Westpac increases digital offerings with MoneyBrilliant app

Westpac announced this week that it would be boosting its digital offerings with money management app, MoneyBrilliant.

This latest addition to the big bank’s offerings comes just in time - as the holiday season is almost upon us and many may be finding it difficult to budget right now. The minds behind MoneyBrilliant aim to provide tools to help users make better money decisions. They describe the app as ‘like a personal financial assistant that never stops working for you.’

Here’s a little bit more on what the MoneyBrilliant app has to offer users.

Budgeting with MoneyBrilliant

MoneyBrilliant allows users to keep track of all their spending in one place, connect to bank accounts from different banks, as well as investment accounts and even superannuation funds.

You can view all transactions from all different accounts in one place and using AI technology the app will sort each one into a category. You can then filter by transaction type, tag and re-categorise as you wish.

Other nifty features are:

• Alerts for upcoming bills, low account balances, cashflow warnings, withdrawals and fees charged, to help you keep on top of your money. There’s even a ‘safe spending’ feature that lets you know how much money you can spend on any given day and still meet your financial commitments for the rest of the month.
• Spending insights are available too. You can view spending reports and get an overall snapshot of your cash flow to see how much is coming in compared to how much is going out. With all your assets and liabilities in one place, you can even review your net worth.
• Money saving tips. MoneyBrilliant includes a few features to help you actively save money. These include the ‘optimise my banking’ feature that makes suggestions on ways you might be able to earn more interest and save money on fees and charges. 
• The ‘bill watch’ feature takes note of how much you spend on electricity and gas and suggests options that may be cheaper.
• Budgeting tools. The app includes tools to help you create a budget and set goals. There’s even a ‘Own my Own Home’ feature, as well as a ‘Our Plan for Retirement’ feature.
• Life admin help. To help you keep on top of a bit of life admin, you can also keep track of your insurance plans, tax deductible expenses and even make a will.
• A debt plan. MoneyBrilliant also allows you to create a debt plan to help banish debt. You’ll even receive alerts, if you fall behind in making repayments.

Now that Westpac has acquired MoneyBrilliant, the app’s nifty technology will ultimately be integrated into the big bank’s own digital banking app.

Westpac chief executive of consumer and business banking, Chris de Bruin says this latest move is an important step in Westpac’s digital strategy. “In recent years we’ve seen demand grow for simple and practical digital tools to help customers manage their personal finances.”

Interested to hear about other useful budgeting apps? Check out our guide to 7 budget and savings apps available in Australia in 2021. Or if you’re looking for a new savings account to store your rainy day fund in, take a look at the savings accounts on offer below.