Mint Debuts Bill Negotiation Tool

Global technology platform Intuit — which makes TurboTax, QuickBooks, Mint, Credit Karma and Mailchimp — announced Wednesday (Jan. 19) that it has created a new Bill Negotiation tool in Mint, helping to cut users’ monthly bill and subscription payments.

Mint’s Bill Negotiation feature, which teams with ApexEdge’s Billshark, suggests areas where its 30 million users can save on monthly payments, then connects them with Billshark to negotiate better rates.

“Consumers have more subscriptions and monthly payments to keep track of than ever before,” Varun Krishna, senior vice president and head of consumer finance with Intuit Consumer Group, said in the joint announcement. “This makes it difficult to monitor rising costs.

“On top of that, most consumers are either unaware that their bill is negotiable, or they just don’t have the time or energy to engage with companies to lower their rate. By partnering with ApexEdge’s Billshark, Mint’s Bill Negotiation feature automatically spots areas our users could be saving on monthly bills, and helps connect directly with vendors to negotiate those costs so users don’t have to.”

Per the release, if Mint discovers a way for users to lower monthly costs, it will flag the opportunity to connect with Billshark, who then negotiates rates with the vendor on the user’s behalf. Billshark charges users a one-time fee based on savings for the bill.

“By partnering with Mint on its new Bill Negotiation feature, Billshark has an opportunity to help millions take out the stressful parts of paying bills, including tracking subscription renewals and new costs, and negotiating on customers’ behalf in a way only Billshark’s experts can do,” Mark Cuban, entrepreneur and Billshark investor, said in the announcement.

Related: Credit Karma Integrates With TurboTax for Faster Refunds

Last month, finance firm Credit Karma integrated with TurboTax to make filing tax returns easier and getting refunds faster. Both companies are owned by Intuit.

Credit Karma’s integration with TurboTax allows filers with simple returns to file directly with TurboTax from the Credit Karma app and gives them faster access to their refund with Credit Karma Money.