All the facts: quick and portable
Written: Nov 08 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: summarizes the details of all your online accounts and presents them in an easy to carry format
Cons: not all possible accounts are part of "the system"
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| scientist232's Full Review: Yodlee |
The concept of online account aggregation has been roundly praised and derided by those on their respective sides of the issue. I think it’s a great idea—provided sufficient security measures are in place. I’ve used OnMoney.com and became spoiled by the convenience of having a summary of all my account quickly available in one place on the web.
Online account aggregators, a.k.a. “web scrapers,” cull data from your online accounts of all kinds and then present to you an overview of the details. You provide your login credentials and they automate the rest. What drew me to Yodlee was an internet search I made for an aggregator that would automatically download all the information to my new handheld computer. After the initial download/registration/sync stuff connecting with the details of your accounts is as simple as one press of the hot-sync button.
Through Yodlee I have access to the balances from two online bank accounts, point totals from online reward programs (such as MyPoints), portfolio values and activity on my brokerage account, a listing of my email with dates received and subject lines and balances due on my credit cards. Yodlee even drops a reminder to pay the bill on my ToDo list on the Palm device.
One small aspect of Yodlee I found a little troublesome. Not all of my accounts are accessible on the system. Perhaps it is a compatibility issue and one that will resolve itself in due time but one bank account and several credit cards to which I have online access are not recognized by Yodlee. A process is in place for adding accounts but (as with OnMoney and others) it's somewhat tedious waiting for their growth curve to take place. That's not to say however that Yodlee doesn't access a great many accounts of all sorts; they do.
The security issue
Some folks have a problem with giving out their login credentials (I saw you cringe) to third-party services even as the site overflows with multiple firewalls and other precautions. It is true that, should the unthinkable happen, YOU and not the account aggregator are responsible for any actual activity on any of your accounts. It is also true that many such services are new enough not to have accumulated a lengthy track record but I suspect that the security precautions Yodlee (and others) have engaged are sufficient to protect my data. Also you can look for industry-standard names at the bottom of their pages. Names, such as Verisign and others.
The real issue
The concept of an aggregating service for a multitude of online accounts of all kinds is basically sound and is founded on the premise that you have online accounts for a simple reason—convenience. You bank online instead of (or in addition to) a traditional financial institution because you can employ their services in your timeframe and to the extent you desire. You use email because it is infinitely more immediate than the other kind of mail. If you are queasy at the thought of banking or corresponding or shopping online, then you won’t like Yodlee either. The benefits and the risks are essentially the same.
If you desire the level of convenience of having your account data (banking, email, brokerage, travel reservations, online rewards and on and on) delivered not just to your desktop but also hot-synced onto a device that fits into your shirt pocket then Yodlee is the answer. The Palm device was convenient; Yodlee makes it supremely functional.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
scientist232
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Member: David
Location: Indianapolis, IN
Reviews written: 59
Trusted by: 16 members
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