Personal Finance Blog | Pageonce

Customer Profile: Lori from Boulder

Margaret Huang — Wed, 16 May 2012 00:02:58 +0000

Lori would much rather spend her time organizing her memories than her finances. As an avid scrapbooker, Lori likes to spend her free time with friends and family making Creative Memories albums. When she looked for something to help her keep track of her finances, Pageonce rose to the top of the heap. “I checked out the user reviews, recommendations from Fox News and other media outlets, and that made me feel better about adding my accounts into Pageonce.” Now Lori has ditched the manual tracking and spreadsheets and trusts Pageonce to keep her on top of her money and bills daily. Before, she was “fit to be tied” going to all the different websites to pay her bills. “I use Pageonce daily. I can scroll through my bills, know exactly what is due, and pay when and how much I want.” “I use Pageonce daily. I can scroll through my bills, know exactly what is due, and pay when and how much I want. We like to pay bills in advance, or pay half with one paycheck and the other half at the end of the month when we’re paid again.” Lori and her husband link everything they can into Pageonce — from car payments and mortgage to bank accounts and credit cards. Here are Lori’s favorite things about Pageonce: Helps to manage cashflow. Lori likes to control the in and outs of her money. With Pageonce, she can see how much money she has in any given account and exactly what she owes. Keeps track of credit card usage. No more “oh my god!” moments where Lori is shocked by how much she’s spent on credit cards. Instead, she sees what’s happening daily. “I can see exactly what’s going on. I don’t have to pay the fraud protection fee for credit cards when I have Pageonce watching out for me.” Connects all accounts to give the full financial picture. Seeing everything in one place helps when couples share accounts. Lori likes being able to see when her husband has paid a bill or bought something. This prevents redundancies, and any unwanted surprises. What’s your favorite thing about Pageonce?

Pageonce Pulse Points Show America’s Financial Health Recovering But Some Signs of Weakness Remain

Margaret Huang — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:57:08 +0000

Pageonce teams up with UC Berkeley and University of Michigan economists to analyze trends in financial behavior PALO ALTO, Calif. – May 2, 2012 – Pageonce (pageonce.com), a new kind of wallet that helps you stay on top of your money and pay your bills, today announced a groundbreaking research effort to better understand how Americans make decisions about money. Pageonce partnered with economists from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor to produce the Pageonce Pulse Points report, which identifies and analyzes consumer economic trends and behaviors in the U.S. The first report studied two financial pulse points — credit limit breaches and bank overdrafts —and compared them to new unemployment claims filed from March 2011 to April 2012. The team found: US consumers experienced a 40% decrease in credit limit breaches from their 2011 high. US consumers experienced a 17% increase in bank overdrafts from their 2011 high. During the same period, new unemployment claims declined by 21%. “Traditional economic research lacks access to high-quality, high-frequency data. We’re very excited about the Pageonce data because it provides a comprehensive view into the real financial habits of Americans,” said Dr. Steven Tadelis from UC Berkeley. “With this data, we can significantly improve our understanding of consumer spending, saving and borrowing, as well as the macro-economic policies that impact consumer behavior.” The award-winning Pageonce Money & Bills service helps consumers track their money and pay their bills by automatically linking their financial accounts, including banks, credit cards, bills, investments and more, all from one app. “Working with the team from Berkeley and Michigan will help us better understand how the economy impacts people’s daily lives,” said Guy Goldstein, CEO and founder, Pageonce. “Americans face real problems everyday with their money, and our goal is to use this research to help people make better financial choices.” Signs of Improvement but Proceed with Caution In this first study, the Pageonce economic team looked for clues of stress in people’s personal finances. The economists analyzed anonymous, aggregated financial data from Pageonce users and compared it to the number of new U.S. unemployment insurance (UI) claims, a national economic indicator. Two “Pulse Points” were analyzed and compared to the UI claims: 1) Credit card limit breaches: Spending more than the credit limit; often signals overuse of credit cards, or inability to qualify for more credit. 2) Bank overdrafts: Spending …

Meet the Economists Behind Pageonce Pulse Points

Margaret Huang — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:00:05 +0000

