If you’ve been following Automatic Finances, then you’ve gotten onboard with using account aggregators like Yodlee’s MoneyCenter and Mint to connect all of your bank accounts, set your budget and track your spending.
And you’ve probably, over the past couple of years, signed up to receive daily deals from sites like Groupon and LivingSocial, who now deluge you with discounted products and services they think you’ll be interested in.
Well, what happens if these two services get together? We now have the answer with Budgetable.com, an account aggregator that provides you deals and discounts on the things you actually buy.
According to DenverPost.com:
Created by Louisville software engineer Ryan Bales, Budgetable.comlinks with users’ bank accounts and credit cards to track spending. It also provides deals and coupons for stores where users shop.
The deals that users receive are based on spending habits the site gathers from banking data.
For example, if the site noticed a $15 transaction at Starbucks every week, it might offer a coupon for half off a frappuccino. The goal is to bring deals to consumers at places where they actually shop.
It’s a neat idea, and great for consumers. I actually walked by the offices of LivingSocial here in Washington, DC the other day and was tempted to go in and ask them to stop sending me so many deals that I’m not interested in.
The biggest issue I can foresee for Budgetable is that the merchants who provide these discounts tend to do so in order to get new clients … not to give them away to current clients. I’ve purchased Groupons from places I go to somewhat regularly that require all Groupon users to fill out a form asking if they are regular, somewhat regular or new customers to the business. It helps the business understand if they’re really acquiring new clients from the discounts or if they are just giving away money to people who would already spend there.
Has anyone used Budgetable yet? I’m curious to hear if there’s any initial stories from users of the site.
If you have, leave a message in the comments.
