You’ve probably wondered if you’re spending too much money for cable or car insurance or even that gym membership. Most of us want to know how we can trim our monthly expenses and keep more cash in our pockets. There’s a startup called Trim that is helping consumers uncover the hidden savings to be found in recurring bills and subscription services.
“We envisioned trim as a financial assistant that would help make sure you’re not getting ripped off in all these different ways,” said Trim co-founder and CEO, Thomas Smyth, who spoke to RewardExpert. “We typically save users a couple hundred bucks over the course of a year.”
A Financial Checkup
Trim’s mission is to make its users financially healthy, and it essentially automates ways for people to save money. Getting started with Trim is easy.
“It connects to all your financial accounts and gives you a holistic and ongoing overview of all the important things happening in your finances,” said Smyth. In addition, individuals need to connect a Facebook Messenger account or phone number so Trim can communicate with the them.
Save Some Money
Once the setup is complete, Trim’s AI platform analyzes your spending habits. It finds recurring subscriptions and looks for ways to cut down on those expenses. Amazingly, nearly 98 percent of subscriptions from Netflix to the New York Times are identified instantly.
“It can cancel the ones you’re not using every month,” said Smyth. In addition, Trim will send text messages so you can stay on top of spending, such as how much you spent on Amazon last month, for example.
Doing the Hard Work
Calling cable companies can be quite a hassle, not to mention all the time wasted while waiting on hold. If Trim finds potential savings on services like cable, it will automatically contact the company for you and negotiate for a better rate. It does this through auto-generated emails, phone calls and even certified mail, if necessary.
“What people really appreciate is the action component,” said Smyth. “What we are instead is a system – rather than just tell people what to do, we’re going to try and do it for you.”
He points out that most of the savings come from the smaller bills, like cable, but he adds that saving $10 to $20 a month can add up substantially. Trim works with some of the nation’s largest cable companies, including Comcast and Time Warner Cable.
Keeping Accounts Safe
Trim uses bank-level security to make sure all your accounts are protected. That includes 256-bit SSL encryption, two-factor authentication and read-only access. The company also has a team of software engineers watching over everything from its San Francisco headquarters.
“Having the right the team in place is the most important aspect of building a super secure system,” said Smyth.
The Self-Driving Car for Your Finances
Trim’s goal is to eventually become the self-driving car for your finances, putting the art of saving money on auto-pilot. The company is actively looking to expand into new areas to save its customers money, including auto insurance.
“We just started doing some car insurance things – apples to apples comparisons of insurance companies to see if we could get someone a better deal somewhere else,” said Smyth.
He also sees opportunities in helping customers who are dealing with bigger financial problems, including major credit card and student loan debt. “We would love to help people address these really big question marks in their life, because obviously the savings from those things are going to be a lot bigger,” said Smyth.
Big Plans Ahead
Smyth admits that the growth of its company has been stunning. It’s already had more than 1.5 million people sign up in two and half years, a number that Smyth said is “totally insane.” He plans to continue developing the company’s platform and add new products.
“We hope to continue to grow and add more users and help each user even more,” said Smyth. To find out how Trim can help you, check out www.asktrim.com.