Anyone use finance website Mint.com? Can you tell me about it?

I'm curious if anyone uses the finance tool / website Mint.com? I've been looking for a new finance tool for the past two years. I heard recently lots of praise for Mint.com, and explored it a bit. But I don't really "get" it. I was hoping to hear from some regular individuals to get a better sense of how it works and why people like it.

So if you're a current or former Mint.com user, I'm interested in what you've got to say about it.

I WANT to use it I'm just too chicken@#@% to try doing my finances electronically, I know how easy it is to get that stuff compromised.

I LOVE the money quote on this one, via Daring Fireball:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/securityfix/2009/10/avoid_windows_malware_bank_on.html

I just read that article. Sent it to my dad, who runs a small accounting business.

The comments on Mint is that it connects through Yodlee which goes to your bank info just as the bank / bank website does. That is, if you're afraid of Mint.com, you need to close out your bank account altogether, because it's the same stuff. :)

Mint was recently acquired by Intuit. How can I put this delicately? Lets just say it will be "interesting" to see what happens to Mint.com over the next year or so.

As far as not using Windows to access your bank data, good luck with that. While you might not use it your bank almost certainly does. Heck, I have even heard that a lot of ATMs and point-of-sale machines use XP. Some of the security breaches that article highlights were actually problems that originated at the bank, not the user's system.

If your system is infected with malware, I doubt a live CD is going to help. The bad guys will have access to your email account and that is probably enough to get the information they need. Plus, most people using a live CD will probably end up using simple, easy to remember passwords because the live CD won't save that data. Most will probably use a common password that they use on all their web sites which their malware infected PC has already supplied to the bad guys. Then there is the problem of incredibly slow boot times making the entire process a PITA.

I better recommendation than using a live CD would be to do all your online activity (web browsing/email) with a linux based virtual machine. VirtualPC is free, loaded it up with Ubuntu and you are all set.

A better recommendation even still is to take a little time to learn about computer security. Computers are powerful tools and if you don't learn to use them properly you going to have problems.

Some banks have two factor authentication schemes that help as well. For instance, with Bank of America, you can arrange it so that every time you try and access your account, B of A will send you a text message with a code (changes every login) that you also have to enter. So even if the bad guys had your name and password, they couldn't get in unless they had your cell phone.

An Apple machine is an option, at least for now (I use a MacBook myself). Although it may not always be. Of course, things like phishing scams work just as well on OS X users as Windows users.

-Keith

I really like mint.  I strongly prefer it to Quicken.  I too am very curious how things will work out with Intuit recently purchasing mint.  If you have specific questions about it, let me know.  I used to use it a little more actively than I do now . . .I've been a little slack on that recently.

Is soley a "window" into your accounts, showing your finances as-is? Or can you use it like Quicken, entering deposits, withdrawls and transfers ahead of time to plan for when they really hit your accounts? Similarly, does it have budgeting tools? (Ok, it has budget tools according to its front page :)) Ok, does it categorize automatically, or allow manual categorization?

I'm used to 10+ years of MS Money, manual entry of receipts to verify credit card statements, putting in bills to show balance and make sure I won't bounce the payment check. I don't yet get what Mint is about.


Edited by DaveF - 10/16/09 at 5:54pm

I believe it was the 20th century sage "Bugs Bunny" who said "He don't know me vewwy well, do he?"

I find the budgeting tools to be far superior to Quicken.  Also, Mint does auto-categorize transactions and also allows you to update those categorizations manually.  Additionally, you can add new categories and also "tag" transactions with custom tags in addition to their assigned categories.

Adding transactions manually is the big failing of Mint for a lot of people.  Where I feel Mint beats out most of its competition in almost all areas, they do not currently offer the ability to add transactions manually which could be a significant failing for many users.