Let me ask you a few questions…
- Are you having trouble saving money?
- Do you wish personal finance could be easier?
- Do you cry when looking at your bank account?
Everyone wishes they could save more and spend less.
However, few people accomplish this goal. Why?
The most common problem is that:
- You have no clue how much you are spending; and
- You have no clue where your money is going.
According to the Center for Financial Services Innovation…
…about half of Americans spend as much or MORE than they are currently earning.
This type of financial stress is dangerous.
In fact, poor financial health can lead to poor mental and physical health.
And who has time to pay bills or purposely save money, anyway?
Here is where financial automation can save your [financial] life.
Financial Automation
Remember the days of balancing checkbooks and paying for things in cash?
Don’t you miss those days?
Of course you don’t miss those days…
…because things are so much easier these days!
Financial automation is a beautiful thing because you can avoid sacrificing your limited brainpower on these menial tasks.
You can use this tool to do these tasks for you.
However, automation can be a blessing and a curse.
On the one hand, you save time paying bills with autopay.
On the other hand, you can completely forget about autopay.
Think about…
- The gym membership that you never use.
- The Audible credits that are stacking up.
- The 7-day free trial that you signed up for 338 days ago.
Does this sound familiar?
If so, you are not alone.
In this case, your forgotten auto-pay accounts have made your life more difficult.
But unfortunately, there are few companies with your financial best interest in mind.
Meanwhile, more and more companies are operating with this subscription-based model.
This could be in the form of hidden fees, difficult-to-cancel subscriptions, or recurring payment plans.
Fortunately, there is at least one company out to make life easy and save you hundreds of dollars.
Enter Truebill.
The company that lets you take control of your money.
Truebill will help you combat forgotten subscriptions, and much more.
Truebill: Overview
Managing finances can be hard.
Fortunately, Yahya Mokhtarzada stumbled upon this problem after being charged for in-flight wifi he had signed up for months prior.
Frustrated, Mokhtarzada set out to remedy this all-too-common problem.
He joined his brother, Idris, and founded Truebill, an app that detects and monitors your recurring subscriptions.
Truebill makes it easy to optimize your spending, lower your bills, and stay on top of your financial life.
You can think of Truebill as your automated financial assistant.
You can use Truebill to…
- Lower your bills
- Manage your subscriptions
- Monitor for service provider outages (and save money)
- Save on your utility bills
- Beat bank charges from your bank
- Track your finances
- Save your money
The company looks at your financial habits, tracks your bills, and provides personal finance reports.
Collectively, Truebill makes saving money easy.
According to Truebill, the company has helped people save over $14 million since 2015.
Here is what some users are saying (via Truebill.com):
“Truebill is awesome, saved me hundreds of dollars by finding an old blog host subscription I had forgotten about.”
“Very cool..used Truebill and found several subscriptions I did not know I was paying for. Now canceled. Yes! #savingmoney”
So, how much can Truebill save you? Read on to find out!
Truebill: Lower Your Bills
Let’s start with lowering your bills.
With this option, Truebill will negotiate with your various services providers.
The most common re-negotiations come from the following services:
- Cable
- Internet
- Cell Phone
These service providers include AT&T, Comcast, Verizon, Spring, Audible, and more!
Here is how Truebill lowers your bills:
Step 1: Connect your bill
Start by connecting your bill in one of two ways:
- Logging in; or
- Snapping a photo
Once complete, Truebill’s expert negotiators immediately get to work for you.
These money-saving experts can unlock hidden discounts and promo rates available to you.
Step 2: Truebill renegotiates your bill
Truebill gets to work to negotiate your bill.
You should know that Truebill never downgrades or removes your services.
Instead, the company lowers your bill by:
- Negotiating a better rate; or
- Getting a one-time credit applied to your account
Truebill saves its customers 20% on existing telecom plans through negotiation, on average.
Step 3: You save money
Once the negotiation process is complete…
…Truebill will e-mail you letting you know your savings!
When Truebill negotiates for you, the company charges 40% of the yearly savings.
For example, if Truebill saves you $100/yr., you will keep $60 and pay $40.
