Paying off Debt Made Easier with Mint.com
Improved Goals Features Help Users Plan to Knock Out Debt
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- In debt? Mint.com can lead you out.
Responding to users' requests, Mint.com today updated its popular "Get out of Debt" Goal feature, making it easier to eliminate credit card and student loan debt.
"Get out of debt" has been the most popular goal among users since Mint Goals launched in June 2010. Today's updated version makes it even easier, providing a detailed payment plan and action steps for getting out of credit card debt, and specifically addressing student loan debt.
"There are three principles of personal finance: spending less than you earn, making money work for you, and protecting your downside. But getting started on any of them seems impossible when you're loaded down with debt," said Aaron Patzer, general manager and vice president of Intuit Inc.'s (Nasdaq:INTU) personal finance group and founder of Mint.com.
"These new features make it easier and provide sound, constructive, personalized ways to reduce debt, starting with the biggest problem areas: credit card debt and loans."
The new features of Mint.com's step-by-step "Get out of Debt" goal allow users to:
-- Break down debt: Create separate goals by debt type: credit cards or loans. -- Create a payment plan: See how changing monthly payment affects interest paid, money saved and when the debt will be paid. -- Take a comprehensive look at debt: Create a 6-month payment plan detailing monthly payments for each debt. -- Develop an action plan: Take steps to find the best and fastest way to get out of debt and optimize savings.
"Different types of debt require different payment plans, charge different interest rates and affect credit scores differently - and it's a lot to manage on your own," said Patzer. "Getting out of debt gives people more freedom with how they spend their money, and live their lives. Ultimately, money is for living."
The new features support Mint.com's commitment to helping users simplify the often-daunting process of achieving a specific goal. In addition to providing a step-by-step guide to help people easily determine how much money they'll need to achieve their ultimate goal, Mint.com also offers educational tools that can be applied to all aspects of personal finance from budgeting to long-term planning.
Further tips and advice are provided through Mint Answers and Mint's Drop Your Debt Challenge, that pits 10 city teams against one another to see which city can most improve its debt-to-savings ratio.
About Mint.com
Mint.com is a leading online personal finance software service from Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU), providing almost 5 million users a fresh, easy and intelligent way to manage their money. And it's free. Launched in September 2007, Mint.com has quickly grown to track nearly $200 billion in transactions and $50 billion in assets and has identified more than $300 million in potential savings for its users. Mint.com's innovation is in applying advanced technology to deliver breakthrough ease-of-use. Using patent-pending technology and proprietary algorithms, Mint.com allows users to see all their financial accounts in one place, makes it easy to set and keep to budgets, and helps identify money saving ideas. Mint.com is so effective that more than 90 percent of users say they have changed their financial habits as a result of using the service. For more information on Mint.com's free online personal finance service, please visit http://www.mint.com and follow Mint.com on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mint.
About Intuit Inc.
Intuit Inc. is a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses; financial institutions, including banks and credit unions; consumers and accounting professionals. Its flagship products and services, including QuickBooks(R), Quicken(R) and TurboTax(R), simplify small business management and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing. ProSeries(R) and Lacerte(R) are Intuit's leading tax preparation offerings for professional accountants. The company's financial institutions division, anchored by Digital Insight, provides on-demand banking services to help banks and credit unions serve businesses and consumers with innovative solutions.
Founded in 1983, Intuit had annual revenue of $3.5 billion in its fiscal year 2010. The company has approximately 7,700 employees with major offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, India and other locations. More information can be found at www.intuit.com.
Source: Intuit Inc.
Released February 22, 2011