One of the things that motivated me to start this blog was a desire to share the tools I use to optimize my finances. Over the past several years, I’ve gotten heavily into the fintech world and I haven’t been shy about trying out new fintech apps. Since I was sharing this stuff with my friends, I thought it made sense to try to share it with a larger audience. To date, a good number of you have used my recommendations.
The main issue with these fintech apps, as I’ve recently discovered, is that they’re sometimes too new for their own good. Their business models aren’t proven yet. And as a result, what’s true about an app today, might not be true about it tomorrow.
I’ve been reminded about how fast my recommendations can change with a recent series of events with apps like Digit. Back in 2015, I opened up my Digit account and ended up saving over $6,000 during the two years that I used it. The app was so useful to me that I recommended it to everyone I could. Then, after over a year of using it, they dropped the bombshell – they were going to start charging 3 bucks a month to use the app. Not a huge amount to be sure, but enough for me to stop recommending it – especially since there were free alternatives out there.
It bummed me out that the app that I had been heavily recommending suddenly changed up their business model. I understand they need to make money – and 2 or 3 bucks a month isn’t a lot of money – but I just can’t recommend something that requires you to pay money in order to help optimize your saving. And if I’m not using it, I’m not going to recommend other people to use it.
Ultimately, I feel like it makes me look unreliable if I have to backtrack on a recommendation. Or does it? In today’s post, I figured I’d share some of my thoughts about these fintech apps and whether we can really trust them.
Can We Trust FinTech?
Digit isn’t the first FinTech app that switched up their business models. I was also a fan of Loyal3, a free app that allowed folks to invest small amounts of money into certain individual stocks – as little as $10 even. The nice thing about that app was that it let you invest in partial shares of stock. For folks who just wanted to say they owned a small bit of Amazon or Apple, it was a perfect option.
Unfortunately, Loyal3 ended up closing earlier this year. It’s a real bummer for anyone who wanted a free way to invest in these popular stocks.
Just recently, another fintech app I love, Betterment, changed up their business model by increasing rates from 0.15% to 0.25% for folks with $100,000 or more invested. As I’ve written in the past, I’m a big fan of roboadvisors and think they’re a great way to get someone started with investing.
But for someone with a significant sum of money invested with Betterment, increasing rates suddenly leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Who knows what might happen in the future? And unlike apps like Digit where it’s easy to just close out your account, it’s not quite so easy to close out a brokerage account that suddenly chooses to increase fees.
It’s easy to see why costs change in the fintech world. These are new technologies and new business models. They need to make money – and it’ll take some time before they figure out exactly whether they can make it under their current models.
My guess is, we’ll see other companies pivot in the future as well. I do wonder a bit about what will happen to some of the other free fintech apps out there like Robinhood, WeBull, or M1 Finance. Robinhood and WeBull are apps that allow you to invest in individual stocks and ETFs at no cost. M1 Finance is a free roboadvisor that lets you invest in a diversified portfolio at no cost. Will they really be able to remain free forever? My gut tells me probably not.
So What Can We Do?
With this changing fintech landscape, what’s a tech-savvy personal finance geek to do? The more risk-averse of you might choose not to bother with these apps at all. After all, why spend the time setting up a new app only to have to close it down a few months later.
But on the other hand, I think there’s value in taking advantage of this stuff now while it’s out there. The good thing about fintech is that it’s easy to pivot with it. Signing up for any particular fintech app usually doesn’t take more than a few minutes. If things don’t work out, just close out our account and look for a better alternative. That’s what I’ve been doing.
I don’t recommend Digit anymore, even though I recommended them once before. I could still push it – they offer referral bonuses if I get folks to sign up – but if I’m not using it, I don’t feel right telling others to use it too. And I’m proud of the fact that I don’t just write about apps that offer me an affiliate bonus. The way I see it, if it’s an app I would recommend my friends to use, I’ll recommend it to you too, even if it gives me no monetary benefit.
Ultimately, my fintech recommendations will likely keep changing as business models change and as new stuff pops up on the scene. Don’t be afraid to try new fintech apps out. They might pivot. But you can pivot too.