The payment is required immediately, and you technically lose money the first month (but save money over time).
If Truebill cannot negotiate savings, you pay nothing.
To lower your bills, select “TrueProtect” on the Dashboard, then add the bills you want to lower.
Truebill: Manage Your Subscriptions and Bills
Truebill can save you money by flagging recurring charges in your bank statements.
You start by connecting your checking and credit cards account to the app.
Through the financial encrypting services, “Plaid,” simply enter your account information in the Truebill app.
Once your account information is input, Truebill review all of your data and flags the following:
- Recurring bills
- Changes to bills
- Opportunities to lower bills
You can view these bills under the “Recurring” tab in the app.
From there, you can select any Subscription to see details and cancel, as necessary.
Another great feature is “mapping” bills to a calendar.
Truebill shows you when your automatic bills are taken out of your account.
You can also review bills and see whether the amount you are paying has changed over time.
You can use this information to cancel your unused subscriptions.
Additionally, Truebill offers a premium service.
With Truebill Premium, you can have the company cancel your unused services for you.
Simply select “Cancel Service,” and you are good to go!
You can sign-up for Truebill Premium for just $4.99 per month.
You may be asking: is the cost worth the benefit?
It depends.
If you have multiple unused subscriptions, you could spend hours canceling.
If this is the case, I would say that Truebill is absolutely worth the cost.
Think about it – $5 for, say, two hours of your time? That is an easy choice.
If you can quickly cancel yourself, the regular service will work just fine.
Truebill: Monitor for Outages
This is a minor, but very cool feature that Truebill offers.
Let’s say your cable or internet provider has an outage in your area.
When this happens, Truebill will request a credit to your account.
You may be thinking…
…my cable provider has outages ALL THE TIME.
If this is the case, Truebill saves its users $96 on average.
Similar to Bill Negotiation, Truebill keeps 40% of the outage savings.
With Truebill on your side, you will be wishing for outages!
Truebill: Save Money on Electricity
The Electric Save feature is available in select areas.
These areas are where electricity is “deregulated.”
If you are in one of these areas, Truebill will partner with Arcadia Power to find you the lowest cost electric possible.
Some users report up to 30% savings on their electricity bill.
Truebill: Avoid Overdraft Charges
For Premium users, Truebill automatically requests refunds for overdraft and late fees.
You may be surprised at how forgiving banks are for first-time or rare overdraft offenders.
Simply turn on “Fee Refunds.”
However, to avoid this issue altogether, Truebill offers Balance Alerts.
Balance Alerts inform you any time your balance drops below a certain threshold.
Truebill: Track Spending and Budgeting Tools
To track your spending, go over to the “Spending” tab.
Here you will see monthly reports of…
- Your overall financial health
- Where your money is going
- How your spending is changing over time
You can also view a full list of transactions and review transactions across all accounts.
Additionally, you can start budgeting by selecting the “Start Budget” box on the Dashboard.
The budgeting tools let you keep track of your spending by category.
Truebill: Smart Savings
Smart Savings is an easy, smart way to save money for your financial goals.
The Smart Savings accounts with Truebill are FDIC insured U.S. bank accounts.
Here is how to set-up your Smart Savings account:
-
- Go to Dashboard
- Scroll to your account balances and select Smart Savings
- On the next page, select Get Started
- From there, choose your goal (e.g., Retirement)
- Pick the frequency of your deposits
- Select how much you would like to deposit each time
- Review your account set-up
- Select Complete
For security purposes, money deposited into the account must be withdrawn to the checking account in which it came.
Truebill: Reviews, Blog, and more!
OK – Truebill has many features, and some do not deserve an entire section.
So, here is everything else you need to know:
Truebill Reviews
Here you can explore, compare, and review subscription service providers.
Categories include Books, Finance, Entertainment, and Shopping, to name a few.
Truebill Blog
The Truebill blog offers many money-saving tips.
Topics include things like:
- 7 Gadgets That Will Reduce Your Utility Bills
- How to Organize Receipts: 10 Tips to Simplify for Tax Time
- How to Avoid Credit Card Late Fees
- All About Transition Budgeting and How it Will Finally Fix Your Finances
- How to Save Money on Cable and Internet
You may be able to supercharge your savings by reading the blog.
