From supplying you with a breakdown of your funds to slashing your subscriptions in half, Rocket Cash claims to be the “cash app that works for you.”1
However in terms of truly serving to you are taking management of your cash, Rocket Cash doesn’t have sufficient gas to get you off the bottom.
Let’s speak about what Rocket Cash is, what options they provide, and if it’s price paying for.
What Is Rocket Cash?
Rocket Cash is a invoice administration and budgeting app began in 2015 by Rocket Corporations—who additionally runs Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Houses, Rocket Loans (principally all the pieces Rocket . . . besides NASA).
Should you’re on the lookout for an app that can cancel your undesirable subscriptions and negotiate payments for you, Rocket Cash will try this (for a price, after all). However if you would like a budgeting software that can make it easier to take management of your cash and truly attain your cash targets, Rocket Cash is not the app for you.
Rocket Cash affords instruments and companies which can be alleged to make managing your cash extra handy and “easy.” However actually, you’re simply paying them to do issues you possibly can simply do your self without spending a dime.
Despite the fact that Rocket Cash says they “[empower] you to avoid wasting extra, spend much less, see all the pieces, and take again management of your monetary life,” they really encourage you to be as hands-off along with your cash as doable.2 And we hate to interrupt it to you, however being hands-off along with your cash is not the way you hit your monetary targets. It’s how you find yourself broke.
What Occurred to Truebill?
An organization who cancels subscriptions—does that remind you of anybody? Truebill, perhaps? (These Instagram adverts had been in all places!) Nicely, that’s as a result of Rocket Cash purchased Truebill in 2021, after which Truebill formally grew to become Rocket Cash in August 2022.
Whereas Rocket Cash has extra to supply than Truebill did, the subscription cancellation service continues to be certainly one of their greatest promoting factors.
How Does Rocket Cash Work?
Okay, so what are you able to do with Rocket Cash? Nicely, you possibly can see plenty of issues, that’s for positive. Do? Not a lot. However listed below are the principle instruments and companies Rocket Cash affords:
Account Linking
You may hyperlink a number of accounts to the Rocket Cash app and see all of your monetary info in a single place. This contains your checking, financial savings, funding and debt accounts. Whereas that is helpful, there are lot of cash apps that do the identical factor.
Budgeting
The Rocket Cash app technically has a budgeting expertise—it’s simply not an excellent one.
You may arrange a funds to maintain monitor of your bills all through the month. However you possibly can’t create limitless budgets and customise your funds classes except you pay for the premium model.
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You can also’t simply go in and enter numbers into your funds. Rocket Cash units your funds in response to what they suppose you must spend for the month in every class, and it’s a must to drag a slider up or down if you wish to alter the quantity. And since Rocket Cash categorizes your transactions for you, it is tremendous simple for purchases to get put within the flawed class and throw your entire funds out of whack.
Backside line: You ought to be the one controlling your funds—not Rocket Cash!
The app additionally tracks your spending. It reveals you the way a lot you’ve spent versus earned, what your high spending classes are, and the way a lot you may have left to spend for the month. However Rocket Cash’s model of budgeting is extra about monitoring than managing. You may see how a lot you’ve already spent, however they don’t make it simple so that you can inform your cash the place to go within the first place.
This sort of primary budgeting isn’t going that will help you change your spending conduct and lower your expenses. Primary budgeting will get you primary outcomes.
Subscription Administration
Rocket Cash will determine recurring funds out of your spending and listing your subscriptions in a single place—in addition to when every is due—so you possibly can keep away from late charges and overdrafts. However their most important characteristic is that they’ll assign you a “concierge” to cancel any duplicate or undesirable subscriptions for you. (As a result of apparently there are a ton of people that don’t know they’re paying for 2 Netflix memberships each month?)
Yeah, having a digital butler who cancels your subscriptions is handy. However you solely get this service in the event you pay for the premium membership. And within the time it takes you to add a replica of your most up-to-date invoice to the app, you possibly can’ve already hit that cancel button or referred to as the customer support rep your self.
Additionally, Rocket Cash isn’t Liam Neeson. They don’t have a particular set of abilities that permit them to cancel the stuff you’ve already tried to cancel. Sorry, however there are some stuff you’re simply going to should get out of your self: fitness center memberships, cults . . . fitness center cults. Rocket Cash solely tackles the subscriptions which can be simple to cancel—which, once more, are additionally those you possibly can cancel your self without spending a dime.
Invoice Negotiation
If Rocket Cash thinks a sure invoice is just too costly, they might supply to barter that invoice in your behalf. However they’ll additionally take a lower of the financial savings—which form of defeats the aim.