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More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes and scooters I've reviewed:
- Urban Arrow Ebike – Last year, I made one of the largest purchases I’ve ever made – I bought a $9,000 electric cargo bike from Urban Arrow. In my Urban Arrow review, I will discuss what it is and why I decided to buy this bike, as well as discuss how impactful a bike like this can be on your journey to financial independence.
- Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Ebike – The Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is a fat-tire ebike that I’ve had the pleasure of riding for a while now. It has amazing power, great looks, and awesome range. If you’re looking for a great fat-tire ebike that offers a lot for the price, the Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is definitely one for you to consider. Check out my Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Review.
- Hovsco HovBeta Ebike – The HovBeta is a folding ebike with great specs and a lot of interesting features, and importantly, it’s sold at a good price point. I’ve had a blast commuting with it and using it to do deliveries with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Check out my Hovsco HovBeta Ebike Review.
- Vanpowers Manidae Ebike – The Vanpowers Manidae is a fat tire ebike that I’ve been riding as my primary winter commuting bike and have also been using it to do food delivery with apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. After clocking in a decent number of miles with this ebike, I wanted to write a post sharing what my experience with the Vanpowers Manidae ebike has been like. Check out my Vanpowers Manidae Review.
- Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding EBike Review – A Great Value Folding Ebike – The Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding Ebike is an entry-level folding ebike that offers a lot of value for the price point. I’ve been riding the Sohamo S3 for a while now, putting the bike through its paces, and I have to say, this bike has exceeded all of my expectations. Check out my Sohamo Review.
- KBO Flip Ebike – The KBO Flip is an excellent bike. I’ve had a great time riding it and think it’s a versatile bike that can be used for a lot of purposes and can fit a variety of lifestyles. It’s worked out great for me as a general commuter bike and as a food delivery bike. Check out my KBO Flip Review.
- Hiboy P7 Commuter Ebike – The Hiboy P7 is an excellent electric commuter bike that’s offered at an affordable price point. The range and speed of this bike are both very good, so you won’t have any trouble getting anywhere you need to go with it. As a food delivery vehicle, this is also good – with how much range it offers, you’ll be able to work all day on a single charge. Check out my Hiboy P7 Commuter Electric Bike Review.
- Himiway Escape Ebike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Ebike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Varla Falcon Scooter – The Varla Falcon is an excellent scooter that offers a good amount of power at a lower price point compared to more powerful scooters. It’s not exactly an entry-level scooter, nor is it a high-powered scooter. I think it fits somewhere in-between those two categories – an intermediate scooter if I had to give it a category. Check out my Varla Falcon Review.
- Hiboy S2 Scooter – The Hiboy S2 is an excellent entry-level commuter scooter that's perfect for someone looking to save some money in transportation costs and improve their commute. Check out my Hiboy S2 Review.
- Hiboy S2R Scooter – The Hiboy S2R is one of the more interesting electric scooters I’ve been able to test out. It’s not a high-powered scooter, but for an everyday transport option, it’s very useful, especially given some of the unique features that it has. Indeed, for the price, the Hiboy S2R might be the best value scooter I’ve used. Check out my Hiboy S2R Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
More Recommended Investing App Bonuses
For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:
- M1 Finance ($100) – This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
- SoFi Invest ($25) – SoFi Invest is an easy brokerage account bonus that you can earn with just a few minutes of work. Use my SoFi Invest referral link, fund your SoFi Invest brokerage account with just $10 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
- Webull (20 free stock shares) – Webull's current promotion gives you 20 free shares valued between $3-$3,000 each if you open an account using my referral link. Here’s a guide I wrote about how to earn your free shares using Webull.
- Moomoo (15 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 2 different referral bonuses if you open an account using a referral link. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
- Robinhood (1 free stock) – Robinhood gives you a free stock valued between $2.50-$225 if you open an account using my referral link.
- Public (1 free stock) - Public gives you a free stock valued between $3-$70 if you open an account using my referral link.
More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses
If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.
- Upgrade ($200) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $200 referral bonus if you open an account and complete a direct deposit. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $200 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
- Ally Bank ($100) – Of all the banks out there, Ally is, without a doubt, my favorite. At the moment, Ally is offering $100 to customers who open an eligible Ally account and meet the requirements. Here are the step-by-step directions to earn your Ally Bank referral bonus.
