Have you ever wanted a little robot to help you save money?
Probably not because you've probably never even heard of one… until now.
What is trim?
Trim is an artificially intelligent assistant that helps you improve your financial life. He can negotiate your bills to save you money, he can alert you when you spend too much, he can track all your recurring subscriptions so that you can cancel the ones you forgot even existed, and he's always improving and learning how to do more.
In this Ask Trim review, we'll find out how it all works and whether it's worth it for you to sign up or not.
How Does Trim Work
Trim only works if you authorize it too, meaning it will only save you money or take action on money-saving opportunities if you ask it to.
You can either use the Trim website to make changes to your account, or you can talk to Trim over text or Facebook messenger. Simply send him a text just like the image above.
I think it would be better if Trim had a smartphone app (they're working on it) but for now, Facebook messenger or text works fine.
Trim Sign-Up Process
Signing up for Trim is easy:
- Sign up with Facebook or an email address.
- Choose to talk to Trim over Facebook messenger or SMS.
- Connect your bank account.
That's all there is to the sign-up process.
Is AskTrim Safe
I did not want to enter my bank information when I first signed up for Trim.
Honestly, I hate entering my bank information anywhere on the internet.
But, I do it because I use a lot of apps and programs require it like Mint, Mylo, and now Trim, and these apps make my life a lot easier and better.
However, I never enter my info anywhere that isn't secure. So, I looked into Trim's security before signing up.
Trim uses Plaid to connect to your bank account, and your bank credentials are NEVER seen, stored, or even smelt, by Trim.
Plaid sends Trim an encrypted token that provides read-only access so Trim can see your transactions, and that's it. They can't move money or make any changes to your account. You can also revoke this read-only access at any time.
Trim will NEVER sell your data.
Learn more about Trim's security here.
If you still don't feel safe connecting your bank account to Trim, don't sign up.
Trim Features
- Trim can negotiate a lower price for your cell phone, cable, and internet bills. They've saved their users millions of dollars with this feature.
- Trim can suggest a better rewards card based on your transaction history.
- Trim can help you budget and keep your spending on track.
- Trim is working on being able to optimize your car insurance.
- Last but not least… Trim tracks your recurring subscriptions so you can see them all in one place and cancel the ones you don't need anymore.
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Trim Negotiates Bills
Update: Trim can now negotiate Sirius XM and home security bills.
To use the bill negotiation feature on Trim, you'll first have to check if your cable/internet company is supported. Trim can only negotiate with some companies, but they're trying to expand to more.
If your company is there, then you can connect your account and Trim will get to work. If Trim manages to save you money on your bill, they take 25% of the annual savings (e.g., if they save you $100 a year, they'll take $25).
Now you could negotiate with the companies yourself and keep all the savings, but Trim makes the process hands-off and easy.
Trim Tracks Subscriptions
If you have a lot of recurring subscriptions, it can be hard to manage them all, see which ones you don't need anymore, and figure out where to go to cancel them.
Luckily Trim can do all of this for you.
Trim will analyze your transactions to find monthly subscriptions (you can also tell Trim which transactions are subscriptions to speed up the process) and then show you them all in one place. If you don't need one anymore hit “Cancel Subscription” and Trim will TRY to handle the rest.
I say try because Trim won't be able to cancel every type of subscription. Some accounts require information that Trim doesn't have, some require verbal confirmation from the account owner (you), etc.
Still, Trim is great for managing and seeing all your subscriptions in one place. Sometimes you forget how many you have!
Note: It can take Trim up to 24 hours to analyze your transactions and find all your subscriptions, so give it time. Email help@asktrim.com if you waited and they still aren't all there!
Trim Tracks Your Spending
Trim tracks your daily spending and compares it to last months spending. This graph is fun to look at and it motivates you to spend less!
Along with the spending tracker, there's a feature in beta called peer comparison.
This feature lets you compare your spending to other users similar to you (in the same area and age range). Not sure if it's helpful at all but it's interesting!
Trim Reminds You
Another great thing Trim can do is remind you to pay your bills.
They give you five types of bills you can set a reminder for:
- Rent
- Credit Card
- Cable
- Power/Water
- Other
You can either set reminders yourself or have a little robot text you when your bills are due. It's your choice.
But wait there's more:
As you can see you can choose to be (or not be) notified when it's Payday, when you get charged a fee, when you have a large transaction and more. Check that out in the personalize section of your account.
Ask Trim Review: Is Trim Worth It?
Trim isn't for everyone; you may want to negotiate your bills yourself to save money or track your spending elsewhere.
I really like being able to track my recurring subscriptions with Trim because it keeps everything nice and organized and I can have a bit of peace of mind knowing I'm not wasting money anywhere.
I also like all the different things Trim can notify you about, it's kind of fun having a little personal assistant watching over your money and sending you messages when you overspend.
I am a little sad that Trim can only negotiate with service providers in the US, but I'm sure they're working hard to expand to more places.
To end my Trim review:
I think it's definitely worth it to sign up for Trim.
Why?
You're getting a bunch of great features and you're not paying anything. It doesn't get much better than that.
Overall
Summary
For those looking to save money without a ton of effort, Trim is a good tool. The automatic bill negotiation can be a huge time saver, and the other features are cherries on top of the cake.
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