Did you know to call your cable company to tell them about better, competing offers can get them to lower your bill?
I had no idea.
Truebill New Features
Truebill is always adding new features.
One of the company’s goals is to become the central hub of running your finances!
Stay tuned for more features to come soon…
Truebill Customer Service
Truebill offers plenty of advice and answers straight from the team.
You can get answers to questions like:
- How do I cancel a bill negotiation?
- Why is my account not linking?
- How can I cancel Truebill Premium?
- Where can I view my subscriptions and bills?
- How do I get the most out of Truebill?
You can also Chat in App with the support team:
- In the app select the ? in the top right corner
- If you are on web select the chat icon on the bottom left
Alternatively, you can utilize the Webform here.
Truebill Fees
You are here to save money, not spend money.
Truebill is a free app, but it is not free indefinitely.
You can upgrade to Truebill Premium for $35.99 annually or $4.99 per month.
The best option for you is likely the monthly option.
You can pay the $4.99, cancel your unwanted bills, and then cancel the Premium service.
If you want to lower your bills, Truebill charges 40% of the annual savings in the first year.
This fee is charged as soon as the bill re-negotiation is complete.
As mentioned, if Truebill cannot renegotiate lower bills, you pay nothing.
Overall, the fees are reasonable and can save you significant time and money.
Is Truebill Safe to Use?
Truebill works by connecting to your financial accounts.
With that said, safety is likely one of your concerns.
The company uses bank-level, 256-bit encryption, and has read-level access to your information.
Additionally, Plaid is used to connect to over 15,000 financial institutions across the U.S securely.
Therefore, you do not need to worry about your accounts getting charged.
Truebill will not sell your data to third parties without your consent.
However, Truebill does advertise insurance and credit cards on the site.
If you choose to connect to these companies, your information will be passed to these companies.
If you have any questions or concerns, you may get in touch at privacy@truebill.com.
What We Love About Truebill
Identifies recurring payments
Everyone should review their account for unnecessary, recurring payments.
This could take hours to do on your own. Even worse, you may be wasting hundreds of dollars annually and getting no benefit.
Truebill can help you find these financial leaks and get them under control.
Identifies unique savings opportunities
If you are unknowingly wasting money, Truebill will let you know.
For example, you can get a discount on cable and internet for outages.
Who would have thought that was possible? Apparently Truebill.
Also, Truebill is the only app that goes after late fees and overdraft fees.
Gets you back on track
If you are wasting money, it can stop today.
Truebill will stop the waste and get you back on track.
If you have read this far, ignorance is no longer an excuse!
What We Don’t Love About Truebill
Takes 40% of savings in the first year
Don’t get us wrong – the Truebill service is great.
However, there is nothing magic about what this company is doing.
If you have the desire, you can do your research and renegotiate your bills for free (but see our comment above about the hours of time).
In which case, the 40% charge may be a little steep.
Truebull Summary
Billions of dollars each year go toward subscriptions.
Given that alone, most people can benefit from Truebill.
Because let’s face it, we are all guilty of signing up for things…
…and then immediately forgetting.
Truebill can help provide insight to help us manage our forgetfulness.
Outside of that, Truebill offers many different services to save you money.
So, let us recap what Truebill can do for you:
- Negotiate the cheapest bills possible
- Identify and cancel unused subscriptions
- Fight back against service provider outages
- Find the cheapest utility bills
- Get your overdraft fees returned
- Budget and save your money
Remember, the many parts of the overall services are entirely free.
I use Truebill to monitor my subscriptions (which does not cost me a dime!)
I recommend the service for this reason alone.
But perhaps you can benefit from the other uses of this service.
Like I said, it may be worth signing up for the Premium service for a limited time.
From there, you can switch to the free service without skipping a beat.
So, go ahead and get started by downloading the free Truebill app.
You may be surprised at what you find.
Let us know who how much money you are (or aren’t) wasting on unused subscriptions below!