Making sense of money is tough for most Americans. That’s what makes Pageonce such a welcome app, giving our 6.5 million users a holistic view of their finances. This 360-degree perspective offers a wealth of insight into the financial habits of Americans at large, and the data for Pageonce Pulse Points report. To dive deeper into our data and identify interesting trends, Pageonce has partnered with an elite team of economists from two academic institutions, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, and University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, to produce the Pageonce Pulse Points research. These economists bring a mix of expertise that focuses on the crossroads of economics and social science. Our academic dream team includes: Shachar Kariv, Professor and the Faculty Director of UC Berkeley Experimental Social Science Laboratory (Xlab), a laboratory for conducting experiment-based investigations of issues of interest to social sciences. Dr. Kariv studied at Tel Aviv University and New York University, where he earned a Ph.D. in economics. He was awarded a Sloan Research Fellowship for Economics (2009-10). He currently serves on the board of editors, The America Economic Review, and as co-editor, The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics. Dan Silverman, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Michigan; Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research; Faculty Associate, Survey Research Center, University of Michigan. Dr. Silverman earned his Ph.D. in economics at the University of Pennsylvania, his Masters in Public Policy at Harvard University and Bachelor’s degree in political science at Williams College. He currently serves as co-editor of the Journal of Public Economics. Matthew D. Shapiro, the Lawrence R. Klein Collegiate Professor of Economics and Research Professor (Survey Research Center) at the University of Michigan. He is also a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Shapiro received B.A. and M.A. degrees from Yale and a Ph.D. from M.I.T. Dr. Shapiro is the chair of the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee (FESAC)–the official advisory committee of the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. He served on the Council of Economic Advisers to President Clinton and was co-editor of The American Economic Review. Dr. Shapiro currently serves on the Federal Economic Statistics Advisory Committee and on the Academic Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Steve Tadelis, Associate Professor, Business and Public Policy, UC Berkeley, Haas School of Business; Distinguished Economist at the eBay Research Labs. Dr. …

Customer Profile: Adam in Austin

Margaret Huang — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 21:03:06 +0000

Adam first discovered Pageonce about three years ago on the web, and now it has become one of the essential apps on his iPhone. “I tell all my friends about Pageonce. It’s truly something I use everyday, just like the ESPN or Facebook app.” He loves being able to see his “personal net worth,” what he has and what he owes, at a glance and knows that it’s always up-to-date and accurate. Before Pageonce, he spent at least a few hours a week tracking his finances, but never felt they were quite complete and still missed bills. Now he trusts Pageonce to do the work. “I tell all my friends about Pageonce. It’s truly something I use everyday, just like the ESPN or Facebook app.” Pageonce has made Adam’s life better by: Helping him see the big picture “I used to do it all manually in an Excel spreadsheet, but I wasn’t sure I got a big capture of everything. I built my own thing and relied on myself to remember bills and other due dates, which I wasn’t very good at.” Pageonce connects all his financial accounts and bills and allows him to see everything in one easy view. Keeping him on top of bills and spending “I love push notifications when bills are due, and the emails as a back-up reminder. Now I’m never late.” In addition to bills, Pageonce shows Adam how he’s spending his money, and when he needs to adjust his habits. “Pageonce was a wake-up call for me on credit cards. I saw when I used one card more than the other, what my total balance was and when I should focus on paying one card off first, or even switch cards for better interest rates.” Exposing hidden fees “The beauty of Pageonce is you get the overview, but it’s also like a microscope for your finances. It allows you to see when you are getting charged for things that may otherwise go unnoticed.” For example, Adam spotted $178 of interest fees on a Best Buy credit card. Thanks to the app he learned about deferred interest and was able to get the rate lowered on a big ticket item. When Adam’s not checking his Pageonce account, he likes to be outdoors — standup paddling on the lake or running on nearby trails. Tell us how Pageonce makes your life better and how you like …

Pageonce: A Dream Come True

Daniel Kjellen — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 17:38:49 +0000

After more than 12 years leading online marketing and product teams at various consumer finance and payment companies, joining Pageonce was a natural next step. My quest was to “bring it all together” and work for a company that is truly customer-centric. Uniquely positioned to represent the consumer and not financial institutions, Pageonce brings value to consumers that few other companies in the financial services and mobile space have been able to accomplish to date. As an early and devoted Personal Finance software user since the mid-1990s, I’ve always been determined to effectively manage my finances and stay on top of my bills. To this day, I still remember a day in late 1999, having lunch in downtown San Francisco, dreaming of the possibility of being able to view and manage my finances on a mobile phone. Over the years, searching for and using a variety of products solving only parts of my vision of financial control regardless of my location, I soon realized this dream was a bit premature. A decade later, with the emergence of smartphones and more advanced technology, financial institutions can now deliver apps to better serve its customers. Unfortunately, we live in an increasingly fragmented marketplace, where consumers often have multiple credit cards, bank accounts, and investment products. On top of this, most of us are managing a steady stream of bills and loan commitments, living in fear of missing an important payment due date, which leads to lower credit scores and expensive late fees. Despite increased control using mobile applications, online banking, and bill pay solutions, we still face the dilemma of effectively managing our finances and bills in one place. Although, most institutions are responding well to its customers’ demand for increased visibility and control, adding 10-20 new apps on a smartphone does not necessarily solve the problem, but rather creates new challenges for the everyday consumer. Amazingly, over a decade after that day in San Francisco dreaming of viewing my personal finances on a mobile phone, I now have the privilege of being part of a team that has brought it all together in one simple customer-friendly mobile interface. The dream is now a reality — I have an app that is always there to inform and alert me about my finances and even gives me the ability to pay an upcoming bill. I am delighted and privileged to join the Pageonce …