The Trim App is a money-saving tool for automatically negotiating lower rates on utility bills and canceling unused subscriptions.
Automation is the name of the game in the financial world today. AI and machine learning algorithms can be trained to handle boring minutiae related to finances that real people do not want to waste the time doing.
Robo-advisors are a popular automated solution when it comes to investing, but other realms of the financial world are also introducing automation.
Enter Trim. Trim is an AI-assistant that is designed to help you find ways to save money.
The Trim app analyzes your finances and comes up with ways to minimize your expenses and keep more of your hard-earned money.
So how good is Trim really? Can it help you save money? We answer all those questions and more in this Trim review.
What is the Trim App?
Trim (aka AskTrim) is an app designed to help you save money.
Launched in 2015, Trim’s main function is to analyze your spending to find and cancel unwanted subscriptions and recurring purchases.
Trim connects to your checking and credit card accounts, takes a look at your transactions, and sends an alert when it finds recurring purchases that you may be able to cancel.
In addition to finding subscriptions that you can cancel, Trim also will help you negotiate your bills to help cut your expenses.
If you connect your services to Trim, it will search for promotions and better deals to reduce your monthly spending. Trim will then take 15% of your saved amount as a fee for its services.
With Trim, you can currently negotiate your bills for phone, cable, and internet providers. Normally, these types of industries are ripe for savings. However, Trim plans to allow negotiating for more services in the near future.
In addition to these basic services, Trim also started offering premium services such as a high-yield savings account, financial coaching, and debt services.
How Does Trim Work?
When you go to the Trim page, you will be prompted to create an account. You can make an account with your email address or use your Facebook credentials.
Once you make an account, you will give your phone number or FB messenger info so they can contact you. Then, you will give your bank account info and/or credit card details so the services can analyze your payment histories.
Once you connect your accounts, the app will go to work analyzing all your payments and identify which ones are recurring subscription payments.
When it identifies these, it will add up your monthly expense, let you know about them, then give you the option to cancel and unwanted ones.
The best part is that you can cancel these subscriptions directly from the app by replying to its messages. Once you decide to cancel a subscription, Trim will keep you updated on the status of your request.
Bill Negotiating
Trim can also help you negotiate specific bills so you can pay less money.
Here is how this service works: First, you upload the bill that you want to be negotiated and provide your preferred payment method. Then, Trim will get in touch with the bill holder to negotiate and find you a better rate.
If they are successful, the app will notify you, and you can change your service terms to save money. The best part is that the app takes care of all the negotiations for you, so you can focus on more important things than emailing companies.
For example, using Trim, I cut my monthly internet bill by $15 a month. That is not a lot, all things considered, but over a year, that comes to nearly $180 in money saved!
In addition to cable and internet bills, you can also use Trim to negotiate your car insurance rates and find better deals.
Trim Premium
Negotiating APRs and Bank Fees
Trim recently unveiled its Trim Premium service which adds some traditional banking products in addition to its negotiating services.
Trim will negotiate with your bank to get you lower interest rates or even waive interest charges for you. They can also get you refunds for anything they find unfair with your bank fees.
The point of the premium account is to provide more holistic financial services for every aspect of your financial wellness.
This introduction is part of Trim’s bid to rebrand its services as a holistic financial wellness service.
Growing Your Money
One of the main features introduced with Trim Premium is high-yield savings accounts. With a Trim account, they offer a 4% rate on the first $2,000 that you deposit and a 1.1% APR after.
That is a fairly decent rate on a typical savings account. The app also lets you automate deposits from your main account into your savings account at no extra charge.
As they claim, ‘all funds are FDIC insured up to $250,000 by Evolve Bank’.
Negotiating Your Medical Bills
While medical bills are considered tough to negotiate, Trim has a dedicated expert team to work on this matter and get you the potential payment options for your medical debts.
All you got to do is share your bill and authorize the Trim experts to talk about your billings with your provider and negotiate for you.
Managing Your Debts
Trim also introduced Trim Pay, a service designed to help you manage any credit card debt and other kinds of debt.
With Trim Pay, you can schedule regular deposits from your checking account to a special Trim account and use that money to pay off your credit card and other debts.
This function is very similar to “envelope” saving which a lot of budgeting apps have recently introduced. You can also withdraw money from this account if you need some extra cash.
