By: Jeremy Biberdorf
January 23, 2015
Sometimes, I’ll review products and services and give you a cautious recommendation. This is not one of those reviews. I can unreservedly get behind Digit. If you only read this far, go make a Digit account today, and enjoy savings made easier than you’ve ever experienced. For those who want to learn more, I invite you to read more below because this app might just be that app you need in order to get your personal finances in order.
Click for Digit Details.
First Impressions
I signed up for Digit right around Christmas time, 2014. It took 2 days for my account to go live, and I forgot about the service in the meantime, while I traveled and enjoyed all the holiday rigmarole. I finally read my texts from the company around New Years, only to learn that I had $48.16 in my Digit account – money I could transfer to my bank and use however I wanted. Sweet!
But how does this work? The mechanism couldn’t be simpler. You give Digit the number to your checking account or accounts (don’t worry, this company has been adopted by most banks, and has been funded by Google people, Reddit People. It’s real.) and Digit uses proprietary algorithms to figure out how much money you could save, without you ever missing it.
They do this by tracking your spending habits – how much money goes in, how much goes out, and what are the things you spend it on. This includes bills, incidentals, splurges. It’s almost like one of those automated thermostats, that learns how you live and makes the necessary adjustments. Once Digit figures out how much you need to live life the way you live it, it skims the extra cash off the top and moves it into your new Digit savings account.
It’s an automatic way to save money and it’s very easy to use! How cool is that?
A Deeper Look
So what does Digit get out of all of this. Basically, they live off of the interest generated by your funds. If you’re saving just a little bit here and there, this won’t be much interest. You definitely wouldn’t be able to get more than a few dollars or cents if you saved the same amount in a savings account or investment source. But by pooling the interest of many customers, Digit is doing fine. And you will be, too.
I don’t mind the loss of a tiny bit of interest, especially since I’m saving money that I would most likely be piddling away without Digit.
Digit works by text. Most of the commands you’ll give the app are text and mobile based, even withdrawals, balance requests and fund transfers. Withdrawals take one business day to complete – an inconvenient or not-inconvenient-enough time hurdle, depending on how much you want savings taken out of your control.
Final Thoughts
After using the service for about a month, I have concluded that Digit is the best savings app of its kind. Sure, I’ve used Mint and several other less well known apps, each with its own benefits. But I love that Digit is truly automated. I can’t even set specific goals – Digit makes these decisions for me, and the amount taken out of my checking account is never anything I notice.
Digit’s founder and CEO, Ethan Bloch, assures users that the app is completely legit and safe, but for those who need more peace of mind, Digit has overdraft guarantees. If they ever take out too much money, and you overdraft on one of your payments, the fees are on them. I’ve never had to take advantage of this particular offer. They are also FDIC insured, just like a regular bank.
I give Digit my whole-hearted recommendation, and I think you’ll really enjoy the savings experience. With digit, your financial life might just make a turn for the better.
Click for Digit Details.
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Great roundup as usual, really enjoyed your article. Thanks for sharing your article about this Good Credit Info Reviews Digit – the Automatic Saving Tool. It’s a helpful and useful article. I will definitely share this to my friends.
Welcome to the club, sir! I’ve saved a little over $80 now with them… loving it.
Digit seems very helpful and a legit tool. But I just wonder how you got $48.16 in your Digit account.
Hi Jayson,
As I understand Digit checks your spending patterns and moves a few dollars from your checking account to your Digit account every day. Over the days that Adam forgot about it, Digit automatically saved him $48.16 (transferred from his checking account)! What a fantastic little app!
Cool. I think it would be better if you forget that you don’t have a Digit account so you can really avoid spending your savings!
I’m on it. Since my general philosophy is “don’t worry about saving, just make more money” this will be a good way to keep more in my pocket without the worrying part.
I signed up for Digit a few weeks ago and absolutely love it. I already save every month, but this helps me to save even more. I never notice the money missing either. I just get some texts telling me I saved some more money.
I signed up for Digit but today, I closed my account. I can’t help feeling a unsure about this service. I do lots of online banking, but nowhere else, do I allow the permissions that I did with this service. Any other bank , I set how much to transfer to them. Having Digit pull out random amounts feels very insecure to me. I didn’t get a lot of comfort from the fact that their favorite way to communicate with me is by texting either. I hope this is a legitimate service and no one gets burned, but for myself, it’s not worth the risk.
Would you mind posting whether you are still using Digit 8 months later, today August 2015?