Personal Finance Apps Vie For Top Spot

Personal finance apps – for budgeting, investing or just squirreling money away – fulfill a core tenet of digital transformation in finance: that machines can help us do more with our money.

It’s a powerful value prop, and in the February 2020 PYMNTS Provider Rankings for personal finance, we see top brands battling to win the loyalty of a growing group of frugal consumers who are putting their money in apps.

The Top Five

Investment app Robinhood is doing something right to earn the top spot on this month’s ranking, which ties back to their popular policy of commission-free trades. Robinhood announced money management features, too, which helped boost their ranking.

Branchless challenger bank Chime comes in second with its no-fee accounts, free overdrafts, early pay on direct deposits and a marketing posture that appeals to people who are tired of legacy banks. Digit, the clever automatic savings app, has added features like managing and paying down credit card debt, netting them the No. 3 spot.

Coming in at No. 4 on the February personal finance rankings is Stash, the micro-investing app that made a splash in 2019 with the news that its new mobile banking features would include enabling “…users to earn fractional shares of stock automatically on qualified purchases by using their Stash debit card,” according to PYMNTS coverage.

Rounding out the top five is Intuit’s Mint app, which makes recommendations to users with its data-driven MintSights, dispensing specific advice on growing one’s money.

Keep Watching

As PYMNTS refreshes the rankings of personal finance apps over the coming months, we’re expecting an interesting horse race. Fidelity, No. 7 on the latest ranking, won’t be content with that position for long. Nor do we expect that Acorn will wish to stay in its current No. 8 spot on the Provider Rankings.