NerdWallet: Manage Your Money Reviews

by Judye63

I tried to get into the website to see my information… no problem as soon as I tried to run the maze requires to cancel my account after 4 years, I came off the site to try again later. Then SUDDENLY the (phone saved) password suddenly does not work. GUESS WHAT, they have no service by phone… you can only contact them on the site that I can no longer get on!!! If this was a legitimate business they would not ask other members to help you out! What a crock!!! I still can’t get in, I will have to go to the bank and turn it over to fraud and have it stopped at that end! I do have an account with Self. And they are amazing, when I determined I was no longer in need of these services, they ANSWERED the phone immediately and put a check in my account by midnight that night of what I had saved with them and the posted closing of that account was midnight of the night we spoke. Nerd Wallet may have better advertising but a terrible way to run a business. Trying to save you all from this kind of aggravation . Try it out for a month or two then try to cancel THERE IS THE TRUE TEST! Then quickly go to your bank and ask them to close the account for you.. Get the SELF. App and move on.. to those of you from Nerd Wallet reading this please don’t state your usual answer.. we’re sorry you were not happy… well you have time to answer these posts but not your own web site… justify that!

by Newcitydad

Had high hopes for NerdWallet when I downloaded to my iPhone but was totally disappointed when I could not link my Citibank account. I was able to link all of my other accounts from the major banks except Citibank. Contacted support and they tried to help but they indicated that there was a technical issue. Would have given zero stars for NerdWallet but I gave one star because customer support at least tried to help. I recommend Mint because there was no issue linking my Citibank account with that app. this app is a terrible app and would avoid.

REVIEW FOLLOW-UP:
Received a message today from the developer regarding my issue. The message essentially contained the same response I had already received by email. Basically the problem was someone else’s fault and they are working on a solution but there is no eta. Very weak corporate response. I recommend Mint.

by Reptileskin124

As a finance assistant app, this app is not quite there. I have financial accounts across many different institutions so an app like this has a lot of appeal to me. However, too many banks are not supported or there are bugs that prevent them from linking. I love the interface, I feel like it presents valuable information with relatively little configuration in a clean manner. However, the data it provides is just not useful with so many of my accounts not included in the picture.

Update: After receiving a developer response, reducing rating to 1 star from 2. I submitted an e-mail as suggested and received no indication that my unlinkable accounts are even in a list for consideration. A waste of time. I have been receiving a flurry of failed sign in attempts for weeks, which I assume is the result of 3rd party testers trying to access my account, and would mask any serious malicious access attempts. This application might be fine for those with few accounts and simple finances, but is nothing more than a liability for my situation.

by Longmire85

Not a great budgeting app if you are trying to stay afloat from paycheck to paycheck. Like most all the other comparable apps out there, it’s bloated with overly complicated gadgets and tech that overwhelm the average user.

What the average middle class person needs is a SIMPLE app that let’s them easily see what comes IN and when, what goes OUT and when, by month AND most importantly by each week.

All NerdWallet does is show you a birds eye view of your monthly in and out, and it does so poorly. Connecting your accounts screws things up even worse as the information is too difficult to organize/categorize, and half of it’s missing anyway so it does no good to begin with.

If you are trying to figure out which week is best for a grocery run or a vet visit, you’ll see that this isn’t NerdWallet for you. If you are a handsomely paid tech geek with a overpriced apartment full of expensive mid century modern furniture that wants to monitor credit score and investments then maybe it will work you. You’re seriously better off tracking your expenses with a pad and pencil.

I’ve come to believe that the problem with most all of these platforms is that the people who design them aren’t living on the edge of their seat when it comes to finances. They all think they created something super intuitive when in reality it doesn’t work for the average working joe.

by Cocoa Cari

I just downloaded NerdWallet yesterday and at face value I was in love. Seemed user-friendly and incorporated many of the things that I need to manage my finances at a time when I’m preparing to buy a home.

Unfortunately, I’ve experienced three major problems since downloading NerdWallet .

1 - I have two Capital One accounts that I would like to link. However, NerdWallet only lets me register one. Once one of the accounts’ info is input and I try to “add another account” it deletes the info of the previously registered one and replaces it with the second account.