- Fairwinds Credit Union ($175) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union bonus.
- Chime ($100) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
- US Bank Business ($900) – This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, since there are no direct deposit requirements. In addition, you can open the Silver Business Checking account, which comes with no monthly fees. Check out how to earn this big bonus here.
- GO2Bank ($50) - GO2Bank is an easy bank bonus that I recommend people take advantage of if they have an easy way of meeting the direct deposit requirement. I like that it’s easy to open the account and that the bonus pays out quickly. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your GO2Bank $50 referral bonus.
- Current ($50) – Current is a free fintech bank that’s offering new users a $50 referral bonus after signing up for an account using a referral link. Current is an easy bonus to earn and also gives you access to three savings accounts that pay you 4% interest on up to $2,000. That means you can put away up to $6,000 earning 4% interest. That’s very good and makes Current an account I recommend to everyone. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Current Bank bonus.
- Novo Bank ($40) - Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. In addition to being a good bank bonus, Novo is also a good business checking account. It has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements and operates a good app and website. Indeed, it’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog. Check out my post on how to easily open a Novo account.
- Varo ($25) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $25 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $300 if you complete a direct deposit.
- 5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.24% interest on my savings through a company called Raisin. Opening a Raisin account takes minutes to complete, it's free, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured. I explain how it works, why I'm now using it to store my emergency fund and any other cash savings I have, and why I recommend everyone check it out in this review.
- US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $900 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account.
- Empower. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
I was a huge fan of Betterement and probably got several of my friends to open accounts but when they changed their pricing model without grandfathering in the people who helped them grow it was time to walk. Market economics only work when consumers come and go.
I moved my money over to the schwab intelligent platform. I’m fine with the cash allocation and it showed it’s value with the recent drop in February.
The smaller independent roboadvisors will have a tough time keeping up if they are raising their rates during the competition phase of roboadvisor growth.
I’ve always looked at this as taking advantage of the VC funds. If they want to supplement my lifestyle by providing me free (or less than market-price) tools, I’m happy to oblige. Over the years, I’ve had a lot of great value handed over to me with the hope that I’d stick around and become a loyal customer. Sometimes that works and I become a customer but more often than not, the company folds or the prices change such that the value proposition doesn’t make sense for me. In the latter scenario, you have to be prepared to walk away and start again.
But I think it’s easy to see why these companies fail. If you’re not willing to pay a nominal $1-$3/monthly fee for them because they aren’t providing enough value, they’re doomed. It’s not the fee that killed them. It’s the fact that their app/service/whatever doesn’t generate much value in the marketplace.
“As for the last point, I’ve never bought the selling data as a cost to me, the consumer. Google or Facebook selling my data so that it can help sell ads doesn’t cost me any money.”
Would love to discuss this one in depth with you over a beer some time! I go back and forth on it myself but isn’t it like saying, “marketing doesn’t work on me”?
I hate to be a downer, but the trend toward “democratization of services” by investment and banking services free is noble, but idealistic. Free is useful for attracting adopters, but is terrible as a business model. The cost of creating a successful fintech startup, such as Loyal 3, or Digit, or Robinhood is typically in the millions of $. Even when these companies pivot to charging clients a few dollars per month or a nominal AUM fee, the revenues won’t cover their operating costs. We should not be surprised to see these companies fail. Betterment is a great example of a company that is pivoting to save its life after raising literally hundreds of millions of $. Even thought this company is approaching unicorn status, I predict that it will fail within a decade and, more realistically, within five years. The simple reality is that the scale required to be profitable at 15-25 basis points is not achievable.
I used JobSpotter at your recommendation, but all I ever saw was the odd Burger King or Subway hiring sign and those are worth about 5-15 cents a pop.
Just tried out Drop, and it led me to an offer at WealthSimple (similar to Betterment, but with no fees for first year) so I earned a quick $75 in Amazon gift cards with Drop, for trying out WealthSimple and tossing $100 into my account.
