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I wrote my credit union a message advising them that a good feature they could add would be having a tab in their banking web interface (or their mobile app) th

I wrote my credit union a message advising them that a good feature they could add would be having a tab in their banking web interface (or their mobile app) that shows me all charges that repeat (monthly or yearly) so that I can more easily keep track of what is charging me. Additionally I think it could be useful to just show repeat vendors, regardless of regularity of payments. I usually catch them when I scroll down my usage statements once per month, but having it in-your-face would be beneficial to quite a lot of people I think.

esskay 3y ago
I have to ask - is that not a thing where you're from? We've had that baked into online banking for years here in the UK. Heck most mobile banking mobile apps even show graphs showing how much you spend on subscriptions, direct debits, shopping, bills, etc.
- bdavbdav 3y ago
  Only my Monzo account does that in the UK. The others (FD, nationwide) only list DDs
- lagniappe 3y ago
  Credit unions are different, and can be fairly barebones with regards to online options, however if you do have these interests for new features, you have a greater chance of speaking to someone who can make it happen. The local near me offers a balance on savings and draft, and an option to transfer between the two or to an external account, that's it.
- wkat4242 3y ago
  Here in Spain it's not. I don't really want my bank looking over my shoulder though. I don't trust them at all but I have no choice because you need a bank. So if they don't show any analysis there's a higher chance they don't analyse it internally for their private use either. I hope.
- NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
  My online banking apps and websites are legitimately terrible at finance summaries, categorization, and graphing. They absolutely have no clue how to classify anything I purchase. There are ways to export data and process it on my own, such as in Sheets, but I just try to avoid that game.
candiddevmike 3y ago
How many subscriptions do you have? I can't imagine having so many that I can't keep track of them...
- mitthrowaway2 3y ago
  You only need to have 1 in order to forget about it.
googlryas 3y ago
My trick is to get text messages/app notifications live when a credit card charge goes through (Chase at least supports this). Then, I either dismiss the message, or deal with it immediately. I find this much easier than going over a statement at the end of the month. Usually the context for the charge is front and center, instead of and puzzling whether "AMZN MKTP US*TO10VLA93" is something I really bought 28 days ago or if someone used my CC.
- em-bee 3y ago
  my bank used to send me an sms for every transaction, until they decided to only send an sms for transactions over $50. i found the change very irritating. i would have accepted a lower limit of say $10 or $15. and it would have been bearable if they had sent an sms every time $50 in transactions accumulated, but as it was, i could go for weeks without any notification as long as every transaction was below $50. getting this live confirmation was very useful because it also included the remaining balance.
  - googlryas 3y ago
    My bank was like that for my debit card...I ended up just using dev tools to remove client side validation and put a 0 in there, and I guess they don't do any server side validation for that field
  - zsz 3y ago
    I'm not saying this with any certainly, just suggesting that it's a possibility: in the early days of cell phone service, people had to pay a fixed amount for each SMS sent (and, I believe, received as well)--perhaps $.1, or so, per message. Then, a few years later, you could pay for more expensive plans that included a certain number (some variants included baseline plans with a la carte options). Eventually this was abolished, in favor of plans that included unlimited SMS (the proliferation of HS Internet access probably had a lot to do with these changes as well). However, it is also true that when it comes to commercial accounts, pricing for certain options like SMS may still follow the original scheme--i.e. the telecom may charge a fixed amount per individual message. I'm not saying this is definitely the case, nor that it is reasonable, if it is the case (the contention early on was that SMS were part of some other communication that occurred automatically, so people should never have had to pay anything for this "service," which was periodically ongoing by default). I'm just pointing out that this is how it used to be for private accounts, and i wouldn't be surprised if it was still the case for commercial accounts.
NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
PayPal does this for me automatically. It's a lifesaver. As far as banking goes, I tried mightily to use BillPay for everything possible (push) rather than AutoPay (pull) but those services are ruthless and relentless, so I gave up, and I am down to only one monthly BillPay remittance.

esskay 3y ago

I have to ask - is that not a thing where you're from? We've had that baked into online banking for years here in the UK. Heck most mobile banking mobile apps even show graphs showing how much you spend on subscriptions, direct debits, shopping, bills, etc.

bdavbdav 3y ago
Only my Monzo account does that in the UK. The others (FD, nationwide) only list DDs
lagniappe 3y ago
Credit unions are different, and can be fairly barebones with regards to online options, however if you do have these interests for new features, you have a greater chance of speaking to someone who can make it happen. The local near me offers a balance on savings and draft, and an option to transfer between the two or to an external account, that's it.
wkat4242 3y ago
Here in Spain it's not. I don't really want my bank looking over my shoulder though. I don't trust them at all but I have no choice because you need a bank. So if they don't show any analysis there's a higher chance they don't analyse it internally for their private use either. I hope.
NoZebra120vClip 3y ago
My online banking apps and websites are legitimately terrible at finance summaries, categorization, and graphing. They absolutely have no clue how to classify anything I purchase. There are ways to export data and process it on my own, such as in Sheets, but I just try to avoid that game.

candiddevmike 3y ago

How many subscriptions do you have? I can't imagine having so many that I can't keep track of them...

mitthrowaway2 3y ago
You only need to have 1 in order to forget about it.

googlryas 3y ago

My trick is to get text messages/app notifications live when a credit card charge goes through (Chase at least supports this). Then, I either dismiss the message, or deal with it immediately. I find this much easier than going over a statement at the end of the month. Usually the context for the charge is front and center, instead of and puzzling whether "AMZN MKTP US*TO10VLA93" is something I really bought 28 days ago or if someone used my CC.

em-bee 3y ago
my bank used to send me an sms for every transaction, until they decided to only send an sms for transactions over $50. i found the change very irritating. i would have accepted a lower limit of say $10 or $15. and it would have been bearable if they had sent an sms every time $50 in transactions accumulated, but as it was, i could go for weeks without any notification as long as every transaction was below $50. getting this live confirmation was very useful because it also included the remaining balance.
- googlryas 3y ago
  My bank was like that for my debit card...I ended up just using dev tools to remove client side validation and put a 0 in there, and I guess they don't do any server side validation for that field
- zsz 3y ago
  I'm not saying this with any certainly, just suggesting that it's a possibility: in the early days of cell phone service, people had to pay a fixed amount for each SMS sent (and, I believe, received as well)--perhaps $.1, or so, per message. Then, a few years later, you could pay for more expensive plans that included a certain number (some variants included baseline plans with a la carte options). Eventually this was abolished, in favor of plans that included unlimited SMS (the proliferation of HS Internet access probably had a lot to do with these changes as well). However, it is also true that when it comes to commercial accounts, pricing for certain options like SMS may still follow the original scheme--i.e. the telecom may charge a fixed amount per individual message. I'm not saying this is definitely the case, nor that it is reasonable, if it is the case (the contention early on was that SMS were part of some other communication that occurred automatically, so people should never have had to pay anything for this "service," which was periodically ongoing by default). I'm just pointing out that this is how it used to be for private accounts, and i wouldn't be surprised if it was still the case for commercial accounts.

NoZebra120vClip 3y ago

PayPal does this for me automatically. It's a lifesaver. As far as banking goes, I tried mightily to use BillPay for everything possible (push) rather than AutoPay (pull) but those services are ruthless and relentless, so I gave up, and I am down to only one monthly BillPay remittance.