2 - I’m receiving an incorrect balance from my bank account. this app shows one thing while my bank apps shows a completely different number (which is accurate). I tried refreshing the account to see if it’ll update the balance to the correct amount but nothing happens when I do. A day later, it’s still reflecting an incorrect amount. Hopefully this corrects itself soon.

3 - First Premier Bank will not link for unknown reasons. I have gone through the verification process multiple times and yet I’m still not able to link this account. So frustrating!

I want these problems to be fixed so bad so that I can experience the benefits of NerdWallet. I was so happy to find what I thought was the ideal financial management app that I’ve been looking for for a while now. Albeit, I’m confident that it still can be once these minor issues are fixed.

by Foolish App

Update 10/15: Thanks for the response! The latest version is far more stable. Transfers work again! The Redfin property link still doesn’t seem to work “Redfin can’t find your home in their system.” Which is odd since I receive regular email updates of estimated value on my property from Redfin. 🤷‍♂️ I like the improvements and you’re an improvement over Mint (Intuit seems to have given up on it). Keep up the good work.

Not sure what happened but like many others who have commented it constantly loops around trying to refresh accounts, cannot reach server, etc. Transfers feature no longer works at all. I’m glad you finally got real estate into the net worth calculation - that was the only plus but you broke basic features in the process.

by Unguardia

I’ve been using this app for the past year and it’s quickly been my go-to source of truth when it comes to my net worth. Even then, I found a few things that might make NerdWallet even more powerful.

Needs:

A graph/trendline that can help estimate how my worth will grow based on previous X months of data on my savings and spending (For example, if I am saving up to buy a house, this will help me predict around when i’ll enough of money saved.)
Custom balances that I can define and is not directly related to a bank. Part of my net worth comes from the value of the assets I own. (Examples: cars, watches, sneaker collection, etc.)
Nice to haves:

Shorter time intervals when updating balances (12 hours instead of 24)
Accounting for more money saved than spent on the cash flow graph. (When I receive a lot of refunds for a particular month, my spending goes negative, but it displays as a horizontal line on the graph.)
Custom account categories that I can define. Instead of the default Cash, Investments, Credit Cards that this app automatically assigns, I would like to group them myself. (This is helpful when I want to define a fixed vs liquid asset.)
Errors:

It happens rarely, but on some occasions i’ve been unable to update a category for a specific transaction. (Error says: Something went wrong)

by IPLaw1172

I’ve been impressed with the this app (NW) interface, but the standout is the partnership with Plaid to allow syncing of accounts from institutions that do not allow Intuit web syncing (this is what Mint relies on). Not having 1 or 2 accounts in Mint was manageable until I saw what NW could show, at one glance, without having to memorize balances or open up web windows with the missing accounts.

The other features are pretty much analogs to what other apps provide, but NW pushes them all into a single app, with a decent interface.

All in all I think NW will be my one mobile app for tracking debt & income, savings & investments at a glance, while I’ll keep using Quicken and Intuit for individual transactions on my computer.

by Kymbie

I like NerdWallet a lot so far but three things would really make NerdWallet 5 stars to me:

1) Create my own categories (and sub-categories). There are a few basic categories but there are more that are personal to me that I’d love to add, and sub-categories would be helpful too. This way I can get a more precise idea of what I am spending and where. For example with sub-categories, gas and toll charges go under “Transportation,” but it’d be awesome to be able to see automatically how much I’m spending in each separately.
2) Some way to edit & rename the automatic charges that come in. This isn’t huge, but it bothers me that some charges will start with capital letters and some don’t, it kind of ruins the neat aesthetic for me. Also, some charges have names that are confusing to me at first. It’d be cool to automatically apply a charge to be renamed every time like with categories can be with recurring charges.
3) Manually add transactions. I still have to pay some things in cash so this would be really helpful.

