How Fintech can save and earn you money

To make January even more depressing, the IMF has kicked off 2023 by announcing that Britain’s economy is likely to shrink by 0.6% this year. The only G7 economy predicted not to grow.

As interest rates rise, and the cost of living squeezes, people want to know more than ever, how they can make the most of their money. With Financial Technology, saving, splitting and earning has been made easier. Find out here how various Fintech apps can keep your money safe and (hopefully) adding up.

Moneybox

With Moneybox, you can start saving for your first home now, using a LISA. That’s a Lifetime Individual Savings Account. With a LISA, you can choose to withdraw your savings to buy your first home, or at retirement age, 60.

You might feel like neither of those things are coming up in your life any time soon – but it’s never too early to start saving. You can open a LISA with just £1. The earlier and longer you keep your money in your LISA, the more money you’ll make, thanks to the ability to accrue a 25% government bonus on the amount you contribute. If you manage to put aside £200 in a year, you’ll earn £50. Even small contributions make small differences – it all adds up in the end. Contribute money in larger sums when you can, or schedule weekly collections at an amount you can afford – even if it is as little as £2 a week.

Personally, I’d recommend opening a standard Cash LISA, but if you’re willing to risk your capital, Moneybox does offer Stocks and Shares LISA’s which may gain or lose value. Be aware that you can’t withdraw your money for any other reason than buying your first home or retirement, or you’ll pay a 25% penalty on the amount you withdraw, so don’t be putting savings in here that you might need. Only commit money to this account that you are willing to see locked away gaining interest!

Monzo

Ever seen someone tap a snazzy neon orange card at the bar? That’s a Monzo! Probably one of the best known Fintech providers, Monzo is as simple as a full UK current banking account. Use it as a regular debit card in store or online, or make use of the additional features below.

If you’re a terrible saver, Monzo gives you the ability to separate your money into easily accessible ‘pots’, which you can add or withdraw from at any time. Saving for a holiday? Create a holiday pot. Also saving for your sisters’ birthday present? Open a new pot. This way, you can visualise your money separately in exactly the way you’d like to save it. For long term saving, you can open as Easy Access Savings pot, where you can earn up to 2.35% AER interest – perfect if you don’t want to commit to something as serious as an ISA.

You’ve saved up for a holiday using that handy Monzo pot? Great! You can use Monzo anywhere in the world that accepts Mastercard. Choose to pay in local currency, and only pay Mastercard’s exchange rate. Monzo don’t charge additional fees for spending abroad, unlike most banks. In an increasingly cashless society, Monzo makes travelling abroad easy, though you can also withdraw up to £200 cash abroad for free every 30 days, after that you’ll pay 3%.

Splitwise

Not so much a money saver, but definitely a sanity saver. You’ve been on a night out with friends. You bought the first round of drinks, but Leanne bought the 3am chippy, and Jen paid the Uber home. You’re too hungover for maths, and you don’t know who owes who how much money. Enter, Splitwise.

Set up a group with your friends, allowing each member to enter the expenses they paid for, and select exactly who they’re splitting the cost with. Jen didn’t get a chippy? No problem, Leanne can enter her spend, splitting the cost with only you.

When all expenses are entered, Spiltwise will calculate exactly how much each person owes every group member, eliminating the need to pay multiple people, and allowing each member to settle up simply.

Splitwise is great for weekends away, nights out, couples, or even flat shares, allowing friends and flatmates to pay exactly what they owe for exactly what they took part in. With Splitwise, the hassle of organising finances at the end of an event or trip practically disappears.

Plum

Plum is a savings and investments app that allows you to save and earn money by connecting it to your current banking account. Admittedly, Plum allows you to do more than just build up your savings, offering stocks and shares investment tools, but here I’ll only discuss using the automatic savings tool to help myself save.

The automatic savings tool builds your savings by tracking your income and daily spending, automatically withdrawing a specifically calculated amount of money every Wednesday. Put simply, if you’re not spending a lot of money, and your current account is fairly flush by your own standards, Plum will withdraw a more substantial deposit each week. On a different week, if your current account is low and you’ve spent a lot of money, Plum will make a lesser withdrawal based on how much the algorithm calculates you’ve got to spare.

You can control how much Plum withdraws from your account each week using ‘The Brain’. Here, you can select a ‘Mood’ which indicates how much you’d like Plum to help you save. ‘Beast Mode’ will allow Plum to withdraw a larger amount of money each week, while ‘Shy Mode’ allows Plum to withdraw 50% less than standard. Personally, I’ve always kept my setting on ‘Shy Mode’ which has allowed Plum to withdraw between £2-6 each week, depending on how my bank account is looking.

Of course, you can turn automatic saving off completely and control your deposits manually. However, with Plum’s algorithm you hardly notice automatic savings leaving your account each week, since the algorithm is designed to only withdraw what you can afford each week.

Zilch

A virtual Mastercard, Zilch isn’t another piece of plastic cluttering up your wallet. Set up Zilch by connecting it to your current banking account, whichever you spend most frequently on. Though Zilch does offer a ‘Pay Later’ scheme similar to Klarna or Clearpay, I’ll be talking about the ‘Pay in One Scheme’ which earns you rewards and eventually cash. The Zilch virtual card can be added to your Apple and Google wallet – set it to default to maximise cashback.

When you shop in store with Zilch, you’ll receive 0.5% cashback for your purchase. For in-store purchases you can Zilch Anywhere instead of enabling your card for each purchase – though you might find a better cashback rate or discount if you go through the app.

When you spend online with Zilch, you can earn up to 5% cashback just for entering your Zilch details at the checkout. Remember to enable your card through the Zilch app to ensure payment as well as find discounts on major brands.

Once you’ve saved up some cashback, pick any store on the Zilch app where you’d like to spend your rewards. Choose to pay in one, and enable your rewards – your discount will be applied to your purchase!

By using your Zilch card for everyday purchases, small cashback rewards add up quickly, and can eventually be used to discount your weekly food shop, or a major fashion brand. For very little effort, consumers can earn ‘free’ money. The scheme has become so popular, Zilch recently suspended its ‘refer a friend’ bonus, so keep your eyes peeled for new bonusses for early customers.

Biscuit

Technically, Biscuit is a ‘free-to-use pet rewards app’ that treats you for walking your dog. But to make use of this financial technology, you don’t actually need to have, or prove to have a dog.

When you set up your account, you can enter the details of a dog you own, or a completely fictional animal that you only wish you owned. Once you and your pet’s profile’s are complete, you can track and record any time you spend walking to earn ‘biscuits’.

Sort of like Strava, Biscuit will record the amount of time you spend walking, and subsequently reward you with biscuits. 60 minutes of walking will earn you 25 biscuits (the maximum earnable per day), which means around 2.5 mins of walking = 1 biscuit.

Once you’ve saved up some biscuits, you can spend them, trading them in for vouchers of monetary value. For example, a £10 Nandos voucher will cost you 500 biscuits. You can earn bonus biscuits by navigating the app, earning badges and by referring friends. You can earn 50 biscuits just by uploading a profile picture.

Biscuit offers vouchers for various restaurants, high street brands and cinemas. Also, if you happen to have actually have a dog, there’s some pretty good discounts on pet food and training schools.

If you’re willing to surrender data revolving around your everyday walking habits, you’re lined up to make some free money.