I haven’t used Yodlee MoneyCenter in years, having opted first for Mint Personal Finance before using BankOfAmerica’s own site, but apparently I was a valuable enough user to poll regarding possible nest-generation personal finance software.
From the looks of it, Yodlee is considering launching a carbon footprint tracker dubbed “Environmental Impact Service,” alongside PayToday and some pretty cool peer-to-peer financial advice.
An interesting note is that all three sites (Yodlee MoneyCenter, Mint.com, and BankOfAmerica.com) run off the same financial services backend, created and licensed by Yodlee.
The two “new” features the Yodlee survey asked the most questions about:
Environmental Impact Service
Environmental Impact is a new service that allows you to understand and adjust your carbon footprint based on your spending patterns and bill payments. It puts your carbon footprint at your fingertips automatically. It helps you save money, energy and reduce emissions by suggesting green alternatives to your energy, products and services usage.
PayToday
PayToday is a new service that allows you to make and confirm a payment the same day you request it. For example, when life gets busy and you realize a bill, such as your property taxes, mortgage or credit card payment, is due today you could use the PayToday service to avoid a late fee. You would log on and use the PayToday service to pay that bill from your bank account on the same day you request the payment. By using PayToday you avoid any late fees or penalty fee that your biller might charge you. PayToday can be used to pay over 2000 different types of billers, including home mortgages, car loans, credit cards, cell phones or utility bills.
The second feature, PayToday, was actually introduced into Yodlee software last year, but Yodlee Environmental Impact Service appears to be brand new, if it gets the green light.
The survey also asked about a number of other potential features, though in less detail, that might soon be working their way into Yodlee MoneyCenter, Mint Personal Finance, or BankOfAmerica.com:
- Peer-to-peer comparison information so you can see how your savings, net worth and spending compares to others like you
- Obtaining financial advice from a Yodlee MoneyCenter financial advisor
- Money Management blog - a regular dialogue with someone who can help guide your money management activity
- Bill pay using any type of payment card (credit card or debit card)
- The ability to instantly open a new account with any of the financial institutions where you have accounts linked on Yodlee MoneyCenter
- Social networking function where you can link and chat with others who share money management info and ideas
- Bill pay from your checking or savings account using direct withdrawal or electronic funds transfer
- Transfer of funds between accounts that you have linked on Yodlee MoneyCenter
- Yodlee widget on iPhone or similar smartphone mobile devices
While most of these are fairly pedestrian suggestions, I thought #1 and #6 were somewhat more innovative – and potentially risky.
These almost sounds like Jeff Jarvis’ call toward more Google-like, transparent banking. Could aggregate data be a cold bucket of water for people on reckless spending sprees? Can the wisdom of crowds help create plan a college fund? With the backlash against institutional investment systems, there’s no telling where this could end.
Related Reading:
- Jeff Jarvis on The Lack of Trust for banks, automakers, and other major institutions, and how transparency (or Google-ness) can change that
- Cha Cha starts to monetize ... badly
- Making money from free content