Thanks if you’re able to read this! :) My favorite features so far are being able to exclude a charge from calculations and applying a category to recurring charges!

by Rachellense

I only just started using NerdWallet, and I’m already in love!!! It is so easy to navigate, the layout of NerdWallet is aesthetically pleasing to me, and it is super helpful. I love that nerd wallet does cashback that is super rewarding. I was suing mint but I find this nicer even though they don’t have as many spending categories they are usually labeled correctly unlike mint. I also enjoy the layout way better than mint, less ads in your face, more clean and simple design.
I only have one suggestion that would put NerdWallet over the top and I hope it’s something that gets implemented in the near future. A budgeting goals section would be great! I would love to budget my spending throughout the month and see how above or below I go over budget in certain categories, which mint does. Overall awesome app

by AshleyW89

As a young adult who didn’t have parents that passed on any kind of sound financial advice, I learned from every mistake I made when I moved away from home. How, post-graduate school I needed to make many changes and this app has been exactly the saving grace I needed. Unlike its competitors, which I’ve also tried, the blog posts and helpful tips have helped me make more informed decisions. Plus, NerdWallet is the most user friendly and organic. I can easily navigate it and find all my information without being bombarded with credit card ads. Great for novices and experts in money management.

by IAME.O.Houston

I was working hard as hell at a fast food restaurant for about 2 years when I met a guy who taught me about credit. He recommended NerdWallet, I quickly download it and started my journey on building my credit. I use to think “why have credit? why worry about credit?, why would I put myself at risk of owing money to a bank or personal lender, I have heard so many bad things.” But the guy I met explained to me vividly how to go about building and maintaining my credit to insure that “in the worst case scenario you’ll be taken care of, but only if you use credit for credit not to splurge. Don’t use it as a means to obtain cash you don’t have at hand. Use it as a means that ensures that as you progress in life, even if things turn sour you’ll be okay but only if you maintain you’re credibility. NerdWallet will help you, I’m certain.” This helped me out a lot, I watched my credit go from 552 to 688 in a matter of 8 months of being responsible and paying back what was owed and maintaining current or new credit accounts. I give this app a 1,000,000 star rating.

by Hdhehdbejs

I love the actual website better but NerdWallet is still great! The ability to navigate articles is a little tricky but still easy to read and factual. Still linking all of my accounts to it, but the ability to freely learn new financial information at your finger tips is amazing, I never had a financial class in my life but after reading articles on here I can safely say I can effectively manage my finance with no issues. And if I do I can always look it up on here. Keep up the good work and maybe consider a tab with stuff you should have learned in a personal finance tab with how to balance a checkbook and how to set up a budget.

by Gameplay Rd

I really like this app, because I compare it to another credit monitor app. I have noticed that here in this app isn’t up to date on my credit score, credit limits, my utilization, as the other apps are. My credit score has gone up, my credit limits have gone up and my credit utilization is half what it shows on here. Instead of updating every week, it should be updated everyday, as other apps. If I didn’t have other apps I would have never known that my credit score went up and utilization went down by half as what is in NerdWallet. With this said, it’s still a good app to have.

by Awdexter60611

Was skeptical at first but took a look into it and became addicted to NerdWallet very knowledgeable very helpful has gave me a lot of insight and a lot of knowledge from multiple situations you’ll come across in life I found NerdWallet extremely useful and extremely helpful and I think the developers have more than earned their five stars if it was out of 10 I would’ve gave them 10 me personally are very appreciative of the developers and looking out for The middle class and younger generation and also people that have experience hard times and are looking and trying to rebuild... I have suggested NerdWallet to multiple friends and family and they have enjoyed it and appreciated it just as much as I have!!!!

by Spadekicker

I’ve only been using NerdWallet for a week but I can already tell I will be dropping Mint. First off, this is the only other app that connects to all accounts besides Mint. Even if you don’t want to give access you can enter manually. Very intuitive interface with details a touch away. Even though it has limited categories for spending they help me see what I need to see. Mint had more categories (often labeled wrong) but it didn’t help me anymore than NerdWallet. The suggestions/advertisements are not in your face like Mint. Cash back is awesome! Nerd Wallet has some great articles which have already given me some great insight! Looking forward to see improvements in the bills area of NerdWallet . It’s only been a week so this is subject to change. Go to financial app until proven otherwise! Thanks Nerd Wallet!!

by Show Me The Beaches

If it wasn’t for this app, my credit score could’ve sustained an irreparable hit. Unfortunately I forgot to pay a $39 balance on a credit card, and this app alerted me my credit score dropped by over 80 points. Fortunately, advice from one of their articles helped fix my credit score. They recommended that I contact the bank and see if they could revoke the hit to my credit score (since this was the only time this had ever happened to me). And it worked! A month later I got a notification that my credit score is nearly back to where it was before this ordeal. Thank you, this app!!

