. The software is easy-to-use, though doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of more expensive programs and is most popular among current users for its double-entry accounting system and its compatibility with Quicken and MS Money.

3. AceMoney Lite

The only difference between AceMoney Lite (the free version) and its big brother AceMoney is that you can’t manage multiple accounts, which is good news for those wanting it solely for personal use. It allows you to track your spending, create and manage budgets, track investments and plan debt and mortgage payments. You can also combine AceMoney Lite with online banking and use it in business transactions on places like eBay and use it to track orders/purchases on the likes of PayPal or RegNow. Although a native Windows application, AceMoney Lite runs just as well on Linux and MacOS.

4. Grisbi

This personal accounting application may require a little time in setting up but once you get going it’s simple to use. Options are arranged in tabs, making access to each section quick and easy, and once you’ve got your finances arranged the application allows reports to be generated and presented in a number of ways. Other features include multiple account management, expenditure and receipt categories, scheduling future transactions and reconciliation. Grisbi can also manage multiple currencies, and although the default setting is in Euro it can easily be changed to a currency that suits the user. Grisbi is available for Windows, Linux and Mac.

5. MoneyTrackin’

With the tagline, ‘the free online tool to regain control of your financial life’, MoneyTrackin’ has a clean, simple interface, which makes it easy to use for both personal and small business money management. In addition, there is a shared expenses feature, which is perfect for housemates who want to make sure their finances don’t spiral out of control, or for couples wanting to budget for their next trip abroad. MoneyTrackin’ is also accessible via your mobile, so would suit the obsessive budgeter in your life.

This is another post from Credit Card Compare Blog - The Credit Letter, a creative personal finance blog where we love to share money saving tips and credit card reviews to optimise your wallet!

No, now you can you can manage your personal finances and accounts from the comfort of your favourite web browser. It’s cheaper, easier, quicker, and often much more innovative than desktop based personal finance tools and software. By maintaining your accounts online you can utilise email, integrate your online banking access system, and make the whole process smarter and less stressful. So we recommend the following as the best browser-based personal finance management tools.

1. Mint

Mint is the complete money management system, and it’s probably the most popular of all the online banking apps. This online, browser-based tool allows you to manage all your financial transactions and can take control of credit cards, your banking and investment accounts, and you won’t see any of them go down a penny through use of this app — it’s free! With budget planning tools you can further control your cash flow, and get notified by email of text if there’s something that needs to get taken care of. Got an outstanding bill? It’ll email you. Balance low? You’ll get an email warning.

Importing data from multiple accounts and credit cards is simple, and the visualisations of your cash is impressive. Want to see how much your spent last month on travel? Easy. With 400,000 users, managing in excess of $12 billion in transactions, Mint claims to have saved its users $100 million. Those interested in advanced features can monitor loans, and investment accounts. Far from just being pretty graphs and spreadsheets, Mint guides you through big financial decisions like buying a car, and it can scan through you purchases and match you up with credit card deals that will give you a lower rate.

2. Wesabe

Apparently Wesabe is the Chuck Norris of finance tools. Unlike Mint, the focus is much more on the community. Since we’re on the internet, not wading through piles of paperwork, we may as well share our expertise! Members can share money saving tips and experience with use, setting up goals and find deals. It’s not just another social network, but a personal finance solution that has a social element.

Like the rest, it allows you to manage credit cards, and categorize spending. One of the best elements is that it tracks and aggregates data, anonymising transactions, and then sharing the findings with the whole community. By giving you the average cost of a particular merchant, you can see precisely, through crowd-sourcing information, what companies are charging more for particular services. Harnessing collective intelligence, and providing a killer system, Wesabe comes highly recommended. And you know that with such a vocal community, Wesabe will be innovative with it’s features, responding to customer demand.

3. moneyStrands

The moneyStrands personal finace system is an online application recently integrated with recommendation engine Strands, using a recommendation technology to produce a new product, moneyStrands. Like Wesabe, it can analyses your transactions in order to recommend products and services that you may be interested in. The application allows you to important bank account files, automatically categorising transactions, presenting you with pie charts to see where you money is going and bar graphs to that you can see how your spending has changed.

You can compare your transactions with those in similar demographics, and budget to try and save money. You could also compare your spending to that of the average young professional, and see how you match up. It’s much simpler than staring at your bank balance and wondering if it’s just you, or whether everyone else spends this much per day. moneyStrands makes it easy to keep track of whether you’re inside your budget. It’s simple, easy, and free.

4. Geezeo

This is another personal finance management web application with a social twist. While Geezeo has the usual accountancy features such as budgeting tools to help you reach goals and it lets you easily manage all your bank accounts, savings, loans, credit cards and investments in one central place. But the real benefit of Geezeo, apart from actually knowing the state of your current financial situation, is the community. With so many other users, you stand a good chance of getting ahead on your debt repayments or saving up for retirement. Best of all, Geezeo is free to use.

5. Rudder

Whilst most of these applications attempt to be the whole package, Rudder focuses on bills, not banking. It allows you to determine what funds you have available to spend paying your bills. It aggregates your accounts, but rather than create pretty graphs of how much you spent in the past, it focuses on the future, letting you know how much is left in your account for spending and saving. It delivers all the information to your inbox to help alert you to your balance and to any bills that need paying. Simpy input all the bills you have to pay each month when you sign up, and then you don’t have to visit a website each time, so you save time as well as money!

6. DimeTracker

Rather focusing on bills, investments, loans, or recommendations for credit cards, DimeTracker seeks to tame unruly expenditure on everyday purchases. Instead of trying to make sense of dozens of receipts when you wonder where all your money has gone, DimeTracker allows you to text your expenses, and then it creates graphs illustrating your spending totals. It allows you to create budgets and even take pictures of your expenditure so that when you wonder why your balance is so low, you can actually see what your cash has turned into! Simple.

This is another post from Credit Card Compare Blog - The Credit Letter, a creative personal finance blog where we love to share money saving tips and credit card reviews to optimise your wallet!

So if you want to keep track of your personal stock portfolio, set a budget for the incoming month or even log your miles, there’s an iPhone app for you!

We’ve picked out six of the finest financial apps for your iPhone, many of which are free. So hit the store and get downloading!

Bloomberg LP
At the time of writing, the Bloomberg LP app is the most popular of all the finance apps in the store. Maybe that’s because it’s free to download, but perhaps it’s because this app is actually extremely useful. If you have investments in stock, or are tracking a stock before buying in, then this is an absolute for you. Bloomberg LP manages to pack in a frightening amount of financial data within the iPhone’s screen area with everything from share prices, a 52 week summary chart, volume and news related to the stock. Make no bones about it: if you are dabbling in shares then this app should be on your iPhone!

Every time you make a debit from or credit to your account with Balance, the app will automatically recalculate your account’s balance so you won’t get carried away and overspend your way to a nice overdraft fee! Balance is also free, which can’t be bad.

With this free version you can only set yourself 5 weekly budgets for food, entertainment, going out or whatever else you want. Then any time you spend money you enter it into Spend, which will update your budget to show how much you have left to spend.

There are some nifty features built in, including the ability to setup favourite destinations or pull details on origin and destination from the iPhone address book. Even better, Tripometer Mileage Log can export your trips for use with your favoured spreadhseet application and email reports to your finance manager.

All in all, this is a solid application and if you happen to use their services already then it is indispensable.

PS. Here’s a free & simple web-based online currency converter.

This is another post from Credit Card Compare Blog - The Credit Letter, a creative personal finance blog where we love to share money saving tips and credit card reviews to optimise your wallet!