Entrepreneurs bet on the smart电话 to solve money problems

约瑟夫·皮萨尼|美联社

2015年6月3日，纽约 -可以用来买拿铁, order cabs and get pizza delivered, but some tech entrepreneurs are betting the smart电话 can also play an even greater role in saving people money.

An app to help you manage monthly bills, provide a mobile-friendly way to apply for food stamps and a service that helps you build savings automatically were among the creations of 14 startups that pitched their products to executives at 澳博官方网站app’s New York headquarters last month. They were there as part of an initiative, 叫做金融解决方案实验室, created by the country’s largest bank and the nonprofit Center for Financial Services Innovation. 是3000万美元, five-year commitment from 追逐 and CFSI to back startups that help consumers budget their money.

Both organizations see a need for new tools. 关于 43 percent of Americans struggle to pay their bills every month, according to a 2014 survey by the Center for Financial Services Innovation. And in a separate study released in May, of 100,000名客户, 追逐 found that many dealt with big swings in income and spending every month.

The startups were selected from 298 applicants, 从那些, nine winners will be selected on June 11 based on whether they can grow and help people improve their finances. 获奖者可获得250美元,000 and access to leaders in the financial services industry who can open doors and provide connections. 追逐 will naturally be looking for business opportunities of its own, which could mean acquiring a developer of a tool that could serve its customer base. “如果我们看到令人兴奋的东西, 如果我们可以按比例计算,” 追逐’s head of global philanthropy Dalila Wilson-Scott said, “完全.”

Here’s a look at some of services in development:

一站式账单支付
Prism aims to simplify the monthly chore of paying bills. Prism users sign in and connect all the companies that regularly send them a bill -- such as cable, 电话, credit card or student loan companies. Within the app, users can see all their bills and balance, how much is owed and when the bill is due. Bills can be paid right from the app. The company said it processes $1 million in transactions every day. 如果它被选为赢家, Prism hopes to use connections from the experience to help update its app and offer more services, such as low-cost loans to customers who can’t afford to pay a bill, said CEO and co-founder Tyler Griffin.

领取食品券
Applying for food stamps means going through pages of paperwork. And the online application doesn’t work well on smart电话s, 陈冠希说, 谁创立了EasyFoodStamps.com, a colorful website that works on smart电话s and simplifies the application process.

But do people who qualify for food stamps have smart电话s? “Lots of people ask that question,” said Chen. 在有了这个想法之后, Chen visited food stamp offices and found that most of the people waiting on line killed time tapping their smart电话s. Some don’t apply online because they don’t have access to a computer, said Chen. Fifty percent of workers who earn $30,000 or less a year owned a smart电话 last year, 对于其中一部分人来说, the 电话 was their only way to access the Internet, according to the Pew 研究 Center. Through a partnership with the city’s food stamp office, EasyFoodStamps.com currently is only used in Philadelphia, 但如果它是赢家之一, Chen plans to use the connections and money to expand into other cities.

自动存款
The mobile service Digit makes saving money require zero thought. Digit automatically transfers small amounts from your checking account to a savings account. Users connect their checking account to Digit, and then its algorithm analyzes how much you typically earn and spend. 基于它的发现, 小额转账, 通常在20美元以下, into a separate Digit savings account. The company, which launched earlier this year, says it is saving its users $1 million a week. Most of the users are middle-class earners making more than $30,000, says founder Ethan Bloch. 金融解决方案实验室, he hopes to bring Digit to low-income earners who don’t have bank accounts and use prepaid cards instead.

Republished with permission of the Associated Press, from Entrepreneurs bet on the smart电话 to solve money problems, 约瑟夫•皮萨尼, 6月3日, 2015; permission conveyed through Copyright Clearance Center, 公司.