Credit Simple launches Money Simple
Credit Simple, the fintech where every Australian and New Zealander can get their credit score and credit file for free, forever, has launched free online budgeting tool Money Simple. In a world first, Money Simple brings together open banking data with credit scores to form a single, unified view of a person’s financial life in one spot.
Money Simple aims to leverage consumer data rights and open data rules to give consumers visibility on their financial position on a single platform.
Money Simple is powered by Proviso, an open banking platform that draws data from Australian financial institutions.
Credit Simple CEO David Scognamiglio said Money Simple was at the leading edge of open banking.
“Money Simple is a precursor to what we will see in a new digital age of open data where consumers are in the driver’s seat, using and owning their own information to live better financial lives,” Mr Scognamiglio said.
“With open banking as the force behind Money Simple, consumers can better understand where they stand financially, as well as how they can save more money.
“It is fantastic to see the changes taking place to make way for open data. We are particularly excited about consumer data rights, which will really help us empower consumers with their own data. With Money Simple adding more data to a consumer’s Credit Simple wallet, we will see consumers who have more than enough information to digitally ‘get’ a number of energy, financial and telecommunication services without application friction,” he said.
Money Simple users can track their spending across multiple accounts, banks and finance companies, and filter spending under categories such as automotive, transport, insurance, loans, dining out and dishonoured payments.
The announcement of the launch of Money Simple comes off the back of research commissioned by Credit Simple into the budgeting habits of Australians, based on a survey of 2,630 members.
The research revealed that:
- More than half of the respondents don’t have an emergency fund in case of a large unexpected expense;
- Only one in five Australians are financially secure with more than one-third of Aussies living pay cheque to pay cheque;
- 17 per cent of Aussies are too lazy, too scared, or too uninformed to budget;
- Less than half of Aussies (45 per cent) have an emergency fund in case something goes wrong, such as a medical emergency or damage to house or vehicle; and
- One in five Aussies stopped budgeting because it was too hard to stick to.
Australians can find out their credit score and get access to the Money Simple personal finance app at www.CreditSimple.com.au.