Financial Coaching
Two other services included with Trim Premium include financial coaching and a debt calculator.
Subscribers get unlimited access to a team of professional financial planners who can answer your queries about things like debt, emergency funds, retirement savings, and more.
This team of financial coaches can also help you negotiate lower credit card interest rates.
Debt Calculator
The debt calculator will crunch the numbers to help determine your total amount of debt and interest payments so you can manage to pay off your accounts in a timely manner.
These two services in conjunction can greatly help you improve your debt situation and save more money.
One drawback to the services is that Trim does not offer budgeting features in the same vein as apps like Mint. You can use the info from Trim to draw up a budget but the app won’t do it for you.
| Trim Additional Features | Cost |
| Transaction Monitoring | Free |
| LevelCredit | $6.95 per month |
| Simple Savings (Automated Transfers) | Free |
| TrimPay (Automated Debt Payments) | Free |
| Car Insurance Comparison | Free |
| Liabilities Calculator | Free |
How Much Does Trim Cost?
You can use the basic cancellation services from Trim for free but using the negotiating feature does incur a fee. Trim will take 15% of any amount that you save from bill negotiation.
So for example, if you managed to save $180 a year from negotiating, then Trim will take about $27 in exchange for its services. Overall, you will save $153 annually from unwanted subscriptions while using Trim services without the need to pay upfront fees.
If that seems like too much to you, then you can always manually try to negotiate your subscription costs.
Trim Premium costs $10 a month.
Trim will also send you notifications and push financial products depending on your profile. They get paid by their marketing partners for these ads, which is how they can afford to offer their basic services for free.
Is Trim Safe?
Trim is safe to use, and as per their website, they will not give out your personal info. Some anonymous info is sent to their marketing partners but without identifying information.
It does need access to your bank accounts so it can record your transactions, but the Trim app does not have permission to your account, so you cannot actually change anything through the app.
In other words, you don’t have to worry about hackers draining your account by getting into your Trim account. Even if they could, they wouldn’t be able to initiate any transactions or anything like that.
So Trim is generally safe to use, and your bank account is protected.
Trim Pros & Cons
Pros
- Most services are free.
- Helps you save money. Trim can help reduce your monthly expenses by culling unwanted recurring purchases. It does all this automatically too, so you don’t have to manually inspect your payment history.
- Negotiate bills. Trim can help you get a better deal on your cable, internet, and car insurance bills. You can save over $100 a year by negotiating your bills with Trim.
- High-yield savings. Trim’s saving account gives you 4% growth off the first $2,000 you deposit and 1.1% APR afterward. This is a pretty good rate for a savings account, and there are no restrictions or penalties on withdrawals.
- Coaching tools. With Trim premium, you can get great financial coaching on topics like debts, savings, and retirement.
Cons
- They take cut of your savings. If you use the negotiation service, then Trim takes a 15% cut of whatever you save. This may remain a pretty steep fee for some people.
- No budgeting tools. Although they can help improve your finances, Trim does not offer traditional budgeting tools.
- No mobile app version
Conclusions
So, is Trim worth it? We say yes.
In today’s economy, where subscription payments are very common, it is easy to let them build up and cost you a fortune yearly.
Trim can help you greatly reduce your expenses by cutting out these unnecessary subscriptions, and it can help you get a better deal on your cable and internet bills.
You can do all this manually, but why wouldn’t you have a robot handle all the boring details? They also have some nice features like a high-yield savings account and financial coaching included with tier premium service.
So we would say that Trim is definitely worth checking out.
FAQs
What is Trim’s most popular service?
Bill Negotiation is the main offering by Trim.
Can I use Trim for my other bills?
Yes, Trim can also work on your other bills like utilities. All you have to do is share your bills with Trim and let them do the negotiations.
Which locations are Trim available?
As their website says, most of their services, including Medical Bill Negotiation and Bank Negotiation are available in 44 states in the US. However, the said two negotiations are not available in AK, AR, CT, DC, MA, RI & VT.
Since Trim services are mostly done by the AI-assistant, how can I speak to real humans from the Trim team?
They are available via live chat: Monday to Friday 8am-5pm PT, or you can also send them a text message anytime at 28060. They can also be reached through email at [email protected]
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