Manage Your Money with Your Smartphone

You have a fantastic money management tool sitting right inside your pocket right now. No — it’s not that crumpled up receipt. It’s your smartphone. 

Find out how you can use your smartphone to manage your money better than ever. 

Download a Mobile Banking App

Do you use a mobile banking app? If you don’t, you need to start. 

Mobile banking allows you to manage your bank accounts whenever you like. You don’t have to rush to the nearest bank branch during your far-too-short coffee break to check your account balance or transfer funds. And you definitely don’t have to panic when you get to the bank too late in the day and see that it’s closed. As long as your smartphone has some juice in the battery, you can access your app and do your banking, no matter the time or the day of the week. 

Your mobile banking app can also come with some convenient features that you’ll want to take advantage of. These are some features yours might have:

• Mobile check deposit. You can take a picture of your paper check with your smartphone and deposit it through your mobile app. 
• Mobile alerts. Your bank can send you notifications to bring your attention to important account activity. For instance, a low balance alert could notify you that your checking account balance has dipped below a certain threshold, which puts you at risk of bouncing checks or going into overdraft. 
• ATM locators. Your app will show nearby ATMs that are in your network. This can help you avoid paying out-of-network ATM fees on a frequent basis. 

Over-the-Phone Borrowing

Sometimes, an emergency expense will fall right into your lap. You’ll need to bring your car to the mechanic for repairs. You’ll need to call a plumber to fix your bathroom toilet. You’ll need to go to your dentist to treat a terrible toothache. Hopefully, when these types of expenses show up, you’ll have enough savings sitting in your emergency fund to cover them out of pocket. 

If you don’t have enough savings, don’t panic. Your smartphone could help you get out of this. You can use your phone to apply for a personal loan. With an approved personal loan, you can use temporary funds to pay for that emergency expense in a short amount of time. And then once it’s paid for, you can follow a steady loan repayment plan. 

How can you apply? Look at these over the phone options for a personal loan. They could get you through an emergency. 

Budgeting Apps

You have trouble with keeping track of your spending. You have a knack for going overboard and spending more than you can afford to throughout the month. This leads to problems like getting late penalties for your bills, putting your checking account into overdraft and pinching pennies for days before your next paycheck gets deposited. You can avoid all of this by following a good personal budget.

The easiest way to follow a personal budget is through a top-quality budgeting app. You can download the app onto your smartphone and follow the instructions to fill out your budgeting categories. The app will likely sync with your financial accounts, including your checking account, savings accounts, credit card accounts and any investment accounts that you currently have. This will make it easier to track where your budgeted funds are going.

What budgeting apps are out there?

• Mint
• YNAB (You Need a Budget)
• Goodbudget
• Pocketguard
• Empower
• HoneyDue
• Zeta
• EveryDollar
• Simplifi
• Mvelopes

Do your research and choose the app that suits you best.

Your smartphone isn’t just great for scrolling through social media or keeping up with friends. As you can see, you can use it to manage all of your money.