Frollo (Personal Finance and Budgeting App) - Any Feedback?

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frollo.us

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  wannagrababargain on 31/01/2020 - 11:48

  By my reading it seems similar to MoneyBrilliant but with less features. Very similar tech, a cloud based, data aggregating, auto-categorising spending app.

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  Dumax on 31/01/2020 - 12:55

  In regards to how they make money, I haven't used Frollo but most of these services/apps make money by any combination of:

  • Premium features (as you've identified)
  • Selling your (aggregated) data
  • Advertising (including promoted/sponsored products)
  • Referrals (e.g. Insurance/loans/credit cards/services)

  Most aggregator business models (e.g. Finder, Mozo, Comparethemarket) are primarily based around the above methods.

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  cuteseal on 31/01/2020 - 13:47

  Ok I've taken the plunge.

  • looks like it uses Yodlee to connect to your accounts which is good, which means good compatibility. from a cursory glance looks a lot of the institutions are covered, e.g. banks, credit cards, managed funds, super
  • they look like they have an active community on facebook, and their ios app has 450 ratings, which gives me some comfort
  • seems to focus primarily on expenses and budgeting. not much functionality around tracking investments
  • seems to have auto-categorised most of the transactions pretty accurately. i didn't see any that were uncategorised.
  • seems to split it into 4 broad buckets (income - living - lifestyle = savings), and then lots of sub-categories
  • seems to pick up recurring bills
  • helps you set up a budget (haven't explored much yet)
  • there's a tab that you can set savings goals, and also challenges. seems quite interesting - an example is to cut back entertainment spend, with a duration of 1 week, and some suggestions and to track against that.

  So overall seems to be direct competitor / functionality to MoneyBrilliant, main difference is MB is a bit more feature rich but hidden behind their subscription plans, whereas this is free. I'll continue playing around and comparing the two.

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  bolt on 31/01/2020 - 14:41

  +2

  I know you haven't specifically asked about security, but I'm always wary of these kinds of apps that use Yodlee or similar services to scrape your data using your online banking credentials. You quoted the part about how they use "bank-grade security" - this actually doesn't mean anything and they don't get any more specific about their information security practices. I'll copy + paste my comment to a similar thread about Moneybrilliant from a couple years ago:

  I work in the banking industry in security and have specifically dealt with these kinds of apps as part of my role. Every bank I'm aware of will have a clause in the Terms of Service that state you should not share your online banking credentials with any third party (including these apps) - if you do, you may be liable for any losses incurred due to fraud. Another important thing to note is that the reason you need to provide your login credentials is because these apps retrieve your financial data by logging in to the banking website and posing as you, essentially screen-scraping your data. In theory, the API they use could be configured to make transactions at any time they choose, or they could easily just choose to steal your credentials. Further, from the bank's perspective, it will appear in the logs that your account is being logged into multiple times a day (sometimes hundreds of times).

  I used to use both MoneyBriliant and PocketBook before I joined the security team and discovered the way they work, and I now no longer use them and advise others to strongly consider the risks of using them. I agree they are definitely useful apps and do wish that the banks incorporated a lot of their features into their own apps, but I personally don't feel that the risk is worth it.

  Do note - if you use them at all then decide at some point it's not for you, deleting the app isn't enough, as the API will continue logging into your account for you. You will need to properly remove your account and data from the service either through the website or contacting the company itself.

  • 

    Bargain80 on 31/01/2020 - 14:53

    That is the reason I don't use any app or service that retrieve info from my bank account.

    There's a saying, the strength of the security is determined by the weakest link.
    That could be you infected phone, or the application itself or the network.

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    Aussie Frequent Liar on 16/03/2021 - 19:59

    I'm interested to know what the views are with Frollo being part of the Open Banking and that CommBank are also part of the Open Banking and openly sharing (probably also changed their Terms in response to their support for 3rd party) CDRs through Frollo (I tested it recently and it no longer says Yodlee but CDR).
    I find Open Banking APIs interesting but ultimately what that 3rd party will do with my data. Insights and discounts for on-selling?

    • 

      whooah1979 on 17/03/2021 - 13:36

      Portfolio apps on sell their customers data to analytical companies which they then sell to funds so that they can front run retail investors.

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  pantsparty on 31/01/2020 - 15:26

  Maybe I’m old school but if I want to do a personal budget or look at my finances I still use Microsoft Excel or a Google Sheet. There is no way I would give a budgeting app access to my online banking.

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  anglais on 02/02/2020 - 12:34

  I used Yodlee services for a while but got spooked.

  Now I just do a manual import to YNAB once a month.

  Feels a bit more freeing with less emphasis on the day to day.

  You could use a smartbank for your spending account if you want to see some granularity without needing Yodlee feeds.

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    cuteseal on 02/02/2020 - 13:06

    Thanks for sharing. Out of interest, what made you get spooked?

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  Zeferlin on 07/02/2021 - 02:07

  Hey cuteseal, out of interest, why are you looking at Frollo? Is there an issue with the Money Brilliant app you are using at the moment? Just curious.