This article is reprinted by permission from NerdWallet. If you use your bank’s mobile app, you likely have access to an array of features, some of which you may not know about. These features could make saving, earning cash back, budgeting, increasing your financial security and checking your credit score easier depending on what services your bank offers. Here are some features to look for in your banking app and any banking apps you may be considering for the future.
Cash back offers or statement credit on debit spending Your bank might offer opportunities for special cash-back or statement credits either as a flat percentage of your spending or for spending at specific retailers. SoFi
SOFI,
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Checking and Savings and LendingClub offer these kinds of spending features, as do some major banks such as Discover
DFS,
+1.51%
and Chase
JPM,
+0.96%.
For example, Logan Allec, a certified public accountant and owner of Choice Tax Relief in Santa Clarita, California, says the Chase app helped him discover lots of opportunities for statement credits from debit card spending. “I was scrolling through the app one day and saw the list of Chase offers for debit card spending,” Allec says. “A lot of them are for places I never shop, but I use home improvement stores a lot and one popped up for the Home Depot
HD,
+4.06%
for 10% back as a statement credit.” Read: Americans’ credit-card debt had the biggest jump in more than 20 years, New York Fed saysBudgeting features and insights Some bank apps make saving and budgeting easier by allowing you to direct money toward specific goals or by giving a better overview of you’re spending. Sara Lohse, director of marketing at a financial services firm in Austin, Texas, discovered a unique feature for her savings account that allowed her to break up her savings into subaccount “buckets.” “I use Ally
ALLY,
+3.45%
for my main savings account, and I use the savings bucket feature to save for different financial goals,” Lohse says. She used the buckets feature for saving for a down payment on a house, her emergency fund and house furnishings. Her parents were matching her down payment contributions, so she set up a bucket for that as well. “I had a bucket labeled ‘Mom, put money here’ so that she knew which bucket to contribute to,” Lohse says. Another app feature that could help you manage your money? The ability to loo …