When mobile finance apps [1] are at their best, they put critical information about your money and spending habits in front of your eyes when you need it most. The Wallaby app (free) provides a unique service: It tells you which of your credit cards to use at different businesses to maximize your credit card rewards. Credit card programs reward you differently depending on where you shop and what you buy, and Wallaby pays attention to those details.
The app was started by Wallaby Financial, Inc., a small company that was acquired by Bankrate in December 2014. The app is free, and the company makes money in two ways: by licensing its technology to other firms and through credit card application referral fees. If Wallaby suggests a great credit card for you, and you sign up for that service, Wallaby might earn a referral payment in the process. Not all of the credit card plans that Wallaby mentions result in payments for the company, however.
Wallaby offers bank-level security, an optional PIN lock for the app or Touch ID lock for users of iPhone 5S, 6, and 6 Plus phones. Without that PIN enabled, however, I found that the app didn't automatically lock me out and ask me to sign in again, and I wish it did. But better: Use the PIN code or Touch ID option, which will always be required to unlock the app, even if you just switch to another app for a moment. If you connect your credit card accounts to Wallaby, which is optional, the app only gets read-access to your information. It's a very good personal finance app that offers a clear and valuable service.
Setting Up Wallaby
I love that you can download Wallaby from the App Store (there's an Android version of Wallaby, too) and start using it without telling it much about yourself at all, just an email address and password. Then, you select from a list or search for the credit card programs in which you are enrolled. Even though I don't know much about my credit card programs, I still found it easy to find the right ones because Wallaby labels them all clearly and associates an image that matched the cards in my wallet.
Once you're set up with Wallaby, you need to enable Location Services on your iPhone so that the app can find businesses near you and classify them. For example, some programs offer bonus points when used to buy groceries, while others have deals with specific retail stores to double your earned frequent flyer miles.
The business data come from Foursquare. In my testing, Wallaby showed everything from clothing stores to cafes to gas stations. You can see businesses on a map and below the map in list form. Additional details, like the name of the business, address, and an icon indicating which of your credit cards will get the most rewards if you make a purchase there, are clear and easy to see.
Wallaby also has a list of online retailers that you can consult for advice before making a purchase. You won't find every online seller under the sun, but major chains and a few smaller sites turned up when I looked through the options.
More From Wallaby
If you want to get more out of the app, however, you can optionally connect it to your credit card accounts and banks, allowing Wallaby to pull your spending data from the accounts into the app. When you authorize access, Wallaby shows you a summary of your accounts, such as amount owed, total line of credit, and when your next bill is due. It also shows the categories in which you spend money and recent transactions by line item, much the same way the Mint iPhone app [2] does.
Neither the app nor any perpetrators who might get their hands on your phone can see your credit card details, the actual 16-digit number, or any personal information. But they could see everything you can, and I think it's enough detail that you'd want to thoroughly protect it. And that's where Wallaby needs to be more secure. It doesn't let you add a PIN code to lock the app, and it should. The app didn't even automatically log me out the last time I closed it. That's troubling.
More Insight
The Wallaby app has a few more features, the kind that it can use to make money (remember, the app is free for you). One is the ability to offer you better credit cards than the ones you have to give you more rewards. If you get a new credit card through Wallaby, the company gets a referral payment.
I took the app's short survey, which asked me if I had any loans, owned a small business, preferred any particular airline or hotelier more than others, and so on. Before it gave me a suggestion, it also looked at my previous spending habits. Then it decided I'd earn $721.95 in a year with a US Airways Premier World MasterCard from Barclays.
Hard numbers seem like they are the clearest information you can get, but Wallaby doesn't tell you up front the card's rates and annual fee. You have to link to the application page to find those details.
When I tested the app, the analysis I saw was based on the assumption that I am currently paying $99 per year for one of my credit cards when in fact that charge is currently being waived. Wallaby wouldn't have known that, though, so it can't really say for sure which card has the better deal for me.
A graph of your spending habits by category, which Wallaby can create if you link to your credit card accountes, might help you decide what kind of credit card is really best for you. For example, 43 percent of my spending this month was on airlines, so a credit card that maximizes frequent flyer miles is probably in my interest. The spending breakdowns aren't nearly as detailed or informative as the ones you'll find in Mint, which is an Editors' Choice and the service I'd recommend using for budgeting and getting a sense of your overall finances. That's not what Wallaby sets out to do, of course. They're different animals.
One of the screens in the Wallaby app shows each of my credit cards with two figures for Earned and Missed rewards. For example, my Miles by Discover Card shows about $49 Earned and around $17 Missed from the last 90 days. But I have no idea what it means or what I can do to change it. The app needs more information here. Is it saying I should have used my Discover Card for $17 worth of purchases, or that I could have earned the equivalent of $17 worth of miles rewards? And where and how should I have used my cards differently? I want to know! But Wallaby doesn't tell me.
Clear Value
The Wallaby iPhone app offers clear value to credit card users enrolled in programs that offer cash-back, airline miles, free hotel stays, and other rewards. It could do more, though, by providing more information about how users can change their habits, or what they should have done differently in the past to maximize their rewards. Nevertheless, Wallaby is a useful guide for shaping your spending habits to maximize your rewards. It's a great piece of personal finance software [3] , one that's well suited for mobile devices.
Links
- ^ mobile finance apps ('http)
- ^ Mint iPhone app ('http)
- ^ personal finance soft ware ('http)
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