Is there a Mint.com substitute for Canada?

[scouzer]

Mint essentially logs into all your bank accounts (let's not get into the security debate) and gives you a ton of useful information like charts and such without having to screw around with downloading statements.

Does something like this exist in Canada yet?

[RiCHC3]

Only thing that comes to mind is http://www.wesabe.com/ , but I assume you wanted something a bit more detailed than that.

[tophomeloans]

Unfortunately, Mint does not work in Canada, and there isn't really an alternative to Mint available.
Most Canadian banks do not allow for outside access to there confidential information from other websites. Due to the fact that you are logging on from a third party website, it makes it very difficult for the website to trust this third party website.
At this time, I would say don't expect it to happen anytime soon.

[jerryhung]

Try Quicken Finance Online, it's FREE too
https://www.quickenonline.intuit.com

It works with TD and PC Financial for sure, should work with all Big 5 I believe

[Fragle]

quicken online looks interesting, will try it out later

[smcandc]

Yodlee supports a lot of Canadian financial institutions (Big 5, PCF, ING), investments companies, credit cards (although not MBNA sadly), and reward plans (Aeroplan, Air Miles). Mint is basically putting a pretty face on top of a Yodlee back end, so you get a lot of the same features. It's a pretty slick account aggregator.

[crucial]

Yodlee supports a lot of Canadian financial institutions (Big 5, PCF, ING), investments companies, credit cards (although not MBNA sadly), and reward plans (Aeroplan, Air Miles). Mint is basically putting a pretty face on top of a Yodlee back end, so you get a lot of the same features. It's a pretty slick account aggregator.

Maybe I'm getting old or paranoid but are there any security concerns with putting all your financial/private information aggregated on some 3rd party website?

[AllWheelDrift]

Maybe I'm getting old or paranoid but are there any security concerns with putting all your financial/private information aggregated on some 3rd party website?

I guess it all depends how much you trust the 3rd party website.

I think Interactive Brokers considers it a fairly serious concern, because they'll send you warnings and eventually block your account if they determine that you're using an account aggregation service.

[ashgotti]

Yodlee supports a lot of Canadian financial institutions (Big 5, PCF, ING), investments companies, credit cards (although not MBNA sadly), and reward plans (Aeroplan, Air Miles). Mint is basically putting a pretty face on top of a Yodlee back end, so you get a lot of the same features. It's a pretty slick account aggregator.

Thanks, I was able to add my chequing/savings account from TD but not from CIBC or my Visas from TD. Looks interesting once I have it working.

[crucial]

I guess it all depends how much you trust the 3rd party website.

I think Interactive Brokers considers it a fairly serious concern, because they'll send you warnings and eventually block your account if they determine that you're using an account aggregation service.

That's the thing, regardless of their stated privacy policies I wouldn't trust them at all. I can say one thing for sure, there's no way in hell I'd give them my username/password to access my banking sites to automatically download the information. That's just asking for abuse.

For example, Yodlee may share your personal information with a nonaffiliated third party to offer you a new service on the Yodlee MoneyCenter web site that is provided jointly by Yodlee and an unaffiliated company. Yodlee reserves the right to disclose your personally identifiable information as required by law and when we believe that disclosure is necessary to protect our rights and/or comply with a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process served on Yodlee

[krazo]

That's the thing, regardless of their stated privacy policies I wouldn't trust them at all. I can say one thing for sure, there's no way in hell I'd give them my username/password to access my banking sites to automatically download the information. That's just asking for abuse.

I agree. Some things just don't belong in the cloud. I use a spreadsheet to keep track of my finances and it is working quite well.

[Corvillus]

I agree. Some things just don't belong in the cloud. I use a spreadsheet to keep track of my finances and it is working quite well.

I don't know about that. Personally I'd like a service like this. But to get me to use it, first the banks have to set up some controllable public web service API for online banking that would let you customize which accounts each consuming app can access, and how much access they get, and the ability to change or remove access for an app at any time. (Think similar to third party Facebook applications, but with much more strict access controls.)

That said, given that banks tend to have trouble just doing basic online banking functionality right (seriously, why do I still have to call up EasyLine or go to a branch to make some basic changes to my setup?), I can't see them going to this kind of user controlled access system anytime soon.

[Frankie3s]

You have to remember that in the unlikely event that there is a problem with your account after using such a service, the bank may chose to hold you accountable for any such losses if you are deemed to have violated their service agreement (meaning giving out your account user-names and passwords).

Not worth the risk if you ask me unless the bank is in approval with the service.

[Moerby]

Yodlee looks interesting but I'm also concerned about the type of access they will be getting to my accounts. Googling around a bit it seems to be a reputable service however. This is from their Wiki article (for what it's worth):

"Yodlee works with several partners as a service provider. This includes websites like Mint.com, money.strands.com,Justthrive.com, and several large banks and financial institutions. Bank of America's My Portfolio service is powered by Yodlee."

[shuuy]

I don't like buying software, but the $40 I spent on Microsoft Money Canada was well worth it.

I've been using it for 3.5 years and I can tell you precisely at this moment my portfoilo YTD, yearly capital gains, net worth, and how much over budget I am based on my purchases of booze. All of which is a ~5 hour / month investment to keep accounts up-to-date.