Finnovate Spring 2011: Our Picks

Here at Credit Karma, we like to stay in-the-know and on the cutting edge of new and innovative financial tools to help you spend wisely, save more, and pay down debt faster.

Finovate is a conference series forum where the newest and best of financial technology gets to strut its stuff. This year at Finnovate Spring 2011, we discovered some new tools that we want to share with you.

With many new startups focused on payment solutions and smartphone apps, here are several of the “Best in Show” winners as well as the service we are most excited about, listed at the end. Take a look!

Dwolla: Traditionally, you can pay for online goods and services with plastic. With Dwolla, you can pay online with cash, avoiding costs of using your credit card. It also involves the social network; you can pay cash to your friends via Facebook or Twitter. And you can pay using your smartphone. Dwolla is available for iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone.

Bankons: We all love getting discounts where we shop. Mobile discount apps have matched up your location to savings. Now it’s easier to find discounts on-the-go. And now there’s Bankons. What sets this mobile app apart is the fact that it uses your transaction history to better focus the offers it shows you. You’ll get offers targeted for your preferences, at places where you’ve shopped before or where your transactions indicate you’d like to shop. It’s available at the Android Market now and will be available to iPhone users soon.

oFlows: The basic concept is that oFlows “eliminates the paper from opening new financial accounts.” Instead of having to fill out a paper form to bring in or mail to your financial institution, you’ll be able to fill out the same form, and sign it, online and on your mobile device. Soemthing about environmental/paperless benefit.

MitekSystems: At Finovate, Mitek showed its new mobile app, Mobile Photo Bill Pay. Users submit electronic payments from their smartphones without writing checks or visiting a payment center. It works when you snap a photo of your bill and then Mitek guides you through the process of making your mobile payment. Right now, Mobile Photo Bill Pay is available for iPhone.

PayNearMe: PayNearMe lets card-less consumers pay with cash online and in more than 6,200 stores nationwide. Marketing to the 25% of households that do not have access to a credit or debit card, PayNearMe guarantees safe and secure payments without fear of fraud on the retailer’s end. PayNearMe could be especially useful to the 95% of teens who pay with cash.

PayPal & Discover: This new PayPal feature allows you to send money to virtually anyone with an email address or mobile phone number. Say you borrow some cash from a friend to pay for lunch. Just send a payment to their PayPal account. No need to wait until you can write a check or get the cash. The cash amount is charged to your discover card, with the added bonus that you earn cashback rewards just like a regular purchase. Mention somewhere earlier in the paragraph that its Discover specific. Also, since you say it is our favorite, give a brief reason why.

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May 10, 2011 • Posted in: Credit Cards News

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