If Mint wasn't free

[SteveO]

What would you do if Mint decided to collect a lot of users but decide to charge a monthly fee to use this wonderful service?

[watchinginkdry]

Depends--if they let us know when things like displaying categories over time, manual transaction input, adding oft-requested banks, etc., were going to happen and then stuck to the timeline I'd consider it. If they were still incommunicative (Damon's gone and nobody's replaced him yet, yes?), I'd prolly drop the service.

[SkippyFlipjack]

What would you do if Mint decided to collect a lot of users but decide to charge a monthly fee to use this wonderful service?Not sure what you mean by "collect a lot of users". That they were going with a loss-leader model where "free" got everyone in the door for the first year or two?

Personally, I don't think they offer a good enough service to charge for it. Not just because of the various bugs and quirks, but because there are plenty of other free options (although I think Mint is the best of the lot), and the for-pay options are so full-featured. Quicken Online, for example, only charges $3/month and it's got the weight of 20 years of personal financial management behind it. I think Mint would probably lose 90% of their users; depending on how their referral program is going, that may or may not be preferable.

[SteveO]

Its hard to believe referrals keep this site going.

[danep]

@watchinginkdry - Agreed, if they were more responsive or at least communicative about rolling out new features and fixes, I would be willing to pay a few bucks / month. But considering how many bugs there are like the recent budgets-not-updating-for-the-ENTIRE-MONTH-OF-JUNE incident... I expect most people would run for the hills if expected to pay...

[sftl99]

I have to agree with the general consensus that because of bugs and lack of communication in acknowledging and fixing them, I would have to use a different service.

Fix the bugs in a timely manner and communicate with people on the forums and you've got yourself a product. Although there's still the issue of missing features that people are looking for.

[spencer]

I wouldn't use it if it wasn't free.

[mintfeedback]

If the same quality of service existed after charging a fee as does now, there's no way I'd keep using Mint. Once they start charging a fee, I (and a lot of other users, I think) would have a really hard time justifying staying around despite the lack of communication, no clue as to future features or their release dates, atrociously long delays in getting customer service issues responded to, and so forth.

As it stands, I'm willing to give them a pass, as, hey, it's free (even if they are making some amount of cash on the "Ways to Save" feature). But the current product isn't worth paying for.

It's a pity, because I do like Mint, but if they were to charge, they'd really need to step it up.

[gravescp]

If mint switched to an envelope budgeting system I would pay today!! It would have to be at least as robust as mvelopes.

[jl0810]

Ive been hanging around here in Mint and using the service for a few weeks, and I'm taking this time to write this (and still logging in to this services) because I see SERIOUS UNTAPPED POTENTIAL. Mint could have it all but the bugs, the not-so-great investment feature recently rolled out, etc are just enough to keep you loggin in a few days here or there, but not really using this for anything more than a raw novelty.

We all want Mint to succeed, but I have to admit I have serious doubts

[amandy]

I've been a Mint user for over a year now - and it's been a great tool for me. My usage of the site is slowing now though, because I cannot get around the problems and issues that I am having, and I'm getting no response on them. Not only can I not add many new accounts (Student Loan, new credit card, local credit union car loan), but old accounts no longer function (Juniper credit card!). This makes it difficult for me to get a full financial picture, and if I can't have that, then Mint becomes a waste of time.

If by charging a fee for full-featured service, Mint could fix these problems, support smaller banks, and respond to bugs and service requests within a day's time, I would pay. But they would have to prove valuable.

[Stephen]

Depends--if they let us know when things like displaying categories over time, manual transaction input, adding oft-requested banks, etc., were going to happen and then stuck to the timeline I'd consider it. If they were still incommunicative (Damon's gone and nobody's replaced him yet, yes?), I'd prolly drop the service.

Hi watchinginkdry,

My name is Stephen and I recently replaced Damon here at Mint. We update new features on Mint Announcement forums whenever we launch new features. Manual transactions are certainly a popular request and we're considering many different, and cool, features that our Mint users are requesting. With regards to newly added banks and financial institutions keep an eye on the forum Beta Banks

http://forums.mint.com/showthread.php?t=4695

We're also working hard on some other automation will improve notification of newly added banks, as well as temporary known issues, to Mint.

Thanks for the feedback. We LOVE all the great feedback both the great and not so great. It helps us either way. So, thanks and thanks for using Mint!

[pabloward]

I would definitely pay a small fee for mint.

I have been using Mint for 1.5 months and have been incredibly pleased with the site and service. It provides all the basic budgeting and reporting needs that I have to make financial decisions. During this time I have encountered only 1 problem (it won't log on to 1 of my 13 accounts -- Oppenheimer Pinnacle). My situation is not particularly simple, we have many accounts, reimbursable expenses, costs that are "split" between two categories. The ease at which I learned and adopted the Mint system made the process of budget and investment tracking almost painless.

I don't if the gripes are from a few vocal people or remnants from previous issues now resolved, but I think Mint provides exactly the straightforward budgeting and investment tracking I need in these tighter time. In fact, my only real concern is the companies financial viability without a service fee.

[nrek123]

The question/answers are misconstrued.
You ask "Would you drop Mint if...?

The answer option :

"No, I would head for the hills...

I hope you guys are not making decisions based on this.

and to answer the question. I would pay one dollar a month, no more, there are other free models out there.

