Money Dashboard review: The best way to budget?

Are you looking for a useful tool that will help you track how much money you have across all of your accounts whilst also letting you know where your money is disappearing to? Well, say hello to Money Dashboard. Let’s take a look at how this app works and why it’s one you should consider.

Please note that Money Dashboard was discontinued in October 2023.

Main features Money Dashboard

• Monitor your accounts from one app
• Create your own budget
• Create a spending plan

Manage your money from one account

Over the last few years, more and more of us no longer stick to just one provider for all our financial products. You may have your current account with one bank but find a better mortgage deal with another. In fact, if you have all your financial accounts with one institution, you’re probably not getting the best deal.

But having current accounts, savings, loans and credit cards with different companies can cause problems – primarily in keeping track of your accounts and money. Do you know how much money you have in your bank when you deduct everything you owe? The chances are, you won’t. Now, there are plenty of budgeting and personal finance apps to help you keep track, but today I will be looking at Money Dashboard.

What is Money Dashboard?

Money Dashboard is a free app that allows you to access your financial accounts from one place.

The company behind Money Dashboard was incorporated in 2006, with the app developed in 2010.

By 2015, they had attracted over 100,000 customers to become the UK’s largest Personal Finance Management Provider.

According to their website, they are:

‘motivated by the mission to help all UK consumers get more happy & successful by empowering them to take control of their finances.‘

How much does Money Dashboard cost?

Nothing. This is a free service and there’s no subscription fee.

So, how does the Money Dashboard make money?

Instead of charging users a fee, Money Dashboard makes its money by providing insights and market research to other companies, which helps them to understand consumer trends better. This data is fully anonymised and not traceable to you. They do not sell your personal information.

Money Dashboard may also receive a commission if you sign-up for a service that they recommend.

How does Money Dashboard work?

Once signed up to Money Dashboard, You can get to work by linking your current account (or accounts). This can be done either by entering your bank account details into the app or, you can connect through your bank’s app if that’s already installed on your phone. This shouldn’t take more than a minute.

Then, it’s time to connect any other accounts you may have. These can be credit card accounts, investment accounts or any savings you might have.

From your Money Dashboard account, you will be presented with an overall view of your finances. This is particularly useful if you have multiple current accounts, savings accounts or credit cards. You will know exactly how much you have (or haven’t) across all your accounts.

All this can be accessed either through the Money Dashboard mobile app or the main website on your computer.

Is Money Dashboard safe?

The company uses 256-bit encryption and biometric security to keep your data secure, the same level as most major banks. It connects to your financial accounts using open banking, a recognised and trusted method used across the industry.

Money Dashboard is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). It has been owned by the ClearScore group since 2022, which is a company known for providing credit scores.

Making the most of Money Dashboard

It’s not just the big picture that should interest Money Dashboard users. It’s completely customisable to your needs and will help to break down your finances further.

Create a pay cycle

Most finance apps run month to month. However, Money Dashboard realises that life isn’t always so simple and not everybody is paid on the same day. You can set your own pay cycle to either monthly, four weekly, two weekly or weekly. This makes it far easier to budget.

Budgeting

Carrying on from the pay cycle, you can then create a budget plan. This allows you to monitor your expenditure from various categories (see below).

Spending plan

Moving forward from the budgeting section, the spending plan will let you see how much you have you will have left after your scheduled payments and budgets are taken from your balance. This should clearly indicate how much you will have left at the end of the month. It’s also a great way to monitor your spending habits.

Custom categories

Money Dashboard is clever enough to determine how your money is spent and breaks it down into 14 categories. Depending on your preferences, you can exclude certain categories from your budget or the dashboard.

See scheduled payments due

The app will detect any direct debit payments that are due to be taken in the near future. The app doesn’t always detect every payment, so you can manually add them to give it a helping hand.

Transfer money

You can request to make transfers from your current account through Money Dashboard. Doing this will take you to your banking app to confirm.

Notifications

If you really like to keep your finger on the pulse, you can allow the app to send you notifications.

• Salary notice – receive a notification that your salary has arrived
• Personalised insights – notifications on your spending behaviour
• Weekly spend report – analysis of your activity for the past week
• Product updates – latest functions available and new features from the app

Which banks does Money Dashboard work with?

Money Dashboard currently supports most of the major UK banks and a whole host of financial institutions:

• Adams & Company
• American Express
• Bank of Scotland
• Barclaycard
• Barclays
• Cahoot
• Chelsea Building Society
• Chip
• Clydesdale
• Coinbase
• Coutts
• Cumberland Building Society
• Danske Bank
• First Direct
• HSBC
• Halifax
• Hargreaves Lansdown (active savings account only)
• Lloyds Bank
• MBNA
• Marks and Spencer
• Monzo
• Nationwide
• Natwest Bank
• Nutmeg
• Pension Bee
• Revolut
• Royal Bank of Scotland
• Sainsbury’s
• Santander
• Starling Bank
• TSB
• Tesco Bank
• Virgin Money
• Wealthify
• WiseAlpha
• Yorkshire Bank

View your cryptocurrencies

Not only can you link Money Dashboard to your bank and savings accounts, crypto wallets and currencies are also supported. The app has partnered with Zabo and Coinbase so you can keep an eye on your cryptocurrency.

Any downsides?

The app doesn’t work with all financial providers. Although most banks are included, there are some providers I would like to see added, such as Fidelity. Skipton Building Society is also missing, and as they are the first to offer the cash Lifetime ISA, I would like to see them added soon. I’m also surprised PayPal can’t be connected to either since so many people use it for online purchases.

If you want to get a completely accurate expected expenditure report each month, you will need to look through your listed transactions.

Money Dashboard does lack some features compared to rival apps, such as the breakdown of expenditure that Moneyhub offers. But it does help to keep things simple.

The app also lacks the ability to connect to mortgage accounts.

Does Money Dashboard offer a referral scheme?

For years, Money Dashboard offered an Amazon gift card as a referral bonus if friends joined the app using your link. However, this was removed in March 2022.

What other people say

When writing my app reviews, I often look to see what other users think. From the few reviews, Money Dashboard scores a poor 2.6 out of 5 on Trustpilot. Positive reviews praise the features and how easy the app is to use. On the downside, some users complain about issues with connecting to bank accounts.

It was also voted the best personal finance app by the British Bank Awards in 2017, 2018 and 2020.

Money Dashboard pros and cons

Pros:

• ✅ Easy to use
• ✅ No subscription costs
• ✅ Can connect to a wide variety of accounts

Cons:

• ❌ Cannot connect to mortgage accounts
• ❌ Expenditure breakdown is still quite simple

My Money Dashboard review conclusion

This is an incredibly useful money management app. It’s fairly easy to get to grips with, even if you don’t count yourself as tech-savvy. After the Moneyhub app, it’s probably one of the easiest budgeting apps to use.

Having all of your financial accounts under one roof will help you to understand how healthy (or not) your finances are.

But remember… if you’re not paying for the product, you are the product. You need to be comfortable with the fact that Money Dashboard is making money out of all the information you are giving them. It’s not an issue I have, but I know others feel differently.

FAQs