Website Spotlight: Mvelopes

Mvelopes is a free online personal finance and money management system. They have launched a new Mobile bill Pay service for its iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad apps, making it fast and easy to pay bills and manage the family budget on the go.

I had a chance to interview CEO Steve Smith to find out more. 

1) What is Mvelopes?

Mvelopes is an award-winning online and mobile personal finance, home budgeting and money management tool that uses cloud-based technology alongside the tried-and-true principles of envelope budgeting to help anyone live within their income, rapidly reduce debt, save money and live more comfortably with the confidence and peace of mind of financial security.

2) How is it different from other money management systems?

Most other money management tools are reactive, simply tracking the money you’ve spent after it’s already gone. Mvelopes actually helps you proactively set money aside, plan spending to help you achieve your specific financial goals, and, ultimately, live within your income.

Unlike other personal finance management systems, Mvelopes moves users from account-based spending to envelope-based spending.  With Mvelopes, you have already allocated cash on hand to specific envelopes.  This includes setting money aside each month for both monthly spending requirements as well as periodic spending requirements.  By practicing this spending and budgeting methodology, users are in a position to understand how much is left to spend in each virtual envelope at all times.

Additionally, Mvelopes offers a number of unique features including:

·      Automatic savings tool that lets you setup an automated transfer of funds to your savings account on the frequency you choose, making it part of your monthly budget to help build an emergency fund or save for a special purchase.

·      Mvelopes Debt Center that optimizes debt payments and to help you pay off debt quickly using the roll down or snowball method.

·      Financial coaching and support to help you get started and stay on track to meeting your personal financial goals.

3) How will the Mobile Bill Pay feature help consumers?

Mobile Bill Pay, which is only available only for Premier members, lets you pay bills anywhere, anytime from your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. With Mobile Bill Pay, you can make payments from multiple accounts on the spot or schedule future payments.  (For account security, payees and payment accounts must first be configured through the Mvelopes online dashboard). Plus, mobile payments are tracked and forecast within your Mvelopes budget to keep you organized.

4) How do you make sure that user data is secure?

Mvelopes uses bank-level security and Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption to protect your sensitive information during transmission, just like online banks and trading firms, providing the highest level of security available. A secure username and password are required to log in and users are automatically logged out of the account after a period of inactivity. Your data is stored on firewall-protected servers, which are monitored for reliability 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Mvelopes also undergoes regular third-party data security audits to ensure that your personal information remains safe and secure.