Hmm…there are definitely more hiring signs out there than you realize. Admittedly, I do see a lot more hiring signs because I walk and bike a lot, so that’s one thing to consider. It’s harder to see a hiring sign from the road.
Never heard of Drop but sounds interesting. I might need to take a look at it.
Consistency and stability is important when it comes to financial matters and there is no such thing as free service. These fintech apps offer free service in the beginning to attract more customers and once they have met their goals, they will either go up for sale or start charging fees and selling your information to other companies.
People are better off sticking with one or two established solutions/tools to manage their finances rather than keep switching from one solution to another.
If you like a tool, pay the fee and use it to max out its value to you, instead of jumping around to the next fad and creating financial friction.
I use Quicken for account aggregation and google sheets for portfolio tracking. Been using Quicken for over 20 years and it still meets all my financial needs.
I suppose it really depends on the financial friction. Switching investment accounts is definitely a problem. That is a hassle and takes time. Switching a random savings account takes only a few minutes. For example, it literally took me 5 minutes to close my Dobot account. It took me 5 minutes just to open it too. I don’t think spending 5 or 10 minutes to find a better app for that type of financial account is a significant cost. It actually too me more time to write this comment than it did for me to close out my Dobot account!
Can you let me know how you closed yours? I can’t seem to figure it out.
To close your account, email contact@mydobot.com and let them know you want to close your account. They closed mine pretty much as soon as I emailed them.
“Can We Trust FinTech?” No offense but the question sounds naive. The question implies “Can we trust FinTech to do right by the customer?” The answer is no. You cannot trust any business to do right by you. The best you can hope for is they comply with applicable laws and regulations, abide by the service agreement and that there is enough competition to make prices palatable to the customers. No one goes into business to help the public. That’s called a nonprofit or a failed business. You go into business to make a profit.
Take your example with Digit. You write that you saved $6,000 over two years. Then they charged $3/month so you switched to Dobot which was “free” at the time. When Dobot started charging $1.99/month, you imply that that you stopped using both. “And if I’m not using it, I’m not going to recommend other people to use it.”
That seems like you are cutting off your nose to spite your face. If you were saving $6,000 over two years with Digit, the implication is you could save $6,000 – $72 (Digit monthly fees for two years) = $5,928 over two years after they imposed the fee. You avoid $72 in fees but forgo $5,928 in savings? What is the logic in that? If Dobot was truly the same service, you could save $6,000 – $48 = $5,952 over two years which is better than the $5,928 you could save with Digit. Given those three choices: Digit with fees, Dobot with fees and neither with no savings, they clear choice is Dobot.
This post reminds me of my late father. He would get personally offended when he “discovered” a business was making money off of him. Take trading commission as an example. Granted they were much higher back when my dad was in the market but he would complain to the stock broker, he would complain to my mother, he would complain to me, etc. I would tell him that if the broker didn’t charge a commission, they wouldn’t make money. If they didn’t make money, they would shut down the business. If they shut down the business, he couldn’t trade stocks. If he valued trading stocks, he should be prepared to pay for the privilege. Rather than complain, he should see if the market is working meaning see if he could find lower cost brokers. He would respond that any commission was too much. Then I would tell him that if the broker didn’t charge a commission, they wouldn’t make money. If they didn’t make money…you get the point. It was a never ending circular argument. In my father’s case, I decided he just liked to complain.
I take a different approach. I’m invested in Betterment too. After the price increase, I looked around and really couldn’t find anyone significantly cheaper. There is also an inconvenience in changing from Betterment to some other RoboAdvisor. Betterment probably looked at the market and realized that they could increase to 0.25% because most of the market was in that range. The value proposition is always the same regardless of fees or no fees. Are you better off using a service than not using a service? If the answer is yes, you should use the service. The secondary question is “Can I get my current service for less cost?” If the answer is yes, you should switch services.
Just to put a point on it, “free” services are not free. They may be no monetary fee but you likely selling off some of your privacy for the service – this include email services, web browsing services, VOIP services, etc. When you recommended those free services, you were likely implicitly recommending people give up some of their privacy in exchange for the service.
Well, I definitely know this post was decent if it draws some debate! Really appreciate the insightful comment Dan!
