The technological advancement in the financial industry has given us a plethora of options on how to manage our finances regardless of our location, age, or vocation. Today, most adults in the UK can have multiple bank accounts, own credit cards, open a savings account and get access to them all through mobile apps, online banking, or other banking apps.
However, whilst having options is typically a good thing, managing multiple accounts or cards can become demanding and overwhelming at times. Accessing multiple apps with different login credentials is seen by many as a hassle or disjointed exercise. Here are some of the typical challenges experienced by multiple account holders.
Typical Challenges in Managing Multiple Bank Accounts and Credit Cards
We all have our own reasons why we chose a particular current account or credit card, be it more cashback, lower interest rate or additional purchase protection. The more accounts we open, the more silos we effectively create for ourselves. These are silos of financial records that are disjointed from one another. When life gets busier, disjointment can cause disorganisation in our financial affairs. You may have experienced one or more of the following issues when managing multiple accounts.
- Shopping online during COVID, feeling like an ebayer dealing with boxes of parcels? This is the feeling many of us may have had in the last year where we could no longer try out clothing in shops and had to order multiple sizes and try at home before returning some. What’s worse: which orders have arrived, need to be returned, where did I keep return postage receipts? And did I get a refund for that purchase?
- Suffering from post-transaction memory loss, or not? We all have had moments when we looked at bank statements and wondered what some particular payments were made for. What’s worse, shops often have different legal names to their trade names that we know as. This “memory loss” issue is highlighted when multiple cards are involved. It simply becomes overwhelming that promotes procrastination.
- Mixing business and pleasure? Ever incurred costs on behalf of your employer or own company? Only that sometimes you may have forgotten which card you used in order to claim business expenses. How about the question “Where did I keep the receipts?” “Did I claim it or not?” or “Did I get reimbursed?” These are questions of uncertainties. We human beings don’t like uncertainties as they are the opposite of “Being in Control”.
- What are my regular financial commitments, hence how much actual cash of my balances can be spent? This is the typical question we ask ourselves when we set up direct debits or standing orders in different accounts or signing up for subscriptions on Amazon, Netflix or Spotify. Not having the complete picture means potential overspending. Wouldn’t it be nice having all regular payments in one place so that you have the confidence of not overspending, talking about financial control?
- Forgetting to compare the market before the next insurance renewal. Sure, you can set up reminders on your calendar and you even get email notification too. But does everyone take action right after they have received such reminders? How many times have you paid a loyalty penalty because such reminders failed to keep you on the track to take the necessary action? And how long do you have to spend to have your current policy payment details handy so that you know, with confidence, the benchmark irrespective of which card you used?
- Ever got queries from your other half about transactions in your joint accounts? Are screenshots or text messages your favorite ways to share and discuss partner finances? Wouldn’t you prefer to properly communicate on questionable transactions with your loved ones, so that you can deal with them at a time convenient to you?
Luckily, there are innovative solutions in the financial world that have significantly simplified this process. Now it’s more tenable to manage multiple bank accounts with the help of a money management app.
Imagine having only one app that will merge all your bank accounts and credit cards in one place where you can access and manage all of your transactions! Such apps typically focus on solving a particular user problem. With iSpent19, managing transactions in multiple accounts becomes a breeze, thanks to its personalisation features.
How can iSpent19 help you manage Multiple Bank Accounts and Credit Cards?
It’s simple – instead of logging into each and every one of your bank account apps separately and getting lost in so many apps on your phone, you now get access to your finances from one place. Moreover, the best money management apps should allow as much flexibility to interact with your transactions as possible. Useful features are therefore those that allow for transaction personalisation for ease of money management and for any future reference.
Here is how the iSpent19 App can help address the above challenges.
The “Ebayer” dilemma becomes more efficient organisation of your finances
iSpent19 provides the opportunity to track all your money from every bank account or credit card you can connect with. In that way, you get a consolidated view of all your current accounts without the need to identify which account you used to pay for a particular purchase. With advanced search & filter features, you can find any transaction easily regardless when it was incurred.
One of the most versatile features of the iSpent19 app that will help handle online purchases and returns is earmarking transactions via tagging. You can create your own personal tags for any transactions or take advantage of a collection of system tags designed for consumer shopping journeys. This is useful to keep track of your numerous deliveries, returns or refunds. Best of all, you see them easily in a dedicated space called Monitored Space, which can also be filtered if needed for fast access.
The “Post-Transaction Memory Loss” dilemma turns into a time saver
What is within the control of each of us is that we keep an eye on transactions regularly. This can be done much easier with the help of a handy tool like the iSpent19 App.
The advantage of regular checks is that things are still fresh in your mind. The amount of a purchase may be sufficient to remind you what you bought, even the legal name of the vendor is different to its trade name that you are familiar with. The time saving of having a good habit of staying on top of your own finances saves you time in many ways, e.g. you don’t have to queue to phone your bank to clarify “what is that transaction?”.
The “Mixing Business with Pleasure” dilemma is, no longer, a dilemma
One of the best ways to manage multiple bank accounts and credit cards is to digitally save all the documents related to your transactions such as purchase or postage receipts. Rather than saving them on your computer or phone where you may not find them easily, why not save them directly next to the relevant transaction? iSpent19 allows you to attach and store your important receipts that can be helpful in keeping track of your shopping activities.
You can then tag those business expenses as such and attach to each the relevant receipts. Once claimed, you can tag them again as “Claimed” and even better Link the reimbursement from work with the original purchase. Again, irrespective of the fact that you may have paid and then get refunded in different accounts. That easy!
The “Regular Payment Visibility” dilemma becomes much clearer to manage
For those of us who want to budget and know how much cash you actually have to spend, having a full visibility of all your regular payments is crucial, if you want to keep out of debt.
iSpent19 aggregates all your direct debits and standing order in one place and displays them with an additional dimension of time. This is important so that at any given time, your attention is drawn specifically on what you have as a pending commitment.
For those of us who like negotiation and hunting for bargains, why not take a quick note on the transaction, e.g. broadband renewal, that you just successfully negotiated a new deal and any key points for future reference? Now that’s a cool feature to keep your mental freedom!
The “Loyalty Penalty” dilemma is fairer to handle
Having iSpent19 installed on your phone means paying no more the so-called “Loyalty Penalty”, which refers to the automatic annual increase of service fees for existing loyal customers. With its notification feature, you can create alerts for all your upcoming payments that you may want to compare the market first before the incumbent provider automatically renews it for you. Think about necessary expenditures like annual insurance renewal.
The cool thing about setting such reminders is that not only you are reminded what to do but provided with the last transaction details as your “Willing-to-Pay” benchmark. Don’t waste time looking for last year’s payment confirmation!
The “Joint Account” dilemma – Look Out for the new solution
If you often query your loved ones with text messages about certain transactions or have to deal with such queries, then iSpent19 is your must-have tool. For all current iSpent19 App users, spoiler alert! How would you like a chat messenger style feature that allows you to more efficiently communicate on transaction queries with your loved ones and incentivise them to help you manage your finances?
In conclusion, having the flexibility to personalise and easily organise your transactions your way can be a great advantage to anyone who owns multiple bank accounts and credit cards.
Moreover, such flexibility offered by iSpent19 comes with bank-level security protection. The company behind the App is registered with the FCA, the UK’s financial regulatory watchdog. This makes it a reliable and trustworthy app that will protect your personal data. So, why not liberate yourself with more mental freedom and try the iSpent19 app to help you manage your finances in a breeze?
