Have you heard about open banking? This nifty technology lets you connect your online bank accounts to websites and apps so you can see how much money you have and what you’re spending it on.
The advantage of open banking is that you can gain a deeper understanding of your money. Not sure why you’re ending every month in the red? Want to find out how much you could invest regularly? Confused about how much you’ve saved up for retirement so far? Open banking could be the key. This might be why 76% of people using open banking feel like it’s helped them save more.
How does Maji use open banking?
Maji’s Accounts Overview feature lets you see your current accounts, savings accounts and pension accounts in one place, with live valuations. With this solution, you won’t need to log into five different accounts to see what money you’ve got, and where. Your whole financial world can be visible in one place! Maji already connects to a wide variety of banks, financial institutions and pension providers; if you don’t see yours on the list, drop us a line via the pink chat button.
What’s more, by connecting your current account to Maji, you’ll be able to see a breakdown of your monthly spending, including by category. This can help you understand where you are spending the most, and where you can afford to save. Our spending plan tool then allows you to create spending limits for each category, and track how close you are to them.
You can also add details of your property, mortgages and loans to this page to get an overview of your net wealth. This can help you work out if you’re on track to hit major goals and make the necessary changes to get there.
How it works
Open banking works by enabling a third party connection to act as a bridge between your bank account(s) and another platform (e.g. Maji). The process requires you to give permission for information to be shared, so you will need to give consent for Maji to link into your accounts. When you give consent, you will be able to see details from your bank accounts on Maji, such as your overall balance and individual transactions.
Open banking is only used on Maji to display these details in an easy-to-follow format, and can allow you to see activity on all your accounts at the same time, without needing to log into lots of different websites and apps. Your money won’t be moved out of your account, and you can’t make changes to the account on Maji, either (e.g. making payments or cancelling subscriptions). It’s simply a useful way to see information and draw it into Maji’s other tools so you can use it to make plans and track progress.
Is it safe?
And, if you’re worried about security, rest easy in the knowledge that our third party provider maintains the highest standards of safety. Maji, any third parties we work with, and your employer, won’t be able to see any of your financial details.
So, what are you waiting for? Get started by connecting your first bank account and finding out exactly how you’re spending your hard-earned cash.
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
