This post was created in partnership with Cinch Financial.
We all know living on a budget is tough. It’s difficult to continuously find new ways to cut expenses and earn more. After a while, it can seem that you can’t possibly cut any more from your monthly budget. However, there are some things we tend to overlook.
Mortgage payments, interest on credit cards, bank fees, and auto insurance are some of these things so commonly overlooked when cutting expenses. This is because most people consider them to be “fixed”–meaning we can’t do anything about them. But that’s not true at all!
Introducing Cinch Financial
I was recently contacted by a new financial company called Cinch, who told me they could help me save on all of these expenses and make my budget’s bottom line even better than before. They offer recommendations, suggestions and tools to help find the best services for anyone who tries it out–for banking, credit cards, auto insurance, and mortgages.
I had already done quite a bit of expense cutting, but I hadn’t taken a hard look at any of those categories because I was under the impression that there was little I could do to save. However, after plugging a few things in and answering a couple questions, Cinch quickly showed me there were options.
Though I was skeptical that this company could save me money on these expenses, especially because of my very rural location, I decided to check out their website. Cinch offers a few different ways to help you save money on your mortgage, credit card interest, banking, and auto insurance with just a few short questions. I didn’t even have to sign up for an account with them!
Personal Recommendations
The first service I tried was Cinch’s Personalized Recommendation tool. Since I’ve been considering signing up for a new 0% interest credit card to help lower my interest expense as I continue to pay off my high-interest credit card debt, I was interested to see what they would come up with. Within two minutes, they showed me 3 different recommendations with detailed “Cinch Scores” highlighting reputation, ease, and value for each card. They also showed me how much money I could save by refinancing my credit card debt onto one of those suggested cards.
BillSnap
Another way Cinch analyzes your finances to help you save is through their BillSnap tool. With this one, you just take a picture or scan one of your bills (mortgage, auto insurance, or credit card) right to the site. They then give you several personalized options to help you save on your bills. Even if you’re unable to upload a photo of your bill, you can still work with Cinch via email to analyze you bill.
The Only Down-Side
After trying out their services and getting recommendations on credit cards and banks, the only downside I could see is that some of their services are only available in certain states (MA, CA, TX, FL, IL, and NY). They are currently working on expanding their reach to the rest of the US, though, so I guess I’ll just have to wait until they reach Kansas! (Hint! Hint!) 🙂
To better understand how Cinch finds ways to save you money on your biggest bills, you can check out their blog for some success stories.
What are some other ways you can think of to save money on these expenses?