So I guess my thinking is that there’s a fourth option for me. I could pay fees to either company, find a company that has no fees, or do it myself. In my choice, I’d pick either of the last two options. Yes, Digit helped me save $6,000 over two years, but I guess, the way I see it, I could have done the same without having to pay $72.
I have no problem with companies making money – they definitely should. I suppose my issue is that for certain types of financial products, it’s not so hard to switch. I’m still a Betterment user myself, but I can see why folks were upset by it. They signed up expecting one price, then ended up getting charged more later. Of course, if you’re getting value out of the fee, then keep with it. For me, the reason I recommended apps like Digit and Dobot were because the cost seemed worthwhile to me. A small fee, even if not that much, makes it no longer worthwhile for me. Instead of sticking with it, I’ll pivot to another company.
As for the last point, I’ve never bought the selling data as a cost to me, the consumer. Google or Facebook selling my data so that it can help sell ads doesn’t cost me any money.
I didn’t read the Betterment service agreement too closely but I’m sure that they reserved the right to change the pricing structure. Anyone expecting the 0.15% fee to last indefinitely was foolish or naive. Now the price is 0.25%. If Betterment could charge more without a loss of customers, I have no doubt they would charge more. If competition forces the market price down, Betterment will lower the 0.25% fee. Simple market economics, you charge what you think the market will bear. If you want a price that is firm forever, you have to get it in writing and good luck with that.
All this pivoting comes with a cost. If not an explicit cost, then a time cost. While you are researching alternative and familiarizing yourself with their user interface and rules, you could be doing something else. Would you pay $3/month to be doing that something else? It depends on how you would have otherwise spent your time.
Selling your data is not an explicit cost but it does raise privacy issues. On the internet, there is no absolute privacy but there are degrees of privacy. Thought experiment: when Digit was free, how did they make money? They earned interest on the money sitting in the Digit accounts but in hindsight that wasn’t enough because they had to impose a fee. One way they could have supplemented revenues (maybe still do) is that they sold your data to marketers of credit cards, banking services, loans and other more specific products based on your debit card transactions. This data may or may not have had to ABA routing number/account number. This data may or may not have had your home address. Everyone knows that marketers are the most scrupulous protectors of private data.
Avoiding identity theft in the modern world is about minimizing the amount of personal & sensitive data that is disseminated. Avoiding free apps helps reduce amount of personal & sensitive data that is disseminated. Avoiding multiple apps also helps.
It is a bit frustrating when we write about these apps only to have our reviews become obsolete a few weeks later. I used to promote Digit quite a bit as a great tool for people to use to automatically save, and when the fee came out i stopped recommending them for Dobot. I also got that email and have now started recommending Qapital instead as well. Who knows how long they’ll be fee-free.
I think it comes down to a lot of these apps and fintech companies are operating on startup capital and infusions of cash, and at some point they realize they have to start making money somehow – beyond the interest they’re getting on holding your money. Without a solid way of making enough money any other way they almost have to start charging a fee.
I have a decent amount of money with WiseBanyan currently, and love their service, however, I expect them to have to start charging money in some way at some point. They only recently stopped their $20 referrals for new users, and added a couple of premium add on services, so I can’t imagine an announcement adding a annual management fee is far behind. Can’t imagine how they’ll stick around if they don’t.
At some point it becomes almost like they’re all trying to pump up their user base at the beginning at any cost, only to try and cash in on it later on when the money situation becomes untenable.
My feeling on the topic after seeing new FinTech startups come and go over the past 9 years of blogging is to sign up for the ones you like, and enjoy them while you can. The best ones will find a good business model and stick around, while others will either be sold to a bigger company or disappear completely. Most of them will just fade away, but the good will stick around. Enjoy the ride and be aware that tomorrow they may not be there.
Agree with you 100%. I think we’ve got similar thinking here – use em while we can and if they change, switch to something else. Easy enough to do with most of these apps. It’s not like it takes a ton of time to sign up for a new app.
And yep, I definitely think they’re just trying to pump up their user base. I imagine it helps them to get more VC funding. Really curious about if their user base fell a ton once they added the fees. I imagine it must’ve.