Rocket Cash prices 30–60% of the quantity they make it easier to save for the 12 months. So, let’s say they negotiate your cellphone invoice to a cheaper price and prevent a complete of $175 for the subsequent 12 months. Meaning you’d should pay them an upfront price of anyplace from $50–105 . . . to do one thing you possibly can’ve accomplished your self!3
Additionally, a few of these financial savings might solely apply to the primary 12 months. And you possibly can find yourself caught with a plan that doesn’t have all of the options you wished within the first place. Even in the event you hate going backwards and forwards with customer support on the cellphone, you possibly can nonetheless negotiate your individual payments and maintain 100% of the financial savings.
Financial savings Account
Should you join their good financial savings, Rocket Cash will routinely switch a specific amount of your cash right into a financial savings account—a Rocket Cash financial savings account (ought to’ve seen that coming). Whereas having a month-to-month behavior of saving cash is essential, you possibly can simply do that via your individual financial institution.
Web Price Tracker
By having all of your property and money owed in a single place, Rocket Cash can decide your whole web price and the way it adjustments month to month. Good to know, however calculating your web price your self is way simpler than you suppose!
Simply add up all of your property (financial institution accounts, retirement, actual property, and so forth.) and subtract your liabilities (bank card debt, scholar loans, automobile loans, and so forth.). Then (ta-da!) you may have your web price. You don’t want Rocket Cash to do this.
Credit score Rating Monitoring
Rocket Cash provides you with your present credit score rating, in addition to your credit score report and historical past. However identical to Credit score Karma, Rocket Cash needs you to be obsessive about attempting to enhance your credit score rating. And (oh, what have you learnt) Rocket Cash’s obtained a complete suite of debt merchandise that will help you do exactly that. Should you’re not cautious, you’ll fall proper into their entice—and straight into debt.
How A lot Does Rocket Cash Price?
The Rocket Cash app is technically free, however it’s a must to pay if you would like the premium options—which might value anyplace from $4–5 a month (billed as $48–60 yearly) or $6–12 a month (billed month-to-month).4
Why the vary? Nicely, they’ve obtained a kind of “pay what you suppose is truthful” scales (which, let’s be sincere, are complicated). And the unusual factor is, somebody who pays $48 a 12 months is getting the identical options as somebody who pays $144 a 12 months. Make it make sense!
The free model of Rocket Cash contains:
- Account linking
- Steadiness alerts
- Subscription administration
- Spend monitoring
The premium Rocket Cash subscription contains:
- Subscription cancellation concierge
- Invoice negotiation (however you continue to should pay an additional 30–60% of what they prevent—on high of your subscription)
- Premium budgeting options (like customized classes and limitless budgets)
- Web price monitoring
- Credit score rating monitoring
- Sensible financial savings account
- Premium chat help
It’s also possible to get the premium model of Rocket Cash in the event you (shock, shock) apply for his or her Rocket Visa Signature Card. The cardboard has a $95 annual price, which will get waived you probably have a mortgage with Rocket Mortgage.5 As a result of if they will’t generate income from you utilizing their app, Rocket goes to generate income off you with their different debt merchandise.
Is Rocket Cash Secure?
Rocket Cash doesn’t retailer your log-in information. As an alternative, they hyperlink your monetary accounts utilizing Plaid, which is a trusted firm within the monetary tech area. And your good financial savings account is held in an FDIC-insured U.S. checking account.
So, your cash may be secure within the financial institution. However what you actually need to fret about is Rocket Cash stealing from you in plain sight. As a result of charging you 60% to avoid wasting you some cash in your subsequent invoice, when all they actually do is name up an organization and skim off a script? That’s freeway theft!
Is Rocket Cash Price It?
We don’t suppose so. The free model of Rocket Cash doesn’t have sufficient options to make it price utilizing. And like we’ve already stated, something you are able to do with the premium model, you possibly can do your self without spending a dime or do higher elsewhere.
Rocket Cash at present has a medium score on Higher Enterprise Bureau, principally due to the quantity of consumer complaints.6 The commonest downside with Rocket Cash has to do with their invoice negotiation service. Customers say they’ve gotten randomly charged for payments they didn’t even know had been being negotiated and continued to get charged even after attempting to cancel their Rocket Cash account! Yeah, finest to avoid that.
Get a Budgeting App That Places You in Cost
Don’t put your funds on autopilot! While you use an app that routinely manages your cash for you, you lose contact with what’s truly taking place along with your cash.
You want a budgeting app that places you in management.
The EveryDollar budgeting app helps you create a zero-based funds that matches your life-style and your targets. You may customise your funds classes and resolve how a lot to spend in every. And as an alternative of managing your cash for you, EveryDollar teaches you how you can spend much less, lower your expenses, and funds higher. So you possibly can change your cash habits and truly make progress!
Not like Rocket Cash, the free model of EveryDollar is a superb budgeting expertise by itself. However it’s also possible to take your budgeting to the subsequent stage and unlock premium options, like financial institution connectivity, aim setting, funds experiences and extra.
You should be the one in command of your cash. Go forward and create your free funds right this moment with EveryDollar!
