Personal Finance apps (was: Money Dashboard apps closing down)

janusdesign

email from Moneyhub today about the future...

We have exciting news about your Moneyhub service! Since launching in 2014, Moneyhub has helped thousands of people manage their financial well-being. As we now focus on supporting enterprise businesses, we've found the perfect partner to take over the Moneyhub app and continue serving customers like you. Meet WPS Advisory, an existing Moneyhub client who runs a successful white-label version of our app technology called LifeStage. They share our commitment to protecting your data and won't try to sell you unnecessary products. What's changing: •        WPS Advisory will manage your app going forward •        Same Moneyhub platform underneath with familiar features •        Your historical data and connections will be preserved •        Bonus: Over the coming months, you’ll get access to premium features including document storage, enhanced modellers, and optional financial advice during a trial period How it works: Starting mid-July, you'll see a simple migration screen when you log in. You can choose to migrate and keep your account with WPS Advisory or export your data if you prefer not to continue. For subscription users: We will honour the full term of every user's subscription, ensuring you receive the service you subscribed for. If you don't migrate before your current subscription expires, we'll notify you and help you export your data before account deletion.  For trial users: If you don't migrate or log in before the end of August, we'll notify you and offer data export before account deletion. Don't worry - we'll send multiple reminders, and you can export your data and delete your account anytime if you prefer. We're confident you'll love the service with WPS Advisory. The entire Moneyhub team will be moving their personal accounts there too! Thank you for your support over the years - you've helped shape a product that transforms financial lives. The Moneyhub team

Find out more about WPS Advisory   Q) Why will Moneyhub no longer offer the app directly?  A) Moneyhub provide our technology to some of the world’s leading financial institutions as they’ve sought to provide better digital experiences for customers of their banking, pensions and insurance products.  It’s through our enterprise clients that we’ve been able to have the greatest impact. As such we have taken the decision to focus exclusively on supporting enterprise businesses. Q) Early this year it was reported that Moneyhub were shutting down their App; why are you only telling us about this now? A) Moneyhub's preferred option has always been to find a new home for the Moneyhub App. In February we shared the news about our shift in focus with our clients. Several of them expressed an interest in taking over the app, amongst them WPS Advisory. Q) Will I be migrated automatically, even if I don't want to? A) No, migration will be based on your explicit consent. Your options should you choose not to migrate are set out above. Q) Will the app still look the same and and behave in the same way and have the same functionality? A) The app branding will change but otherwise the app will seem very familiar to experienced users. Moneyhub continue to provide the underlying technology and will host the app. Q) If I migrate will the subscription I have paid for still be valid? A) Yes, you will enjoy exactly the same subscription period before being offered the option to resubscribe - this time with WPS Q) If I have any questions, who should I go to for help? A) Our support team remains the same and are dedicated to helping with a smooth transition.

dan91

Got the same email. Little worrying that no mention of any pricing ext going forward. Will have to see what happens. Been using Actual Budget for a little while though with GoCardless. So if they up the price or anything I think i'll bail.

block10

dan91 said:

Got the same email. Little worrying that no mention of any pricing ext going forward. Will have to see what happens. Been using Actual Budget for a little while though with GoCardless. So if they up the price or anything I think i'll bail.

Wonder if it will be free but "WPS Advisory" may try to cross sell financial products. 

SamDude

dan91 said:

Got the same email. Little worrying that no mention of any pricing ext going forward. Will have to see what happens. Been using Actual Budget for a little while though with GoCardless. So if they up the price or anything I think i'll bail.

Does Actual work on a smartphone? I've started looking into it and the FAQ says the mobile app has been deprecated, but it can be used via webapp pages?

dan91

SamDude said:

dan91 said:

Got the same email. Little worrying that no mention of any pricing ext going forward. Will have to see what happens. Been using Actual Budget for a little while though with GoCardless. So if they up the price or anything I think i'll bail.

Does Actual work on a smartphone? I've started looking into it and the FAQ says the mobile app has been deprecated, but it can be used via webapp pages?

Yes works fine (Tip if you change your phone from portrait to landscape you get the full desktop view). You can either keep going to url in the web browser or create a webapp where it puts an icon on your phone so it looks like an app. I think they are called PWAs (if you search that you will find loads of info and how to do it) But short version when on the web page you need to click something like add to home screen.
Basically to you it looks like an app but really its a web brower that just auto goes to that url and hides all the other web browser stuff like new tabs / bookmarks ext.

block10 said:

dan91 said:

Got the same email. Little worrying that no mention of any pricing ext going forward. Will have to see what happens. Been using Actual Budget for a little while though with GoCardless. So if they up the price or anything I think i'll bail.

Wonder if it will be free but "WPS Advisory" may try to cross sell financial products. 

Possible I have a horrible feeling they will still charge then also take every opportunity to sell you products.

Reading through the T&C's of the current one it looks like they charge £5/month + VAT if this is the correct one that its merging into.

https://lifestageadvice.com
https://lifestageadvice.com/terms-and-conditions/

4. Subscription and Payment

4.1 Subscription Fees

The basic subscription level is £5 per employee/user per month (excluding VAT), with additional, more expensive tiers available for enhanced features, as displayed at the time of subscription. All fees include applicable taxes, such as VAT, as required by UK law.

This could end up around £72 a year? Which is a massive increase from the current.

janusdesign

block10 said:

dan91 said:

Got the same email. Little worrying that no mention of any pricing ext going forward. Will have to see what happens. Been using Actual Budget for a little while though with GoCardless. So if they up the price or anything I think i'll bail.

Wonder if it will be free but "WPS Advisory" may try to cross sell financial products. 

it won't be free - at best, it stays the same as now.. more likely, it follows the pricing structure laid out by @dan91... thankfully, any new pricing structure won't affect me until my subscription renewal at the start of April, by which time we'll know if everything still works for our needs.

£15 to £72 per year would be quite a leap, though I could probably live with it - but that would be dependent upon the quality of support provided, e.g connections being fixed / maintained (a task for Yodlee more likely), accounts being moved to the correct section etc - for £15 a year, I can live with them taking months to resolve connections (or in some cases just giving up trying) - for a fiver a month, i'd expect quicker resolution.

for comparison, Mounument Bank membership would be over £200 per year - though that includes a digital subscription to FT (worth £468)... it would be interesting to know from any Monument subscribed members how good that service is.

Doshwaster

I think I would be happy with a moderate price increase if it funded improved features but £72 would probably be too much and send me looking at alternatives.

If apps like MoneyHub are to be financially viable they really need to look at how they increase the number of people using them rather than trying to get more money out of their current user base. 

1spiral

I would be happy with a price increase if they included all savings accounts( although I believe it is the institutions that restrict this access). The current setup is great for current account management but the manual process for savings accounts is too unwieldy. I have to use excel to manage my savings accounts because of this.

Doshwaster

1spiral said:

I would be happy with a price increase if they included all savings accounts( although I believe it is the institutions that restrict this access). The current setup is great for current account management but the manual process for savings accounts is too unwieldy. I have to use excel to manage my savings accounts because of this.

I have a few accounts which can only be updated manually and I don't find it too much of a problem. I just go in every few weeks and update the total balances - I'm not too bothered about the individual transactions.  Other accounts need a 2FA to update which is fine if you are only doing it occasionally.

The biggest annoyance for me is how limited the charting and reporting is. There are loads of 3rd party widgets they could just drop in in which would improve the functionality.