[mburdsall]

I fully agree. I see alot of potential with the current features and alot of growth potential into new areas. There are a number of great enhancements and/or corrections that users have suggestion that would greatly improve the product and the use of the product.

There seems to be an active and interested user base and Mint should take advatange of that tool and cultivate it to its advantage.

They also need to improve there communications to the user base. It would be nice to have some more visbility as to roadmap for the product and release schedules. Also to have active user input to the roadmap would be great and probably strengthen user loyalty.

i would hate to see mint fail.

[eric_in_slc]

How about this for an idea:

Offer to add extra accounts to the mint system (or other support options) for a reasonable fee (e.g. I'd pay $5 or $10 to have my auto loan added to the credit union account that's already in Mint's system). Then once they do it for someone who wanted it badly enough to pay for it, it will be in the system for everyone to use.

Sure, it's only a drop in the bucket, but it would make a lot of customers very happy, improve the site for everybody, and generate some added revenue for mint development (and others could still use it for free).

[eeblet]

I would definitely pay up to $5/mo if and ONLY if:

-Mint allowed manual input

-Mint allowed adjustment of dates (to correct charges posted a week after they were made)

-there was actual customer support (I received one email a month ago from a support person asking me some questions, and I never heard back after i responded)

-the fee was suspended in case of unresolved issues (bugs, un-import-able accounts, etc)

If these things come true, I'd sign up for $60/yr, for life. I might pay even more if I could plug in the data to TurboTax.

[Lalato]

Mint, at this juncture, isn't worth paying for. For starters, I can't even get my bank to load.

--sam

[punchinelli]

Right now, no. But I would gladly pay a small fee per month in order to have better support and more options for adding accounts that aren't online.

[imstillatwork]

No way. Yodlee.com does tons of stuff that mint does not. I just started using mint because it's a nicer interface. Not completely sold on it yet though. (mint relys on yodlee anyways does it not?)

[mburdsall]

No way. Yodlee.com does tons of stuff that mint does not. I just started using mint because it's a nicer interface. Not completely sold on it yet though. (mint relys on yodlee anyways does it not?)

I agree with you. I have an account with Yodlee as well and it provides many of the features that Mint is missing like:

1. manual accounts
2. reward programs
3. real estate accounts with links to Zillow and loan accounts
4. ability to see true net worth
5. bill reminders
6 etc.......

Mint also uses Yodlee for the account information and therefore is build on top of Yodlee.

Yodlee has problems as well but from a feature stapoint is richer, it just lacks the fancy from end and reporting capabilities

[borisattva]

make it work and i'll pay, but preferably no more than $30 per year (unless more powerful features are added).

alternately, add targeted advertising based on the purchase history, but make it stylish and tactful. none of those annoying flashing animations, sounds etc. what you do with financial offers right now, works well. something similar can be done per purchase categories.

and then make the paid memberships free from those adverts.

just don't become quicken online, with a load of features missing, still in beta, and having the nerves to charge its 'beta testers' a fee. it was the reason i left that company as a customer after 6 years of use and not looking back.

those who complain and demand that mint remains free and as is are naive, and will get nothing but a bankrupt service if they get their way.

youre in a pretty good position mint, so please don't drop the ball

[mburdsall]

Take a look at mvelope.com. It has a create envelop system and woul dbe great if mint incorproated this in there package.

[borisattva]

Take a look at mvelope.com. It has a create envelop system and woul dbe great if mint incorproated this in there package.

i've tried and canceled my mvelope account before i even heard of mint. while i found their approach to finances interesting (it was actually how envisioned finances to be done, before i tried real accounting software) i found the end product to be too much for what i needed.

i think mint, mvelopes, yodlee offer distinct approaches to personal finance software, and they should keep it that way for the sake of diversity in user choice. they should not try to convert to one another.

out of the three mint is clean and intuitive.. it offers only the at a glance info i want and not cluttered like yodlee, or over the top like mvelopes. if you like mvelopes just use them, from what i recall the subscription was very cheap.

mint just needs to polish the lapses that it has, and continue growing from there in the same user-friendly approach that won me over from the rest.

[mintuser125]

If Mint wasn't free, I'd head for the hills. I've had quite a few problems in that some of my accounts wouldn't update for several days. It's happened maybe 5-6 times and I've only been on here for about 2 months.

If I'm paying for something, it better work 100%.

[ImpatientS14]

Mint should start with a donate option and see how many users are willing to support this great tool.

[mburdsall]

If Mint was ablt to add a few more features I would be willing to donate to the product. Also I think it would be great if Mint rewarded user for recommending other users to the site. Or provided away for measureing the users use of Mint and reqeard frequent users who keep there information complete and accurate.

1. manual accounts
2. reward programs
3. real estate accounts with links to Zillow and loan accounts
4. ability to see true net worth
5. bill reminders
6. enhance the busgeting tool
7. provide income tools similar to expense

[Rudolph]

What would you do if Mint decided to collect a lot of users but decide to charge a monthly fee to use this wonderful service?

i would pay.nothing is supposed to be always free.

[mburdsall]

If Mint provided the following features I would be willing to pay something:

1. manual accounts
2. manual transactions with autoamted accounts
2. reward programs
3. real estate accounts with links to Zillow and loan accounts
4. ability to see true net worth. Drill down to categories then transactions.
5. bill reminders lading to cashflow
6. enhance the bugeting tool (yearly budgeting, roll-over, income, etc)
7. provide income and savings tools similar to expense trends