Also, NerdWallet is fantastic! It’s helped me monitor my finances and helps me make better financial choices. Their reviews of credit cards are quite helpful, currently looking into signing up for one now.

by Cblicsw

Got the annoying “how are we doing” pop up, and I clicked “I love it” (because I do!) expecting to be solicited for a review, and instead got another pop up that said “we love you too!” It’s the little things, for real. And it’s why I’m here taking the time to write a review!

As far as NerdWallet , I really do love it! I’ve been using this app resources and recommendations for years, so when I went looking for a budget app, it was a no brainer to choose theirs.
It’s very comprehensive, much more than others I looked it - you can see your credit score, bank balance (if you link your account), a break down of your spending, etc. You can enter bills and choose whether they are weekly, biweekly, monthly etc. And they provide personalized recommendations based on all of that.
Another win for this app! Love you guys :)

by Mackenzie9823

As someone who just graduated college and started earning income, paying bills, and building my credit, NerdWallet has made my life so much easier. I am able to stay on top of my finances and see everything in one place. The best part is I can connect all my different accounts (acorns, Robinhood, checking/savings, retirement, car loan, etc) and know exactly how much is in each account. This is the first time I’ve gotten a full picture of how much money I have and how much money I owe. I also love that I can see which categories my spending goes towards and recategorize purchases if I need to (something that a lot of other budgeting apps I’ve tried don’t let you do). This has helped me come up with a realistic budget and savings goals. The personalized advice has helped me raise my credit score by over 40 points in the last 4 months. NerdWallet is awesome- I can’t believe it’s free. Thanks so much for the amazing service you provide.

by 5/5 - Read

I normally calculate my finances on my IMac, however, I have multiple bank accounts so it’s nice to see how much money I have with all my accounts combined. I can get the balance for each account by logging in into each app, but to make it simpler it’s easier to use only one (this app). What I appreciate is I also have my few credit card accounts & an investment account so it saves me lots of extra time. It also shows you credit score (only one unfortunately) which normally there are 3 credit bureaus. If you pay everything w/ debit and credit card it’ll automatically post your transactions to the select fields: (grocery, travel, gas, payments, etc). It’s simple to use if you have multiple accounts. If you’re seeing this; take this golden nugget: never max out your credit card but purchase all items w/ credit cards. You’ll at least get some $ back that you were already going to spend. Save yourself at least some money. Best of luck, I haven’t read any other reviews but only going based off my own personal belief.

by Scott252567

this app vs CreditKarma. Scores show identical on both, but NW claims I can only be approved for Secure CCs, while with CK I opened a $300 card a year ago, that’s now at $850 just upgraded to their best rewards card AND just applied for, and received that same company’s highest credit limit to start out a brand new card ($3000...yes, THREE THOUSAND DOLLAR starting limit) but NW maintains I can only get secure cards. Also, both sites show me at about 630 Credit score but my real score is 660 and rising.

It’s a free site, for education purposes, so I’m not hating too bad. Just stating facts about my experience. They both give Credit alerts, and give information ON your credit report. Just the scores are off and the offers are weak.

NW vs CK, I’ll take Credit Karma....but with a grain of salt.

by Joe123951

This is a nice app, and give good advice on how to reach financial goals, but I found 2 flaws with it:

1. It is far too difficult to like your accounts. After trying over and over to add my accounts, and receiving a messages claiming “We’re experiencing difficulties try again later” at least 15-20 times, I finally got MOST of my accounts on there.

