Why Do I Want You to Pay for Cinch? March 30, 2017 Cinch, Mindful Musings Sean Collins Great question. Everyone’s used to free apps, so why isn’t Cinch free? Because it wouldn’t be Cinch — your completely unbiased, comprehensive personal financial manager. Every business has to make money. And free financial apps do that in two ways: 1. They sell access to your personal financial identity to banks, insurers, even bankruptcy attorneys Keep Reading
Why Is Cinch Based in Boston? March 14, 2017 Cinch, Industry, Mindful Musings, Regulation Sean Collins People do ask if (and sometimes when!) we plan to light out for Silicon Valley like so many other Boston-founded startups. It sort of astounds me, but in my case, once they learn I grew up in SF and the Bay Area (and went to college there) they sort of assume I will make my Keep Reading
5 Troubling Facts About Lead Generation Companies in the Consumer Credit Space March 9, 2017 Cinch, Industry, Regulation Priya Iyer Less than a decade ago, lead generation sites preyed upon customers with financial difficulties by offering them subprime loans. This led to the 2008 U.S. financial meltdown. Fast forward to today… lead generation is a $1.7 billion industry in the U.S. Although “lead-gen” companies, as they’re commonly referred to, are not inherently deceptive, several have been Keep Reading
Financial Products Buried Inside Financial Apps March 7, 2017 Cinch, Industry, Mindful Musings, Uncategorized Sean Collins My post about ad-based free financial apps generated an email asking about products like Digit or Clarity Money that have bank and savings accounts inside the app as competitors. To be fair, we’ve looked at these products very carefully. Not only do we feel that they are not competitive to Cinch, but we truly believe they Keep Reading
Regulation Crackdown on Deceptive Advertising; FinTech and Beyond February 28, 2017 Cinch, Industry, Regulation Priya Iyer Marketing experts estimate that Americans take in between 4,000 and 10,000 digital and traditional ads each day. That’s a lot of ads! Along with this constant barrage of information comes a series of ethical issues around deceptive advertising, consumer data storage and the extent to which lead aggregators are liable. The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Keep Reading
If It’s Free, You’re the Product February 27, 2017 Cinch, Industry, Mindful Musings Sean Collins I wrote a post about free apps some time ago that needs updating – and Kerri shared our point of view just last week on CNBC. Basically, we all love useful free apps on the web and the tradeoff we’re making is clear. We’re all fine with using social media apps knowing they make money Keep Reading