2. If you link your credit card and checking account to NerdWallet , if will do a good job of tracking expenses on both, but it also shows the transactions in which you are using your checking account to make a payment to your credit card. This leads to an inflation of your expenses, and I have yet to find a solution.

by JPWL

I really like the general idea of having all my assets managed from one app but NerdWallet is not quite there yet. For one, I’d like a widget feature added and more importantly I’d like to be able to link things like my Robinhood account and federal subsidized loans not dispersed through banks but through schools or at least be able to input values for them for a broader overview of my assets. For now, I can do most of what NerdWallet offers using the apps of the banks and accounts I already use on a daily basis and by using credit karma. To save myself the time of going from app to app I can just use the widget feature to get a quick overview of everything without using NerdWallet.

by LaurenNicoleD1984

Overall this is a great app with a lot of tips and good finance and credit education articles. You can link accounts including your employer sponsored 401k which I love. The reason I gave 3 stars is because it doesn’t separate transactions when both checking and savings accounts are linked. I use 1 bank for checking and a different bank for savings. It shows I’ve saved $0 each month because it doesn’t look at my bank transfer deposit as a savings deposit. These types of flaws should be an easy fix and hope it updates in the future.
Update: when transfers are made from checking to savings it is showing up as money saved in my goal.

by RN45ure

this app website & app are fantastic. Please help make it more secure.
1) There is a pre-select to "remember my password". The box is already checked.
2) Only one security question.
3) No log off icon. I closed out of NerdWallet (and didn't have my password saved). I tapped on NerdWallet again expecting to need to log in and my this app account opened right up.
I love the idea of NerdWallet and would love to fully use it by adding my financial accounts. I'm hesitant to do that if someone could tap on NerdWallet on my phone & get right in to my financial information. I understand that there may be great encryption for financial transactions. I'm more worried about the login leniency.

by LalDawg

NerdWallet is really useful for monitoring credit and seeing all (or almost all) your accounts in one place. It’s a little bit hard to tel l’égard actually getting spent each month though. For example moving money from one account to another or paying off credit cards can sort of look like cash outflow when it isn’t. Another great feature would be a look back over months. If it exists in NerdWallet , it’s hard to find. I’d love to see my total outflows for a couple months ago, not just the last month. I’ve used this app for a while and I don’t plan on stopping; new features keep me around so don’t stop! :)

by ImLouis4real

I never write review for any apps but I fall in love with this one so here are my ideas about it: NerdWallet gives you every detail about your financial activities to keep you on track with your spending or gaining, it let you know about your credit score which if something is not accurate you’ll can to wait a few days to get the updates (you can also check your credit score with your personal bank)it also warning about suspicious activities about your identity and helps you with rewards.

by Cameron JB 3.14159

The platform is user friendly, it is very easy to navigate. All my banking accounts synced quickly and I was able to see my expense distribution within a couple of minutes. It’s very convenient to manage your finances when your credit score, expense reports, and financial goals are all in one place.

Suggested Improvement:
Although 75% of my bills were categorized correctly, I had to recategorize the remaining bills individually. As far as the budget management portion goes, It would save users a lot of time if a) you could select multiple bills to categorize at a time (i.e. 5x kingsoopers to “Food” instead of one at a time) or b) move 1 bill to a new category and have the option to move the remaining and all future bills to the new category automatically.

Overall, I am very happy with my experience so far and I look forward to planning my finances through this app in the future.

by Forthet

I’ve tried quite a few apps that allow you to budget and track spending habits. No other app I’ve tried was as simple or effective as this app. A really cool feature I’d like to see one day is when i can manually customize every dollar amount of income, as well as my expenses.

It would be like there is a calculator in NerdWallet with detailed entries and categories for withdrawals and deposits, like if someone were to have a side gig for additional income.

Either in addition to or instead of waiting for transactions to hit your account to see how much you are spending.

It could help those of of us who want have a very detailed budget and really analyze our spending habits. Plus going back and forth from NerdWallet to my calculator is pretty annoying. Especially when i forget what I’m supposed to include whiiiich happens a lot. I’d pay for this app’s app for sure